Minister Plenipotentiary Josianne Fleming – Artsen is currently in New York as a member of the delegation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and joined by support person from the Social Development Department, Sint Maarten, Lysanne Charles – Arrindell.
Minister Fleming – Artsen, representing Minister the of Education, Culture, Youth & Sports and Public Health, Social Development and Labour, Rita Bourne – Gumbs, joined Minister of Education, Culture, and Science and delegation leader, Jet Bussemaker of the Netherlands, Minister of Family Policy and Lifelong Learning, Michelle Hooyboer – Winklaar of Aruba and Minister of Social Development, Labour and Welfare, Ruthmilda Larmonie – Cecilia of Curacao for the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 59).
The 2015 session revolves around a twenty year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, which seeks to empower women and bring about gender equality.
Since arriving in New York on Sunday, March 8, the Minister Plenipotentiary has attended daily briefings with her counterparts and the Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Karel van Oosterom.
She also took part in the official opening ceremony of the session at the United Nations General Assembly and witnessed the confirmation of the political declaration concerning the reaffirmation of the Beijing declaration and platform for action, which recognized and reinforced the goal to achieve gender equality.
The political declaration further affirmed and welcomed the progress made in the 20 years since Beijing, but indicated concerns about the slow progress and major obstacles that still impede the realization of the stated goal.
It was noted that no country was able to achieve full gender equality and that there is still work to be done across the board on the 12 critical areas of concern. The political declaration also recognizes that new challenges have emerged and reaffirmed the political will to tackle said challenges.
The document urges countries to, “take concrete actions for full, effective, and accelerated implementation of Beijing declaration and platform for action. To recognize the important role of the UN entity for Gender equality and Empowerment of Women. To recognize the full engagement for men and boys for the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, and commit to engaging all stakeholders for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.”
“We commit to use all opportunities and processes in 2015 and beyond to accelerate and achieve full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to achieve concrete results in each review cycle and strive for full realization of gender equality and empowerment of women by 2030,” the drafters of the document concluded.
In addition to attending the official opening of the session and sitting in on the Kingdom statement, which was also read before delegates from around the world in the General Assembly, Minister Fleming – Artsen and Charles – Arrindell of the Department of Social Development were also attending important side events on a number of topics including the participation of men and boys in gender development, women’s empowerment and the economy, women and health, women and LBTI discrimination, women’s shelters and women and intergenerational dialoguing, women and the Caribbean community, and women and the environment.
Minister Plenipotentiary Fleming – Artsen also indicated that while Sint Maarten has already accomplished a lot as it pertains to women, including women in high level positions across all segments of our society these sessions illustrate that there is still much more that must be done.
“Sint Maarten stands out when we compare how many women have been appointed in high places in our country. We can be proud that our women have achieved so much but in areas such as entrepreneurship women are lagging behind. There is a lot of work to do.
“A subject that is very challenging for Sint Maarten is the discussions on LGBT and LBTI. We must address this. We need to nourish and enrich our men and our boys, for, to achieve gender equality we need both women and men to be involved,” stated Minister Plenipotentiary Fleming – Artsen.
The Minister Plenipotentiary will remain in New York until next week and expects to attend more sessions in order to gain insights into best practices that can be used for Sint Maarten and also in order to network with Kingdom and Caribbean partners.