BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION STRONGEST EVER INTERNATIONAL STATEMENT ON WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT, UNITED STATES TELLS THIRD COMMITTEE

15 November 1995

Press Release
GA/SHC/3320

BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION STRONGEST EVER INTERNATIONAL STATEMENT ON WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT, UNITED STATES TELLS THIRD COMMITTEE

19951115 Speakers Stress Effective Follow-up to World Women's Conference; Zambia Reminds Committee 1985 Nairobi Conference Lacked Implementation

Calling the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women "the strongest policy statement promoting women's empowerment ever made by the international community", the representative of the United States said this morning that the United Nations needed to mainstream, coordinate and monitor its implementation, as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) continued its consideration of the advancement of women and the outcome of the Beijing Conference.

A number of speakers expressed concerns about implementation of the Plan of Action. The representative of Canada said the role of the United Nations system was critical in providing the appropriate support and forum for implementation of the Platform. The representative of Poland added that if the Platform was to be anything more than an important piece of paper, some long-term measures, such as a close cooperation among governments of the same region, could give more consistency to its implementation.

The representative of Zambia reminded the Committee that poor coordination and accountability within the system had contributed to the lack of any concrete follow-up to implementation of the 1985 Nairobi Forward- looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women to the Year 2000. She warned that the same problems could occur in attempting to implement the Platform. She expressed her disfavour of the proposal to integrate the functions of the adviser on gender issues into the portfolio of one of the senior advisors in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, since that would lead to continued marginalization of gender issues.

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Statements were also made this morning by the representatives of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Netherlands, Australia and Israel. The observer of Palestine also made a statement.

Also this morning, the Senior Coordinator for Refugee Women for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a representative of the World Bank, and a representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) made statements.

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its consideration of the advancement of women and the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

Committee Work Programme

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met this morning to continue its consideration of the advancement of women and the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace.

The Committee has before it the following reports concerning the Committee on the elimination of Discrimination against Women (document A/50/38); the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (document A/50/346); the improvement of the situation of women in rural areas (document A/50/257/Rev.1); violence against women migrant workers (document A/50/378); the activities of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) (document A/50/538); implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women to the Year 2000 (document A/49/398); and traffic in women and girls (document A/50/369). (For background information on those reports, see Press Release GA/SHC/3317 of 10 November.)

Also before the Committee are reports on the report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (A/CONF.177/120), the Secretary-General's report on the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women (document A/50/744), the merger of INSTRAW with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) (document A/50/747-E/1995/126), the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat (document A/50/691), and the activities of the United Nations Development Fund (document A/50/410). (For background information see Press Release GA/SHC/3319 of 14 November.)

RI SONG IL (Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea) said that efforts to solve problems connected with women's issues should focus on an early elimination of poverty, unemployment, disease and illiteracy. Addressing these problems was even more urgent in the developing countries that had formerly been colonies. The current inequitable economic and trade relations also had a direct negative impact on social development in developing countries, thus leading to further deterioration in the situation of women.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea had taken all necessary measures to protect the privileges of women and ensure they participated in social activities free from worry, he said. Such measures included free medical care, paid maternity leave, free and compulsory education for 11 years and the promulgation of the law on education and upbringing of children.

He reiterated his country's "deep concern over the unsettled question of the more than 200,000 `comfort women' who were forcibly drafted for the Japanese Army during World war II". Those women, from various Asian countries, but the majority of whom were Koreans, were systematically raped, tortured and often killed, he said. The Japanese Government had taken some

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cosmetic steps on the issue, but those steps only aimed at pacifying the continuing outcry of the victims against Japan's refusal to fully admit its past crimes and properly compensate all the victims and their families. Those cosmetic steps revealed the Japanese Government's intention to avoid responsibility for past crimes.

