The Australian YWCA Present at CEDAW
A delegation from the YWCA of Australia, led by Caroline Lambert, its Executive Director, flew to New York to present reports on Australia’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
For the past two years, YWCA Australia has been leading a process with colleagues in the Australian NGO and women's sectors to prepare two CEDAW shadow reports: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Report and the Australian NGO Report.
Three members of the Australian NGO delegation attended the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific CEDAW training.
During the past week, Caroline attended the Constructive Dialogue between the Government of Fiji and the CEDAW Committee, and the Russian Government and the CEDAW report. Other countries reporting to CEDAW during this session include Albania and Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The CEDAW Committee met with representatives of the Fiji Government, during which they welcomed the recognition of the Delegation that NGOs in Fiji were contributing to the work on women's equality in the country. PNG is to present their country report and NGO shadow report, in which Priscilla Kare, from the YWCA of PNG, played a significant role.
The Australian Government will meet with the CEDAW Committee to present its four-year report on women's human rights in Australia, and the Australian NGO Delegation will also present its reports to the CEDAW Committee.
“We’re excited to be at this stage in the project, speaking to Committee Members about the issues that women at our Australia-wide consultations raised” said Caroline, “it is important that their voices be heard by the Committee and that the Concluding Observations include our two priority issues: representation and participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in policy responses; and effective and resourced implementation of strategies to eliminate violence against women (particularly women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, women with disability, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. It is also important that the National Action Plan on Violence Against Women is released with adequate resources for implementation and an independent monitoring and evaluation mechanism.”
While in New York, some members of the CEDAW NGO team took the opportunity to visit the YWCA of Brooklyn which runs a whole-of-block building providing affordable housing to over 250 women, a community centre, office and meeting spaces and an old-school theatre.
