~UN Commission on the Status of Women~
Nancy Wallace, WFMH Main Representative at UN NY, and Ricki Kantrowitz, the Federation’s representative on the NGO Committee on Women, took an active role in programs arranged during the session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women from 1 to 19 March 1999. They were joined by Board member Chueh Chang, who travelled from Taiwan to participate. Dr. Chang gave the keynote speech on women and mental health at the all-day NGO consultation which was held on 28 February, immediately before the session opened. Later, she was selected to read a Joint Statement before the Commission on behalf of the two NGO Committees on Women and on Mental Health.
Each year the UN Commission on the Status of Women reviews progress on the Platform for Action developed at the UN Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 This year it also acted as a preparatory meeting for “Women 2000,” a special session of the UN General Assembly to be held in New York on 5-9 June 2000. The special session will be a five-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
One of the critical areas for review in 1999 was women’s health, and (as in Beijing) the WFMH representatives lobbied vigorously to have mental health included in the discussions. To take the issue to the government-level sessions they worked in close cooperation with Ruth Limjuco, the Special Assistant for UN and Women’s Issues in the Foreign Affairs Department of the Philippine Government. Nancy Wallace reports that women’s mental health is now getting sufficient attention to be considered an “emerging issue”on the Commission’s agenda.
Three documents of note were produced during the Commission session as a result of the government meetings and parallel NGO activities. These were:
1) a Resolution on Women and Mental Health, with emphasis on special groups, adopted by the Commission for presentation to the UN Economic and Social Council in September; 2) a Joint Statement formally presented to the Commission by the NGO Committee on Mental Health and the NGO Committee on the Status of Women’s Task Force on Mental Health; and the “Draft Agreed Conclusions on Women and Health,” representing the outcome of the official government-level sessions. The Resolution on Women and Mental Health has special significance as the first “stand-alone” mental health initiative at the UN since the pioneering Resolution 46/119 on the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care which was adopted by the General Assembly in December 1991.