Monday, March 1, 2010

CSW - Day 1

Today I attended the Opening Ceremony of the UNCSW. It was very exciting. There was emphasis placed on progress made since Beijing, shared experiences, and good practices. Additionally, there was encouragent to add more action to commitments to the Beijing Platform. I was unable to stay for the entire session though because there was a scheduled tour of the UN. The tour went very well. We sadly did not get to see the General Assembly hall since it was closed for repairs, but instead we got to see the Security Council meeting room. There was a very cool picture of the UDHR in the shape of a person, which can also be seen at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/12/departments/human-rights-interactive. I later attended the Africa Caucus where the Beijing+15 Shadow Report for African States was discussed (access it at http://ngocswny.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/kenya-ngo-beijing-15-report-final-version.pdf). The meeting was very good, and VERY well attended. There was not a space left in the room or the spillover room. Gertrude Mongella explained the important role that the African caucus made at Beijing and how many of their proposals made it into the final Beijing Platform. I cannot stress how great of a meeting this was. Later in the evening, we had the great honor of having dinner with Senator Eve (Bazaiba Masudi Eve) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She told us her experience as 1 of 6 women in the Senate. It was a good night filled with lots of interesting discussion both at dinner and later with other Practicum students. Once again, I must cut this short since I am very tired.

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