[Gcap-mujeres] Women's Tribunals / Poverty hearings

[ana]

Dear friends 
queridas amigas, (español en mensaje aparte)

In spite of the constant increasing security in the area of the UN and of 
the difficulties people faced to get to the venue of the poverty hearing and 
the women's tribunals, the Church Centre was packed and both activities went 
very well. At the end of the day, once the women's tribunals had finalised, 
there was a shared feeling that a very important event had taken place, one 
that had opened many eyes, unveiling the other side of a city that so many 
people associate with endless possibilities and abundance. The testimonies 
showed, instead, deprivation, exploitation, marginalisation, lack of access 
to basic services, and above all, how these conditions are marked by women's 
origins and belongings. Testimonies were so powerful that one of the judges, 
Charlotte Bunch, said that the process of the tribunals were very important 
because "we are renaming our reality", "we are putting an end to silence". 
That was said after so many women living in New York under conditions of 
poverty or women working in underprivileged areas of the city gave one after 
the other personal testimonies and numerous statistics about how women of 
color are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, 
domestic violence, lack of access to health services, to education, to 
security. 
The women's tribunals took place in the afternoon, following the poverty 
hearings in the morning. The two activities were called: A Day of Voices. 
The first part were the poverty hearings on the MDGs organised by GCAP as a 
whole that focused on three topics: Poverty and Hunger, Addressing Education 
and Environmental Sustainability.  There were testimonies for each of the 
topics, one expert witness and then the advocates for each topic made their 
comments. The judges were: Ela Bhatt (India) for education, Archbishop 
Ndungane (South Africa) for poverty and hunger and Serigne Mansaour Sy 
(Senegal) for environmental sustainability. Mary Robinson (Ireland) was also 
one of the advocates and the chair of the hearing. They were testimonies 
from all regions of the world, including from children. There were members 
of the FTF in each of the themes (Lysa John from India in poverty and 
hunger, Sharmila Karki from Nepal in education and Marta Benavides from El 
Salvador in environment. Most speakers emphasised the centrality of focusing 
on women.
Mary Robinson highlighted that there was a sense of urgency, that responding 
to the realities presented at the tribunal required above all power and 
political will. She added "there is always money to buy arms and to bail 
financial institutions", so the challenge is to change the power dynamics. 
She added that our strength are the numbers, the millions of people that 
more and more are working as networks and are bringing together issues that 
will necessarily find common solutions: environment, human rights, youth, 
women, faith based organisations. She also linked these MDG demands with 
other processes such as the Financing for Development, and the World Social 
Forum. And she also emphasised the importance that at the hearings many of 
the witnesses expressed themselves in their own language, highlighting the 
importance of space, voice, identity and culture All advocates committed 
themselves to present the testimonies and recommendations to those in 
positions of power to take decisions around the MDGs. 

And then we had the Women's Tribunals on Poverty and the MDGs, focusing on 
poverty of women in New York city. It was co-organised by the FTF, the Women 
of Color Policy Network together with the UN-Non Governmental Liaison 
Service. It was also organised around themes linked to the MDGs: MDG 1, 
Poverty and Economic Security; MDG 5 and 6, Women and Health; and MDG 3, 
Women's Empowerment and Human SEcurity and Dignity. The panel of jurists 
included: Cathy Abisa, Director of the National Economic and Social Rights 
Initiative, Dr. Vinu Aram, Director of Shanti Ashram, Charlotte Bunch, 
Director of the Centre for Women's GLobal Leadership and Taina Bien Amie. 
Witnesses included women from various backgrounds, latinas, Afro Americans, 
muslim women, recent immigrants; they all shared experiences that 
highlighted the disparities in race and class in relation to health, to 
access to employment, to security. They were very powerful testimonies, some 
in the form of poems, some shared with difficulty as the situation was 
sometimes overwhelming, some with the support of translators. They were all 
testimonies of women that have been failed by those responsible for securing 
their basic rights. And as the panel of jurist said, were also failed by 
other women who have found comfort zones in a city (and a country) that 
denies its own  injustices and violations while pretending to impose its 
lifestyle on humanity as a whole. 
At the end of the session, Rosa presented the next steps that will be 
followed which are:
Compilation of witness testimony and recommendations by expert witnesses
Recommendations from Jurists
Summary of Women’s Tribunals to the Secretary-General
Outcomes & Commitments

She also presented the following as concrete outcomes:
Shadow report release on NYC and MDGs;
Increased partnership between local and global women’s groups with an aim to 
foster linkages;
Increased awareness about women and poverty in the north and the 
localization of MDGs;
Testimony and Documentation (oral histories, written and film) on Women and 
the MDGs, including the filming of the entire poverty tribunal.

And she finally presented the following commitments:
Commit to holding women’s tribunals around the world
Commit to NYC tribunals on health and migrant women
Commit to linking the HLE on MDGs to the Financing for Development Doha
Commit to supporting gender equality architecture reform (GEAR)

As you can see it was a very intensive and moving day, and it announces an 
intense work ahead. 
There is much more to share with you all and we will be doing that in the 
coming days, but I want to say that I was proud that as FTF we were able to 
co-organise this activity and that the work done by our colleagues in New 
York was outstanding. 

More soon. And we look forward to your engagement with the tribunals in the 
coming months.
Greetings,
Ana