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Asia-Pacific Governments' BPFA Review Kicks Off

Onsite Report from Adele Khan of the Women's Media Team*

Bangkok, October 26, 1999 -- Globalisation has been featuring at the top of the list of women's concerns four years after the Fourth World Conference of Women held in Beijing in 1995. As the review of the process of the Bejing Platform for Action is underway, Asian women - both at the South Asia meet in Kathmandu in July and the Asia-Pacific meet in Bangkok in August - are arguing that there are emerging issues separate from the twelve critical areas of concern identified in 1995.

These critical areas - whether about women and poverty, economic and political empowerment, health, education, environment, violence, in situation of armed conflict, the girl child or institution building for women's empowerment - still stand. But, women's organisations in Asia, in a joint statement arising from the Bangkok conference, state: "New trends that perpetuate injustices ... and impede women's empowerment ... include ... The negative impact of globalisation and structural adjustment programmes on all the Critical Areas of Concern ...."

One such negative trend recognised by the Asia-Pacific Regional NGO Symposium is the increasing dependency of developing countries on agriculture technologies introduced by developed countries.

Other new technologies, while these can be empowering, are currently being used to retrench women. Unemployment for women has also been aggravated by the East Asia economic crisis.

Globalisation has also led to increased privatisation of education, with governments cutting back on budget allocation for all social development. Noticeably affecting the critical areas of education and health, among others, governments are increasing defence spending - including expenditure on building nuclear capabilities in some Asian countries.

The appropriation of indigenous healthcare knowledge and practices by private multinational companies is yet another emerging trend with critical implications. Not only would this affect the poor more adversely, women would be the worst sufferers. In all countries across the region, surveys have found that the expenditure on medical treatment for women is generally far below the average expenditure on that for men. Women, generally, are also more apt to opt for traditional therapies.

The link between economic changes and the substantial increase in violence against women has been stated. The failure of social support mechanisms has a negative on women, who are still the primary care givers in most of the region. The link between globalisation and internal displacement and cross-border migration and trafficking is clearly drawn. Even technology -- the increased use of Internet - has contributed to trafficking.

The symposium emphasised that it is a matter of especial concern to women - the worst sufferers in situations of armed conflict - that more and more countries in the region are emerging with nuclear technology and capacity. The increased militarisation, moreover, has gone hand in hand with reinforcement of traditional and feudal values.

The rise in religious fundamentalism and the threat of and use of violence has also served to discourage, even prevent, women from seeking public office. The resurgence of right wing political movements has resulted in women's rights being denied in the name of culture, religion or other identity based constructs. Alongside, there is increasing backlash against civil society actors, especially women's and human rights organisation.

These recommendations and findings are to be presented at the four-day Intergovernmental meeting to review the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the Asia-Pacific region, organised by the ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific), which began in Bangkok on October 26.

* The Isis-UNIFEM media team for the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review the Beijing Platform for Action in Asia and the Pacific is composed of Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Lorna Israel, Isis International-Manila; Suchita Vemuri, Women's Features Service; Babita Basnet, Sancharika Samuha-Nepal ; Adelle Khan, Fiji Women's Crisis Centre; Ung Vanna, Khmer Women's Voice Centre; Lim Siu Ching, All Women's Action Society-Malaysia; Fatmawati Salapuddin, Bangsa Moro Women and Development Foundation-Philippines; Rina Jimenez-David, Philippines; Chitraporn Vanaspong, Thailand.


 
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