Day One in New York
Well we are safely here in Manhattan at the Millenium UN Plaza Hotel
across from the UN and the Church Centre. This afternoon we went to the
UN and got our passes (thanks to the Soroptimists). We unpacked some
and then we had dinner with the Primate's delegates from around the
world. There are 20 of them, one Canadian, one American, several from
Africa, South America, The Phillippines, Samoa, Australia and Scotland.
For some it is their first time to the Commission on the Status of Women
(CSW).
Although the actual Commission does not start until Monday, tomorrow the
Ecumenical Women are hosting an orientation day. We, the steering
committee, must be there at 8 am and registration begins at 8:45.
There are about 150 people registered. The highlight of the day will be a
presentation by the Executive Director of UN Women. There is a panel
and workshops etc with Chapel in the morning and at the at 4 pm. We end
with a reception with wine and snacks around 6. It should be a fun
packed day.
The best news is the all my luggage arrived safely, unlike last year AND
my daughter is curling in the Ontario Intermediate competition and her
team is 4 wins and 1 loss. Great curling ladies.
Well I need to do some more preparation for tomorrow so I need to sign off now.
Blessings Judy
Day Two
Well today is over and I think that we did well in our presentations. In
the morning the New Executive Director for UN Women spoke for about 1/2
an hour to a packed chapel. She is very inspirational and very faith
based. She arrived in traditional African garb with several in her
entourage and ended her presentation by urging us to sing again with
enthusiasm.
As chair of the Advocacy Committee for Ecumenical Women my
committee and I were responsible for much of the content of our orientation
day. Morning and afternoon worship were very rousing and we ended the
day marching in the Chapel to " We are marching in the light of God".
After the ED of UN Women spoke we all returned upstairs to hear a panel
put together by Christine Mangale of the Lutheran delegation. There were 4 speakers
on various aspects related to beyond 2015 and the accomplishments and
roadblocks that have been encountered. The chief of the civil society
section of UN Women, Lopa Banerjee, was on the panel and gave a great talk on the
challenges of post 2015.
Then I spoke for about 1/2 hour on several procedural items and our
"talking points" and how to use them. The Talking Points are on a
postcard sized piece of card stock and are an abbreviated form of our
original statement to the Commission. We will use the talking points
when meeting with other groups in negotiating around the concluding
document.
In the afternoon we split into 3 workshops.
1. Mission Visits which was a 1 hour presentation on how to arrange and
prepare for a meeting with a mission. Here they do not have embassies,
but rather missions by a country to the UN.
2. How does your Story fit into the Millenium Development Goals.
3. Looking at the Zero Draft of the agreed conclusions in light of our
submission to the Commission in the fall and looking for gaps or
overlaps in the document. Again I chaired this section and Alice and
Lynnaia helped facilitate small group discussions. People did not seem to
want to stop talking so I presume that the discussion was successful.
OK the clocks change tonight and I have a sore throat so it is time to quit
Until tomorrow.
Day Three
For a person who hates early mornings, this junket is a pain. Up at 7 am
again and in a cab by shortly after 8 to head to East 7th street for the
UN NGO Consultation Day. It is an introduction to our 2 weeks here with
speakers, panels, and music. about 900 people were registered. The
morning began with Umuada Igbo Massachusettes who are traditional
African dancers who got our blood flowing and energized us.
We were welcomed by Soon-Young Yoon, Chair of the NGO Committee on the
Status of Women/New York. Then the new Executive Director of UN Women
and Under-Secretary-General Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka gave a wonderful
address.
The panel was on Cities for Sustainable Development and Women's Human
Rights - How can cities ensure women's human rights in sustainable
development? The speakers were excellent (but I have a bad habit of
dozing in large rooms full of people when I am not the teacher....so I
missed a little bit.) As I had another activity for the afternoon I left
the hall at noon. I missed a panel on the "Legacy of the 1990's UN
conferences" and "What do we want from Beijing Plus 20"
I returned to my hotel to attend a training for Soroptimist
International on Advocacy. It was fun and educational and it was
impossible to fall asleep in as they kept us very engaged. I must lend
SI our Advocacy Handbook because they could use one too. We all cleared
out of the suite at 6:30 and returned at 7:30 for a reception. Lasagna,
sweet and sour Chicken, salads and breads followed by fruit and cookies
and accompanied by wine or water (I took the water).
The other significant event today was that I got the hotel to stand
by their original quote for my room. When I arrived they were charging
much more than the quote. I realized that the room had been upgraded and
wireless was now free and there is a complimentary breakfast but I could
not see over $400 for some of the nights when my quote ranged from $150
to $271. Thank you "Michael" the manager today.
Finally I want to congratulate my youngest daughter Jennifer who has
been curling in the Provincial Intermediates since Wed. She and her team
skipped by Sue came second overall with a record of 5 wins and 2
losses. Job well done ladies and CONGRATULATIONS.
I'll be back tomorrow
Blessings Judy
Day Four
Well we are now officially under way, us officially we started long ago.
Chapel at 8 am was wonderful and a great way to start the day. There is
no briefing today and since I am feeling a bit under the weather I
returned to my room to do some emailing etc and stay quiet. At 12:30 I
went to the North America/Europe (NA/EU) caucus. This is a meeting of
all the NGOs (non governmental organizations) in the North America/European region. There are other caucuses from other regions. I have
never attended a caucus with so many people present, it was awesome.
Betty Levy chaired and the mentioned the document which was circulated
about 10 days ago as a statement. I helped with the Canadian portion of
the paper. Pierette from Geneva has already done a 2 page commentary on
the draft agreed conclusions which she presented and the the floor was
open to comments. There were comments about poverty, food, immigrants and
migrant workers, faith based organizations, sexual/reproductive rights,
employment, and more. I commented on the immigrants in the Lindsay jail
and about the fact that transportation is not mentioned in the document.
Several informal meetings ensued and I returned to the hotel to have lunch about 2:30.
More emails trying to arrange meetings for tomorrow and a half hour nap
and it was time to get ready to go to the reception at the Canadian
Mission (the equivalent to an embassy but the UN is not a country). A
good reception, wine beer and soda and several trays of excellent food.
The Minister for the Status of women from Canada spoke, Kellie Leitch I
think) and introduced several other members of the delegation. There are
3 provincial ministers, another MP, and 6 young women
sponsored by YWCA. Or YMCA . There is increasing emphasis on young
people which is great. We have 3 under 18 and 2 more in their 20s in our
group. The world YWCA is quite prominent and I met the Canadian head at
the reception. The World Wide Girl Guides are also well represented.
One of the staff recognized me immediately and we chatted and I talked with several other NGO reps.
Back at our room and more work to do and emails to answer. I want to get
to bed early to avoid getting overtired and making this throat worse.
Till tomorrow then
Blessings Judy
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