In Depth back to UNI In Depth home page 09/05/2002 Unions defend women's rights at WSSD ICFTU OnLine... 153/030902/LB World Summit for Sustainable development: Johannesburg 2002 Unions defend women's rights at WSSD Johannesburg, September 03, 2002 (ICFTU News): This morning at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), trade unionists led by Trine Lise Sundnes, Confederal Secretary of LO - Norway, brought their support to the call by the Women' Caucus for a stonger recognition of women's rights to be included in the Implementation Action Plan. The group was joined by hundreds of supporters outside the Sandton Convention Center, where Heads of State and Government continue to address the Summitt, which is due to close on Wednesday. Demonstrators chanting slogans such as "WSSD Trades Away Women's Rights" or "Women's Rights Are Human Rights - Change Paragraph 47", caught the attention of delegates as they walked into the Center where Heads of State and Government were to attend the different sessions scheduled to take place. The Women's Caucus is calling on delegates to change Paragraph 47 on health-care systems by adding the words "in conformity with all human rights and fundamental freedoms". The ICFTU believes that if left out, it would have the effect of subjecting human rights to local or national standards which may violate internationally recognised human rights standards. "Women's rights, just like trade union rights are part of the principle of freedom of association and the heads of state and government should recognise it!", said Trine Lise Sundnes. "Women' rights are under attack today. One of the main place of violations of women' rights occurs in workplaces, where peripheral, part-time and hazardous work is the new trend. This trend comes from the new globalised world where too often governments and companies infringe their rights", added Lucien Royer, spokesperson of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). More details about this event and others is available on the ICFTU website at http://www.icftu.org/focus.asp?Issue=wssd2002&Language=EN The ICFTU represents 157 million workers in 225 affiliated organisations in 148 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224 0232 or +32 476 62 10 18. Or contact ICFTU press officer Louis Bélanger in Johannesburg at louis@icftu.org /or +27 7 256 14461 ______________________ Union Network International http://www.union-network.org - contact@union-network.org