A long day today - ending with a wonderful reception this evening in the Delegates Dining Room hosted by the Canadian Delegation. The Minister, Hon. Helena Guergis was there - she had spoken to the Commission this afternoon. See above link to her speech. There were lots of photos taken, and should have some to share shortly.
I was in another session, so missed the Minister's speech, but was there earlier and heard many countries - my favourite was from Sweden. If i can find it on the Net, i will share it. It was interesting - these speeches are given by the member states in a very formal setting. There are some NGOs in the room, and then, because of the number of NGOs, there is an overflow room and that was where i was. There is a live hook up, with a big screen, and sound. Well, when the woman from Sweden spoke, all the NGOs clapped their approval. Quite extraordinary. She spoke about how culture and religion has justified the suppression of women. She identified 2 areas of immediate concern by the UN - 1 is the fact that zero tolerance of abuse by UN personnel in the field is not enough - there must be better training, and also enforcement, with punishment. 2 is the recognition of women's control over their own bodies, in terms of accessing a range of family planning services and birth control, as well as primary health care for girls and women.
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