KWANG JAE LEE (Republic of Korea) said that, given the countless tasks enumerated in the Plan for Action of the Beijing Conference, it might be appropriate for each government to identify its own specific strategic goals or to prioritize the goals within the framework of the 12 critical areas of concern set up in the Platform for Action. He was convinced that achieving gender equality through the enduring process of women's empowerment at all levels was one of the top priorities in the implementation of the Platform. His Government was currently mapping out a national plan that sought to broaden the participation of women in society.

Given that women in developing countries were the primary victims of discrimination and social injustice, he said the international community must place special focus on them in its global social development effort. Sustainable development could only be achieved by establishing gender equality in all facets of development. Equal rights and equal opportunities for women in the areas of education, health and family planning were preconditions for genuine development. Existing institutions that perpetuated gender discrimination should be rectified. The mechanisms for the advancement of women within the United Nations system should be strengthened.

KERRY BUCK (Canada) said the role of the United Nations system was critically important in providing the appropriate support and forum for implementation of the Platform for Action. The mandate of the Commission on the Status of Women needed to be reviewed and strengthened, taking into account the need for synergy with other functional commissions. It should, further, have a central role in monitoring implementation of the Platform for Action and should assist the Economic and Social Council in coordination of reporting on implementation by all actors across the United Nations system. In addition, a reassessment of the functions of the Division for the Advancement of Women was necessary.

She supported the recent announcement by the Secretary-General of the creation of high-level inter-agency task forces to support country-level follow-up to United Nations conference agreements. Furthermore, she supported his proposal to establish a high-level board on the advancement of women to advise him on the follow-up to the Conference. In her country, the Platform for Action, along with the Federal Plan for Gender Equality, would guide the advancement of women.

JEANNE MOUTOUSSAMY-ASHE (United States) said by building upon previous achievements, the Platform for Action offered a remarkable consensus on what

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were the remaining obstacles to women's empowerment and what was necessary to overcome them. "The Platform is the strongest policy statement promoting women's empowerment ever made by the international community", she said. Furthermore, it represented the first time that a United Nations document directed at advancing women had been framed in the context of human rights and economic independence.

Non-governmental organizations faced the great challenge of continuing to work with each other and their governments to affect change, she continued. In implementing the Platform, her Government believed that the United Nations needed to mainstream, coordinate and monitor. The Organization needed to promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming gender perspective through its work. In addition, coordination was crucial to the follow-up strategies for Beijing. In monitoring the implementation, she welcomed a vibrant Commission on the Status of Women that would have a central and catalytic role. "With the map designed in Beijing and the compass cast in Nairobi, we can chart the course for equality, development, and peace in the next century", she said.

KAROL MISTRIK (Slovakia) said that the transformation process in his country had had some negative impact on the social position of women, including an increase in unemployment and crimes committed against women. The employment of women had declined and they now represented 42.3 per cent of overall employment. Although 13 per cent of the deputies in parliament were women and three women held ministerial positions in the Government cabinet, much remained to be done to widely utilize women in the sphere of responsible and managerial positions. He supported deepening international cooperation in the implementation of programmes for the advancement of women. The outcome of the Beijing Conference confirmed that the rights of women represented an indivisible part of human rights.

ANN HOWARTH WILES, Senior Coordinator for Refugee Women, of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said all major training programmes included in UNHCR's emergency management, protection and programming, included gender training. The implementation of the policy and training programmes had resulted in several significant and far-reaching changes in UNHCR's programme delivery. Emergency response today included the services of community officers who assessed particular vulnerabilities from the earliest stages. Also, physical and legal protection had become an increasingly high priority, particularly as it affected women victims of violence. In addition, new guidelines to respond to the needs of rape victims had been developed.

Furthermore, she continued, gender-based persecution was being increasingly recognized by countries as grounds for seeking refugee status.

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Legal awareness training for refugee women had also been developed, since it was expected that by exposing women to their legal rights, security in camps would be increased.

In spite of its accomplishments, UNHCR continued to be concerned with the lack of participation of refugee women in the planning of activities in camps, she said. A framework for implementation based on the Platform for Action and on preceding conferences on environment, human rights, population, and the Social Summit, would form the basis for UNHCR's renewed emphasis on the participation and integration of refugee women in all aspects of its protection and assistance programmes.

