African women speak out in preparations for the Millennium +5 Summit/Les femmes Africaines s'experiment lors de preparatifs du Sommet du Millennaire+ 5.

• Author: Doumbia, Mama Koite

The General Assembly, by its resolution 59/145 of 17 ecember 2004, requested the President of the General sembly, in consultation with representatives of non-governmental organizations, to organize informal interactive hearings in June 2005 in New York with representatives of non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector, as an input to the preparatory process of the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly to be held on 14 to 16 September 2005.

By its resolution 59/291 of 15 April 2005, the General Assembly decided that the President of the General Assembly shall preside over the informal interactive hearings. The Informal Interactive Hearings of the GA with non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector were subsequently held on 23 to 24 June 2005 at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The GA Hearings provided a historic opportunity for civil society and the private sector to voice their views to member states on the UN Secretary General's proposals for the Millennium Summit in September 2005. The themes for the Informal Interactive Hearings were based on clusters set out in the comprehensive report of the Secretary General of 21 March 2005 entitled "In Larger Freedoms".

Mama Koite Doumbia, Chairperson of Executive Board of FEMNET, represented FEMNET at the Interactive Hearings. Below is a summary of the proceedings and Mama Koite's panelist presentation under discussions on the 'Freedom from Want' Cluster.

The General Assembly, representatives from Non-governmental organizations, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Private Sector, jointly organized the Informal Interactive Hearings that took place on 23-24 June 2005 in New York.

This unprecedented dialogue was held in the context of the preparatory process of the World Summit scheduled for 14-16 September 2005 which will examine the UN reform proposals included in the Secretary General's Report and will assess the steps achieved with regard to the commitments made in 2000 concerning the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

More than 200 non-governmental actors and 1,000 other people who had been invited to participate as observers were given the opportunity to bring their contribution to the ongoing discussions on development, security and human rights issues.

The General Assembly President, Jean Ping, chaired the ceremony. While addressing the meeting, he stressed the strong move by the GA to take into consideration civil society vision in the above-mentioned reforms.

Renate Bloem, CONGO Chairperson, speaking on behalf of the civil society, recalled how important the September Summit is and stressed that the leaders of the whole world have the capacity to make decisions that will affect not only the future of the United Nations but also of the world.

She expressed her hope that the interactive forum would be institutionalized.

THEMATIC ROUND TABLES

Four round tables were organized around the following themes:

* Living in dignity;

* Living free from need;

* Living free from fear;

* Strengthening the UN;

"Living in dignity" round table

The outstanding ideas from this theme were the following:

* The connection between security, development and human rights;

* The necessity to give human rights a central position within the UN structures;

* The creation of a Human Rights Council that is capable of reacting quickly has met wide support;

* The political will for women's rights;

* The eradication of violence committed against women;

* Winning people's hearts instead of imposing ideologies upon them;

* Increasing resources for the Units within the...