Highlights from Thursday, 9 March

PrepCom Working Groups Working Group II met in the afternoon to continue negotiation of actions and initiatives to overcome obstacles and achieve the full and accelerated implementation of the Platform for Action. Working Group I met in an evening session to begin discussions on achievements and obstacles in the implementation of the 12 areas of concern of the outcome document. Proposed outcome document (E/CN.6/2000/L.1/Rev.1).

In the Corridors: The pace of negotiations has picked up, although the present cruising speed might not produce clean text by the end of the PrepCom as delegates leave pieces of bracketed text behind to help negotiations find their way home to introductory paragraphs. In this context, some members of the groups are growing impatient at the trends of negotiations. However, delegates all agree on Chair Bhattacharjee�s reminder that �in the UN, there can be no emerging consensus, just a merging of consensus.�

Working Group II Chair Bhattacharjee, India (above right), and Working Group I Chair Kristen Mlacak, Canada (left)

(Click here for coverage of a side event panel discussion on women and mental health)

Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Founder Trustee of SNEHA, a voluntary center for suicide prevention, addressed the issue Suicide in Women: Socio-cultural and Gender Issues in South Asia.