LILY HUTJES (Netherlands) said that moving the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to New York, and the outcome of the Beijing Conference, provided new opportunities for the mainstreaming of a system-wide gender perspective in all United Nations activities. A precondition, however, was that those organizations should have at their disposal the instruments with which to give clear shape to women's policy in the mainstream. Highly specific policies were needed if mainstreaming was to succeed.

She said that while women's rights had been considerably advanced on paper, much still needed to be done in many areas to combat de facto discrimination. Specific measures should be taken to speed up the process of acquiring equal rights for women. The Platform for Action of the Beijing Conference should form a lever for a future of equal opportunity. A situation in which the requirements of only half of the world's population were taken into account was unacceptable. Men would also have to assume responsibility in the matter.

Her Government had agreed to incorporate the Beijing recommendations into a new equal rights policy document scheduled for the autumn. In the Netherlands, women earned a quarter of the national income, while holding 40 per cent of the jobs. The average income of women in the country was only 76 per cent of that of men.

Turning to the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), she said that women were not equally involved in decision-making about the design of their homes, the choice of where they lived, and the planning, development and maintenance of their villages, towns and cities. That situation hampered the achievement of sustainable development for the world's families and communities.

JUDY GRAYSON, of the World Bank, said in Beijing the World Bank had made a commitment to step up its efforts to improve education for girls. The Bank was planning to allocate about $900 million a year in lending for education at the primary and secondary levels for girls. Its strategy with regard to the

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commitments made at the Beijing Conference was currently focusing on how budgets were to be allocated, what its lending priories should be, and how to monitor progress.

The World Bank was already the largest single source of external financing on reproductive health and population activities, primarily health care and HIV/AIDS prevention, she said. It would continue to pursue adequate access to health services for girls and women by focusing its financial support on basic and integrated health care and by working with governments to reallocate public expenditures to social services.

The Bank's research on credit and finance in Bangladesh had demonstrated that with a loan of as little as $100, a woman could help double her family's income and, indeed, often lift it out of poverty in five years. "We are moving ahead with our $200 million micro-finance facility, which is intended to take programmes that have worked in one corner of the globe and replicate them wherever they might find fertile soil", she said. However, the potential created by investing in women's capacities would be wasted if women were not given equal opportunities in the work place or were not included in the decision-making process at all levels.

ANNA RADUCHOWSKA-BROCHWICZ (Poland) said that if the Beijing Platform for Action was to be anything more than an important piece of paper, some long-term measures concerning its implementation and monitoring at every level and at every stage could be envisaged. Close cooperation among governments of the same region could give more consistency to the process of implementation. The same was true of the regional and subregional organizations.

She called for, where appropriate, establishing focal points on women in the regional commissions. She believed that the future of UNIFEM in eastern Europe should be strengthened. She agreed that UNIFEM's role had been defined in the context of a geopolitical reality that no longer existed. The situation in eastern Europe warranted UNIFEM's attention.

KATHY WONG (Australia) said that it was now time for the international community to implement the outcomes of the Beijing Conference. The United Nations needed to create an institutional framework to ensure the mainstreaming of gender perspective into all United Nations activities.

The Australian Government was now analyzing the complete Platform for Action of the Beijing Conference and giving more careful consideration to the recommendations contained therein, she said. Government agencies would be charged with developing programmes that would incorporate those important issues of concern for women within their perspective portfolios and directly address solutions to those problems.

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She said that the most serious difficulties were faced by women living in developing economies and in communities that depended on development assistance programmes. For that reason, the Platform for Action should be used by the donor community as a guide to the priority issues that needed to be incorporated into the planning and implementation of development assistance activities.

MWILA G.B. CHIGAGA (Zambia) said a number of proposals in the Secretary- General's report on the outcome of the Beijing Conference did not suggest an integrated, effective follow-up. "Some of the measures he proposed may not result in a stronger programme with a unity of purpose and action within the United Nations, but may maintain the status quo, with a further duplication of effort", she said. Reviewing and strengthening the strategies and working methods of different United Nations mechanisms would not be enough, in the absence of a focal point within the system to ensure a more focused approach.

