UN conference on financing for development gender blind.

• Position: News in Brief

From 18-22 Maroh, the UN conference on financing for development (FFD) will take place in Monterrey, Mexico. In the same place non governmental organisations (NGOs) will organise an alternative meeting which will have an impact on the outcomes of the official conference.

The conference will strive to address the mobilisation of financial resources for the creation of national and international economic conditions to diminish poverty and improve social conditions.

The negotiations in Monterrey will focus on six topics, mobilising domestic financial resources for development, foreign direct investments and other private capital flows, international trade as an engine for development, future official development assistance, external debt and reform of international monetary, financial and trading systems.

The FFD conference will not address inequities in global development if the draft consensus and the processing leading to the conference are anything to go by.

The Gender caucus, a grouping of women's organisations across the world, made this observation at the fourth and final preparatory committee of the FFD where the draft outcome document of the conference was debated. The caucus stated that macroeconomic policies and programmes influence structural, racial and cultural barriers to the pursuit of gender equality and economic and social justice.

According to the caucus, the draft consensus to be used at the conference does not reflect gender equity nor women's empowerment. The caucus states that it is critical to integrate and mainstream gender into the spirit and concrete intentions of the document, and specific proposals for alternative gender sensitive macro-economic frameworks.

Une Conference des Nations Unies sur le Financement en vue du Developpement insensible au Genre

La Conference des Nations Unies sur le Financement en vue de Developpement (FD) aura lieu Monterrey au Mexique du 18 au 22 mars. Les organisations non gouvernementales onganisent uno reunion alternative au meme endroit qui aura un impact sur los resultats do la conference officielle.

La...