Magazine

Geneve _ A delegation of Il Cenacolo, composed by Prof. Loretta Lorenzini (president), Dr. Natalia Encolpio (vice president), Dr. Gioia Gabellieri and Dr. Roberta Pacelli (representatives of Il Cenacolo at the Un in Geneva) has partecipated to the "Millenium Assembly, Regional Hearings" organized by the Un in Geneve.

The General Assembly of the United Nations has decided to designate its fifty-fifth session the Millenium Assembly and to convene a Millenium Summit of Heads of State and Government. In so doing, the United Nations wishes to stress that the year 2000 consitutes a unique an symbolically compelling moment to put forward its vision of the international community in a new era and to give a new impetus to the organization in meeting the challenges of the next century.

A part of the process leading up to the Millenium Assembly, the Secretary-General has requested the five Regional Commissions of the United Nations to hold regional meetings in order to gather the views of Member States and of civil society, including NGOs, on the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century.

The hearing has been chaired by H.E. Mr Guido de Marco, President of Malta. It has constituted of 3 consecutive half-day sessions dedicated respectively to the issues of Human Rights, Sustainable Development, Peace and Disarmement. These sessions has been moderated respectively by Mrs Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Yves Berthelot, Executive-Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe and Mr Vladimir Petrovsky, Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personnal Representative of the Secretary-General. Each of the thematic sessions has gathered six eminent panelists, selected among ONG representatives, academics and opinion leaders. On the half of the second day, a concluding segment has been dedicated to drawing the conclusions of the earlier sessions and presenting concrete suggestions for maximizing the impact of the United Nations' actions.

During the meeting Il Cenacolo, in the session dedicated to the Suistinable Development, has exposed its proposal about "Information and training for the third Millenium: Infowoman & Iso Ontism". The projects of Il Cenacolo have obtained interest and partecipation of other NGOs, representatives of the Un and of the Government.

Professor Graziella Magherini at the Summer Session in Lizori

Success of the Summer Session of art organized by Il Cenacolo in the castle of Pissignano, Lizori, in Umbria. Professor Graziella Magherini, the main expert on the Stendhal's Syndrome has give a lecture during the course. The scientist of the 'images' has had a deep and interesting exchange of this fascinating matter seen both in the artistic and in the psychological way.

The second World Conference of Psychotherapy in Wien

by Maria Luisa Martelli

The workshop presented was focused on the proposal of joining the cross-cultural study promoted by Il Cenacolo. The menopause project together with the preliminary results obtained has been presented. In particular after a brief introduction on the Italian population based sample data we have described the results obtained with a new questionnaire "perceiving oneself out of the games" and its correlations with other previously validated measures. The general overview on menopause gives an identikit of a woman who suffers as a consequence of social/individual stereotypes rather than of the physiological changements she experience.

Il Cenacolo is promoting this project in other countries in order to see how this picture varies for different cultures.

UPDATE ON BEIJING PLUS FIVE PLANS AND PREPARATIONS

The UN Division for the Advancement of Women (UN/DAW) has

announced that, due to a meeting conflict, the UN Commission on

the Status of Women (CSW)/Second Preparatory Committee for

the GA Special Session on Beijing/Women 2000 (PrepCom 2) will

now be held from February 28 to March 17, 2000, and not March 6

to 24 as previously reported. This means that the NGO

Consultation will now be held on February 27, 2000, and not

March 5, 2000.

NGO Planning for Beijing Plus Five:

An International NGO Committee is being set up to facilitate

communication about the year-long process leading up to

"Women 2000." Participants will include representatives of 1)

CONGO (Conference of NGOs in Consultative Status with the UN)

and the three NGO Committees on the Status of Women in New

York, Vienna and Geneva; 2) regional NGOs; 3) large NGO

networks; and 4) NGO issue-based caucuses. Ability to

disseminate information broadly will be a crucial function of NGOs

serving on the international committee. Further participation will

include serving on a subcommittee to work on issues such as

funding, the alternative global report, accreditation issues, and

logistics. Participation on the International NGO Committee will be

mainly through electronic media, with a meeting planned at the

time of the CSW/PrepCom 2 in February/March 2000.

The International NGO Committee will assemble a Coordinating

Committee to coordinate the flow of communication, to facilitate

discussion of issues as they arise, to track the UN process, and

encourage the broad participation of NGOs in the Beijing+5

process. As part of an effort to keep all interested NGOs in contact

with preparations for Beijing Plus Five, an Interim Working Group

sent out a letter last month to more than 2,500 accredited NGOs

worldwide. For further information, contact: Sudha Acharya,

or Rebecca Nichols, CONGO Executive Director

Will There Be a UN World Conference on Women in 2005? 2010?

Does the Platform for Action continue on after 2000?

These are important questions facing women as we approach the

Special Session in June 2000. To date, there has been no word

from the UN regarding any future world conferences. If NGOs

believe that a world conference on women is needed to continue

the momentum of the past 20 years towards improving the status

of women worldwide, they should lobby and advocate for this

within their own countries. Additionally, input from NGOs into a

"Women 2000 Declaration" is encouraged. As the mandate for the

Platform for Action runs out in the year 2000, many NGOs believe

that it should be renewed and strongly reaffirmed at the Special

Session in June 2000, and given a mandate that will take it through

the next ten years. If you are interested in having input into this

WomenAction 2000:

At the time of PrepCom 1 (March 1999), a group of NGO

information and communication network women met to discuss the

setting up of a global communications network for Beijing Plus

Five information. Out of these meetings came WomenAction 2000.

