By Dr. Gabrielle Jamela Hosein, The Institute of Gender and Development Studies, Trinidad and Tobago
Women’s organisations need the People’s Forum to share, strategise and take collective action. It was fought for so that citizens of the Commonwealth could create open, fair and non-partisan dialogue and wide participation. In this space for civic dialogue, women must continually remind citizens and states of the Commonwealth what they want from the CHOGM process and the Commonwealth community.
Having learned from the work of the Trinidad and Tobago 
based Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women, which has taken on all of the following issues, here are my top five non-negotiables:
1. State commitments are not made real until there are budgetary funds and institutional resources put to their implementation. Gender responsive budgeting must be transparently applied so that women and girls, and subordinated groups of men and boys are not left behind. This is not practiced in Trinidad and Tobago, but it defines true leadership on achieving real democracy and poverty eradication. CHOGM 2009, step up!
2. Women’s issues are all issues, not just those that seem specific to one sex or gendered experience. Equality, equity and empowerment must underlie Commonwealth governments’ action on all the MDGs, especially MDG # 7: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability. Its achievement requires publicly accessible, cost-benefit analyses that holistically account for the impact of heavy industrialization on communities, ecosystems, family health, natural resources, public utilities and gender relations. Securing a say in transparent, accountable and sustainable development is exactly the struggle of local women fighting against a future aluminum smelter. CHOGM 2009, we are watching!
3. Women want the implementation of commitments made in the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005 – 2015. No reference is even made to it in the Concept Paper for CHOGM 2009. How are agreements made at previous CHOGMs being honored if they are being forgotten? CHOGM 2009, keep your promises!
4. Women want Commonwealth states to ratify the Optional Protocol Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. This Optional Protocol enables women, of all classes, religions, sexualities, ages and abilities, to individually report violations of their rights within or by their nation-states. States like Trinidad and Tobago sign on, but then do not enact national legislation to support their status as a signatory to the Protocol. CHOGM 2009, don’t go halfway!
5. Women want states to commit to quotas of 30% - 50% for women’s participation at all levels of political office, from local to national government, and to implement mechanisms to ensure women’s active and effective presence in leadership roles within them. We have strong female participation in high political office in Trinidad and Tobago, but this has not necessarily resulted in women friendly policies, even in the Draft National Gender Policy. It has also not resulted in the decentralization of power necessary for women in local government to ensure effective governance. CHOGM 2009, its about time!
