St Patrick's Day at UNCSW58 According to Judy

St Patrick's Day is a big deal in New York City. A huge, and I mean huge, parade, everyone in green, green beer etc etc.  I managed to stay clear of the celebrations as getting about was apparently difficult.
It has turned cold again here, warmer than Fenelon but below zero degrees celsius in the morning. I was late to chapel this morning because I could not stop coughing for a bit; got there about 15 minutes late. The Anglican Consultative Council did worship today and the preacher from Africa I think, did a wonderful job talking about maternal child health and MDG (Millennium Development Goal) number 3. My roomie, Caitlin did the prayers of the people and I discovered that she has a wonderful singing voice.
The briefing from the UN this morning was attended again by the Chair of the Commission who spoke at length about procedure. There were no negotiations today, instead the Commission received oral statements from NGOs and negotiated behind closed doors. Another member of the Commission also spoke briefly. This is new to me - usually the briefings are done by UN Women and/or the NGO/CSW NY. This Commission is trying very hard to be more open.
Following the briefing I met with some Soroptimists for a while and then went back to my room for a tea before I headed out to once again make the trek to meet the Canadian negotiators in the UN building - about a 1/2 hour walk for slow, old me. Suzanne was the government rep today and her news was some good and some bad. The good is that a new compilation text is due out today. The bad is that there are some "coalitions:" in the negotiations who are trying to hold a hard line against previously accepted language. The Commission operates on consensus rather than majority and so even one dissenting vote can stop the conclusions.The contentious wording falls in the areas of  "family", "gender", "sexual and reproductive rights and education",
"sovereignty" mostly. Some of this language was accepted back in 1949 and some just last year, but there are strong feelings around these subjects.
At about 3pm the new text came out - only 28 pages this time with 2 paragraphs already accepted (only).
 
Frantically, groups called meetings to review the text because tomorrow is the beginning of the final round of negotiations and it is harder to influence the negotiations from outside the rooms and almost none of us get to go inside. Soroptimists met upstairs in my hotel and other groups too.
At 6:15 there was a North America/Europe caucus meeting that went on for 2 hours. 
More tomorrow
Blessings Judy

Let's play catch up!

It is day one of UNCSW58 and I am just now getting around to writing this year's inaugural post for IAWN Canada. I will be blaming this on the jetlag that I am suffering.

Though this is my third time attending UNCSW, it was my first chance to participate in both the Ecumenical Women Orientation Day and NGO-CSW Consultation Day. 

Orientation Day was wonderful, and I believe it would have been really helpful in my first year when I found the whole process of participating in the events of UNCSW fairly confusing. I hope it helps some of this year's first timers to get their feet under them before they begin the week. 

Listening Intently at Ecumenical Women Orientation Day

Since I am on Ecumenical Women's communications team this year, I have been given the job of taking pictures at events - with someone's fancy DSLR camera. It is pretty much the most fun ever. If you'd like to see some of my pictures so far, then you should really go on facebook and like Ecumenical Women. You can then look through all our pictures there (although I will include a few pictures with posts as well). 

Phumzile Mlambo-Ncguka address NGO representatives

Yesterday was the Consultation Day for non-governmental organizations, I must confess that by yesterday, with the time change and the loss of another hour of sleep, my jet lag got the better of me and I decided to skip the afternoon in order to sleep before the first day of CSW today. Nonetheless, I was glad to be able to hear Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the new Executive Director of UN Women address the group in the morning. She had spoken at the Ecumenical Women Orientation Day on Saturday as well and I have already become quite a fan of hers. We have posted a video of that first address to Ecumenical Women on our website and on our facebook page as well. 

Praying for the women of the world on International Women's Day

In conclusion, you should really go check out all the wonderful things that have already begun to be posted through ecumenical women, but continue to watch this space for more from the Canadian Anglican delegates to UNCSW. 

-Caitlin Reilley Beck

(moderator of IAWN Canada blog)