Delegation From: Bangladesh Represented By: Lakewood High School Position Paper for The Commission on the Status of Women The topics presented to the Commission on the Status of Women include the Empowerment of Female Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries and Removing Barriers to Justice for Women. Bangladesh fully supports endeavors to advance women’s rights in all areas and would like to see further efforts put forth in the realization of women’s rights, the implementation of effective programs, and overall forward progress in the area of women’s rights as a whole. I. Empowering Female Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries Bangladesh puts its full support behind efforts to empower women not only in the business field, but in all other fields, and is committed to improving women’s rights and gender equality as a whole. While the condition of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh is not perfect (as is the case in many other nations), considerable progress has been made in this area (along with an array of other areas relating to women’s rights and gender equality); due to the growth of the garment industry women have entered the workforce in significant numbers (over three million women have formal paid employment in this sector alone), the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been active in promoting targeted government policies (including allocation of sufficient budget funds) to support women entrepreneurs, and nearly all banks in Bangladesh now have desks dedicated solely to women entrepreneurs to ensure that they can access loans on better terms more easily. Bangladesh has expressed its support of women’s rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of women by signing onto/participating in a variety of United Nations programs, campaigns, and plans. It has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and has signed onto the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) (known as the “most progressive road map to gender equality”) . Bangladesh also joined the UNiTE Campaign targeted at reducing violence against women, participated in 16 Days Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, and fully supports and hopes for a more focused effort in implementing the Strategic Plan 20142017. This program (operated by UNWomen) presents goals and plans of action in vital areas regarding gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide; these areas include leadership and political participation, economic empowerment, ending violence against women and girls, peace and security, and several others. Furthermore, Bangladesh has put into practice the United Nations Joint Programme on Violence Against Women which is aimed at reducing violence against women and has yielded fruitful results, as stated by H.E. Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen (Bangladeshi Ambassador to the UN) on February 9, 2015 in the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations: “In the criteria of evaluations reports found out that UNWomen Programme have been largely successful in delivering planned activities and outputs.” Lastly, Bangladesh stated at the 57th CSW on March 11, 2013 that it has a variety of its own effective legal framework in place to aid women and help prevent violence including the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protective Act (2010) and the National Women Development Policy (2011). All things considered, Bangladesh would like to see the further consideration of programs similar to those of the United Nations Joint Programme and overall more steps taken to ensure that women have access to the business field and the option of entrepreneurship. However, Bangladesh would also like to be sure that the cultural beliefs of each individual nation are taken into account and respected as much as possible when discussing possible ways to improve women’s access to entrepreneurship/women’s rights in general. Finally, Bangladesh simply hopes to see effective collaboration between nations and an overall forward movement in regards to this issue as well as women’s rights in general. II. Removing Barriers to Justice for Women In 1911, only two countries in the world allowed women to vote. Now, in 2015, a little over a century later, this right is practically ubiquitous. We have come very far as a planet in the way of Women's justice, but we still have so far to go. The United Nations have made several strides in the past. Adopted in 1979 by the UN Women committee, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) serves as a declaration of women's rights globally and provides a specific destination of offenses to which national action can then springboard off of. UN Security Council Resolution 1325, on women, peace and security reaffirmed the need to include women in conflict compromise. 8 subsequent resolutions on the same topic, the most recent being in 2015, provide a crucial fortification for women in areas of conflict. The Bangladeshi committee in the UN in February of last year addressed the President of the committee in encouragement of the HeforShe program launch, and hoped for its implementation and success. Bangladesh is a linchpin in this situation of utmost importance. As their independence was only gained 40 years ago, the last four decades have been full of trials, yet from these struggles came successful stories and institutions for present day equilibration of the sexes. In the Bangladeshi Constitution and specific laws, women’s rights are protected under the broad and universal principles of equality. However, equality is not practiced, specifically in law enforcement and the work force. In 1990, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs set up Assistance cells to help victims of violence. In efforts to open conversation on the inequality, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) collaborated with USAID's Justice for All (JFA) to organize a panel discussion on the challenges of women's participation in the justice sector in Bangladesh. The Joint Programme on Violence against Women (the Programme) is a UN program partnered with Bangladeshi government in which the reduction of poverty is used to help instill equality. Even though these programs have had substantial success in resolving huge issues there are many still blatantly prevalent. The biggest issues however, are many governments’ failure to identify there is a need for programs to help equality of women, as many believe that the laws enacted are enough, and also that government officials need to be responsible for the actual success of laws or programs they initiate in order to insure their success. Bangladesh therefore suggests a 3 prong approach to addressing the problem. The first is the implementation of GenderResponsive Budgeting, as this will allow government spending to truly help women equality and also will allow governments to see how their resources are being used. The second portion is the insistence of Gender analysis for the effects of documents and resolutions, under the model of the one done on UNDP Justice programme documents. This would allow the investigation on the true effects of a law put into effect. The last is that practitioners should be held accountable for results in gender equality and that they must state outputs of their legislation to insure its profitable effects. Delegation from: The People’s Republic of China Represented by: St. Vincent- St. Mary High School Position Paper for the Commission on the Status of Women The issues before the United Nations Council on the Status of Women are: Empowering Female Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries and Removing Barriers to Justice for Women. The People’s Republic of China strongly believes that the United Nations should work toward protecting and promoting the development of women while still respecting the unique stages of development in different countries. I. Empowering Female Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries Women in developing countries often face immense cultural, legal, and religious barriers. These barriers prevent women from obtaining paying jobs or starting their own businesses. They seem to have no effect on the world of economics, however their impact is quite large. Countries with similar or equal numbers of women and men in their workforce have increased gross domestic product and economic growth. Having females in the work force not only increases economic growth but helps to reduce poverty and promote education. The People’s Republic of China believes that the Commission on the Status of Women should make every effort to promote and empower female entrepreneurs in developing countries, while remaining considerate of the sovereignty of the states involved. In the past, China has supported numerous resolutions in the hope of improving the rights of and empowering women. One of these resolutions is The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was created during the Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing, China. The declaration describes steps to be taken in the interest of improving women’s role in the economy as well as women’s rights, health, poverty, and the environment. The People’s Republic of China feels that the best way to solve this issue is to create an environment where women can safely start and run businesses and contribute to the economy. This would be achieved by creating a loan system to supply women with the funds they need to successfully start a business as well as creating education centers to teach female entrepreneurs about running businesses. In addition to this, policies on gender equality would be integrated into the creation of laws in order to create a safer environment in which women can contribute to the economy. The empowerment of women is an issue that affects countries worldwide. Therefore, we need to find a remedy to this problem as an international community. The People’s Republic of China hopes that the Commission on the Status of Women will find a solution in order to empower female entrepreneurs across the globe.