Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030 Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030 Alicia Bárcena Executive Secretary Antonio Prado Deputy Executive Secretary María Nieves Rico Chief, Division for Gender Affairs Ricardo Pérez Chief, Publications and Web Services Division The Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030 was adopted by the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean at its thirteenth session, which was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Government of Uruguay and took place in Montevideo from 25 to 28 October 2016. Distr.: General • LC/CRM.13/5 • March 2017 • Original: Spanish • S.17-00033 © United Nations • Printed in Santiago Applications for authorization to reproduce this work in whole or in part should be sent to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Publications and Web Services Division, [email protected]. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and to inform the United Nations of such reproduction. Contents Introduction........................................................................................5 A. The Regional Gender Agenda and its synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ......................................7 B. The Montevideo Strategy: a political commitment to achieving gender equality in the region by 2030 ...............12 1. Overcoming the structural challenges to the achievement of gender equality by 2030 .................................................14 C. The Montevideo Strategy: pillars for implementing the Regional Gender Agenda within the sustainable development framework by 2030 ...........................................20 1. Normative framework: equality and the rule of law ...........21 2. Institutional architecture: multidimensional and comprehensive gender equality policies .....................23 3. Popular and citizen participation: democratization of policy and society ..........................................................24 4. State capacity-building and -strengthening: public administration based on equality and non-discrimination......................................................26 5. Financing: mobilizing suficient and sustainable resources for gender equality .............................................27 6. Communication: access to information and cultural change ...........................................................29 7. Technology: towards e-government and innovative and inclusive economies ...................................................30 3 Mon te v ideo S t r a teg y fo r Imp lemen ta t ion o f the Reg ion a l Gende r Agend a . 8. Cooperation: towards democratic multilateral governance .....................................................31 9. Information systems: transforming data into information, information into knowledge and knowledge into political decisions .......................................................32 10. Monitoring, evaluation and accountability: guaranteeing rights and transparency ......................................................34 D. Follow-up to the implementation of the Montevideo Strategy by 2030 .....................................................................35 Annex 1 Explanation of position by the Republic of Nicaragua .......37 4 Introduction Since the twelfth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (Santo Domingo, 2013), the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, under the leadership of their ministers of women’s affairs and oficials from the machineries for the advancement of women, have expressed their determination and the need to establish a regional strategy to implement the Santo Domingo Consensus (paragraph 9 of the agreements adopted by the Presiding Oficers of the Regional Conference on Women at their iftieth meeting) and other regional agreements. At the ifty-second meeting of the Presiding Oficers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Santo Domingo from 30 to 31 July 2015, governments discussed the idea of developing a strategy for the effective implementation of the different regional agreements on women. At the ifty-third meeting of the Presiding Oficers, held in Santiago from 26 to 28 January 2016, the countries agreed to devise a strategy for the implementation of commitments undertaken by governments as part of the Regional Gender Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, in keeping with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted at the seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. The Regional Gender Agenda encompasses commitments made by the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean on women’s rights and autonomy, and gender equality, at the sessions of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, from the irst Regional Conference on the Integration of Women into the Economic and Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (Havana, 1977) to date, on the terms under which the governments of the region adopted them, as relected in 40 years of the Regional Gender Agenda,1 and in accordance with their domestic legislation. 1 LC/G.2682. 5 Mon te v ideo S t r a teg y fo r Imp lemen ta t ion o f the Reg ion a l Gende r Agend a . As part of the process of drawing up the Montevideo Strategy, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as the technical secretariat of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, undertook a systematic review of the language used over the last 40 years in the agreements that comprise the Regional Gender Agenda. That review took into account the socioeconomic context and discussions on the Sustainable Development Goals with the governments of the region and civil society, and led to the identiication of the agreements linked to different implementation pillars. In this regard, the measures of the Montevideo Strategy under each implementation pillar build on existing agreements and make progress towards operationalizing and giving full effect to the Regional Gender Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean by 2030. The methodology for devising the Montevideo Strategy was shared with and approved by governments at the three subregional preparatory meetings for the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: the meeting with Mexico and the Central American and Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries (Mexico City, 2 and 3 June 2016); the meeting with the South American countries (Santiago, 4 and 5 July 2016); and the meeting with the English-speaking and Dutch- speaking Caribbean countries (Port of Spain, 26 and 27 July 2016). Following an extensive consultation process, the different contributions of government oficials, representatives of civil society organizations and United Nations system bodies were compiled. ECLAC prepared a irst draft of the Montevideo Strategy, which was sent in August 2016 to States members of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean with the request that they submit new comments in writing. To further strengthen the participatory process of drafting the Montevideo Strategy, a meeting was held at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, on 23 and 24 August 2016, with specialists from the women’s movement and academic institutions, at which the irst draft of the Montevideo Strategy was shared and discussed, and suggestions and comments were noted. ECLAC used the contributions received to prepare an updated version of the document, to be considered by the States of the region at the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean as the basis for negotiations, with a view to adopting the Montevideo Strategy. 6 ECLAC 2017 A. The Regional Gender Agenda and its synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region in the world where, for the past four decades without fail, countries have been holding regular meetings to discuss and make a political commitment to eradicating discrimination against women and girls and gender inequality, and advancing towards the guarantee of full enjoyment of women’s and girls’ autonomy and human rights. The Inter-American Commission of Women of the Organization of American States, established in Havana in 1928, and the irst World Conference of the International Women’s Year, held in Mexico City in 1975, are important precedents that helped to create the conditions at the regional level in which an agenda of rights and non-discrimination could be developed and intergovernmental bodies specializing in women’s human rights and gender equality could be established. At the irst Regional Conference on the Integration of Women into the Economic and Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (Havana, 1977), the member States gave ECLAC a mandate to convene a Regional Conference on Women at regular intervals of no more than three years. Since then, 12 sessions of the Regional Conference have been held: Havana, 1977; Macuto, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 1979; Mexico