Lot's of Talk and Little Substance - We Must Not Regress!

Back-tracking and regression is the theme of these latest days of negotiations and we're working hard to ensure that rights based language - particularly that from previous UN agreements - remains throughout the text.

What we really want to see is mentions of the importance of non-formal education and the need to address violence against women in the text. To raise awareness I am supporting two hashtags on Twitter and I urge you to do the same - #EducationEverywhere along with a message about non-formal education and #SexRightsRio to highlight the need for sexual and reproductive rights to be ensured.

It's an indication of the busy nature of the conference that this is the first entry I have written whilst in Rio - however it is not indicative of the pace of negotiations. Things are going slowly and as of yet it is unclear whether quality text with strong language will make it before the ministers and heads of state next week...