A global website has now been established, beginning with a

copy of IWTC's Preview 2000 #2, which outlines many of the plans

and preparations coming out of the March PrepCom, along with contacts

and resources for those interested in Beijing plus Five. You can find

this at

regional and issue-oriented websites, to WomenWatch (the UN

Internet Gateway to information on women's and gender issues)

and to websites such as Mapping the World, the IIAV/Netherlands

site containing information on women's information and resource

centres worldwide. Websites containing regional and national

Beijing Plus Five information have already been set up in

Asia/Pacific, Africa and Latin America, with future sites planned

for Europe and North America. (See GlobalNet #126). For further

Additions/ Corrections to Beijing Plus Five Websites Listed in

Women's Globalnet #126:

A. Global web-sites:

Center for Women's Global Leadership site, with special B + 5

section.

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). IISD is

the producer of the well-known Earth Negotiations Bulletin, and

this website contains coverage of the 43rd Session of CSW

(March 1999)

Again IISD, containing the final report from Beijing Plus Five PrepCom

1

(March 1999)

B. Africa:

International Women's Forum website, Morocco

E. North America:

United Nations Platform for Action Committee, Manitoba, Canada.

Focuses on current and upcoming activities, conferences and

events, local, Canadian and worldwide, related to follow-up to the

Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995.

G. United Nations:

UNIFEM's website (UN Development Fund for Women)

Electronic Dialogues Facilitated by the UN:

Beginning in July 1999 and running through November 1999,

electronic dialogues on the critical areas of concern from the

Platform for Action are planned by Womenwatch, (the UN Internet

Gateway to information on women's and gender issues).

Information on these dialogues is available at

<www.un.org/womenwatch/daw> by clicking on the Beijing+5

page.

NGO Letter Re Registration for Women 2000: The UN Division for

the Advancement of Women (UN/DAW) will be sending out a letter

to accredited NGOs detailing the mechanics of NGO registration

for Women 2000. For further information on this, contact: UN/DAW

Information

As part of the NGO Global Communications Network project (WomenAction

2000), an outcome of meetings between national, regional and

international women's media networks during PrepCom I for Beijing Plus

Five in March 1999, we are making efforts to locate web-sites that

carry

information on the Beijing Plus Five review process.

Here is a preliminary listing of web-sites that we are currently aware

of. Please note that it is a beginning list only and some sites are

still under construction. Let us know of other sites that would be of

interest to people looking for Beijing Plus Five information, and we

will add these to this listing.

A. Global web-sites:

WomenAction site for Beijing Plus Five planning (currently under

construction). However, the second issue of IWTC's special bulletin on

B+5 info entitled Preview 2000 is already available at:

More sections will be added as funds and information become available.

Women's Human Rights site still under construction, but some

information

already available.

Center for Women's Global Leadership site, with special B + 5 section.

B. Africa:

Website for WomensNet, South Africa, including regular updates on all

matters related to gender (including Beijing Plus Five) in Africa, also

international news

FEMNET Africa site out of Kenya, in English and French.

Brand new web-site of Isis WICCE (Women's International Cross Cultural

Exchange) based in Kampala, Uganda.

Web-site of ENDA-Synfev, Senegal. The following 4 web-sites are also

part of ENDA-Synfev, which is part of the APC Women's Network Support

Programme.

Famafrique : web site for francophone African women

Electronic information service in French about women in Africa

La toile d'elles: Bimonthly liaison bulletin for francophone African

women

Femmes2000: Information in French about the preparations of Beijing+5

in

Africa and worldwide

C. Asia/Pacific:

Isis International/Manila's site for Asia/Pacific women.

This site is run by the Asian Women's Resource Exchange (AWORC) for

Asia/Pacific Beijing Plus Five planning.

Part of the AWORC site for Asia/Pacific, includes good coverage of the

Beijing Plus Five PrepCom and the beginnings of the Global

Communications project (WomenAction 2000).

D. Latin America:

ALAI web site out of Ecuador. English, French and Spanish

Fempress web-site out of Chile. Contains articles and other materials

about women in LA, many related to Beijing Plus Five plans and

preparations. Spanish.

Brand new web-site of Isis International/Santiago, with plans for a

Beijing Plus Five section later. Spanish.

E. North America:

Association for Women in Development, based in Washington, DC. AWID

also

has a regular e-mail bulletin entitled AWID Exchange. Contact: <awid

@awid.org>

CRIAW (Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement). Has section

for

Beijing Plus Five plans and preparations in Canada.

F. Europe:

International Archives for the Women's Movement in Amsterdam. There

will soon be a new European B + 5 site launched through them that will

feature lots of information on NGO organizing around Beijing plus Five

in Eastern and Western Europe.

The GreenNet/APC (Association for Progressive Communications) women's

site, UK .

G. United Nations:

The site for UN follow-up to Beijing activities and events

Division for the Advancement of Women

Web-site for UN Commission on the Status of Women

H. UN Regional Commissions:

UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia/Pacific.

UN Economic Commission for Europe

UN Economic Commission for Africa

UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Carribean