ETFO at UN-CSW 54 - Beijing+15 
March 1-5, 2010

ETFO was part of a delegation of labour and women's groups that attended the 54th session of the United Nations Committee on the Status of Women (UNCSW) during the first week of March.  The session also marked the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action which outlined 12 critical areas of action for governments in order to ensure the full participation of women in civil society. Canada was one of the signatories of the declaration back in 1995.

• Prior to UNCSW on February 22nd, The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action and the Canadian Labour Congress released Reality Check: Women in Canada and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action Fifteen Years On. The report is highly critical of the Harper Conservatives' positive spin on women's equality in Canada. Under their watch Canada has fallen from a top-10 score in the UN Gender Disparity Index to 73rd place. ETFO has endorsed the report as stated in this media release.
  
  

• On Thursday, March 4th, the four Global Unions at UNCSW issued an open letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, expressing their outrage at the process and substance of the event. The unions--Education International among them--reported that they had encountered roadblocks at every juncture of the process, making their effective participation in the meeting impossible.

• The following videos of the ETFO delegation at UNCSW were captured by CTF staff officer Francine Filion:

• Day 1: Deputy General Secretary Marilies Rettig comments on the barriers to full union participation at UNCSW-54.

• Day 2: First Vice-President Susan Swackhammer, Vice-President Maureen Weinberger, and Vice-President Hilda Watkins respond to Status of Women Minister Helena Guergis's statement at UNCSW.

• Day 3: First Vice-President Susan Swackhammer discusses the women she has encountered at UNCSW and their incredible commitment and sacrifice to get to New York.