She said the follow-up to the Nairobi-forward-looking strategies by the United Nations system had not been successful, due to the lack of a focal point within the system. Even though the Division for the Advancement of Women was designed as the focal point, its concentration had been on policy orientation and substantive services of the Commission on the Status of Women. It had minimal involvement in operational activities. Poor coordination and accountability within the system had contributed to the lack of any concrete follow-up to implementation of the Nairobi strategies.

Her Government was not in favour of the proposal to integrate the functions of the adviser on gender issues into the portfolio of one of the senior advisors in the executive office of the Secretary-General. That would lead to continued marginalization of gender issues, especially since the senior adviser would not have line responsibilities. She called for more study on the best mechanism for coordinating the work of the adviser on gender, the Division of the Advancement of Women, UNIFEM, INSTRAW and other concerned units. The Secretary-General's proposal to establish a high level board on the advancement of women needed further study. "We are not entirely convinced that this will not be a duplication of effort with the Commission on the Status of Women", she said.

DAFNA SHARFAN (Israel) said that, on the whole, women continued to be locked out of the halls of political power. While some gains had been made, the situation of women throughout the world remained bleak. Even at the United Nations, there was still a lack of organizational, economic and political strength in the hands of women. Israel hoped to see greater participation of women at high levels in such international bodies as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Affirmative action policies to secure equality for women should be initiated and implemented in international, governmental and public sectors. The existing situation was detrimental both to women and to international development in general.

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She said that gender discrimination against women was often rooted in cultural, religious, traditional and conservative perceptions, which were used to justify a lack of women's equality. Development could be greatly assisted by recognizing the role of women. In most societies, the man was automatically designated as head of household, regardless of which partner provided the primary source of income to the family. That practice enabled men to control most of the household's economic resources, creating an atmosphere of dependency on the man and leaving the woman more vulnerable to poverty in case of divorce, abandonment or widowhood. That situation was untenable and should be rectified.

She said that Israel opposed policies based on a distinction between the sexes. Such policies often tended to ignore large areas of women's interests and activities and reinforced negative stereotypes of women by not allowing women to escape their traditional, male-defined roles.

ANITA AMORIM, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Liaison Office in New York, said that UNESCO's Agenda for Gender Equality had been presented in the Director-General's paper at the Beijing Conference. In that agenda, UNESCO committed itself to reaffirming and strengthening programmes targeted at the advancement of women. That included a commitment to the promotion of education for women's self- empowerment at all levels and in all fields. The Agenda also called for assistance in building a culture of peace by recognizing women's capacity for leadership and their contributions to non-violent conflict resolution.

She said that UNESCO's role in the education of girls and women was further recognized in the Platform for Action of the Beijing Conference. It was recommended that international organizations, especially UNESCO, evaluate the progress achieved in eliminating differences in access to education and training between the sexes. They were also encouraged to provide technical assistance to developing countries in order to close that gap. Those recommendations were part of UNESCO's priorities and would be a target area of the next medium-term strategy, 1996-2001.

SOMAIA BARGHOUTI, observer of Palestine, said even though the Middle East peace process had produced positive developments concerning the condition of the Palestinian people, including women and children, the impact of the Israeli occupation continued to affect all aspects of their daily life. The harsh economic conditions, the building and expansion of Israeli settlements, in the isolation and closure of areas of the occupied territory, including Jerusalem, were still having a detrimental effect on the condition of Palestinian women and children.

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One of the priorities for Palestinian women was to adopt a declaration of principles on the rights of women and to make all possible efforts to have its stipulations translated into language in the constitution, laws, and legislation drawn up by the Palestinian National Authority. Palestinian women's involvement in all aspects of the upcoming elections, including voting and candidature, would contribute in a concrete way to achievement of their objectives.

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