COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN OPENS TWO-WEEK SESSION
Press Release
WOM/904
COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN OPENS TWO-WEEK SESSION
19960311 Hears Statements by Special Adviser on Gender Issues, Director of Division for Advancement of Women, Acting Director of INSTRAWThe Commission on the Status of Women opened its two-week session dedicated to the follow-up to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, with Assistant Secretary-General Rosario Green, Special Adviser to the Secretary- General on gender issues telling the Commission that efforts should continue to carry on the work of Beijing, so that women and men would address the next millenium's problems on the basis of equality.
Women had come a long way she said, but they still had some distance to cover before they attained all of their goals. The struggle should continue at the national level to ensure that governments kept their commitments they made regarding women.
Introducing the reports before the Commission, the Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, Angela King, said that the Commission's entire agenda in the coming years would focus on the follow-up to the outcome of the Beijing Conference. The reports before the Commission described a series of challenges and opportunities for the United Nations to address, as it performed its history-making role of fundamentally changing the nature of society by achieving equality between women and men.
The representative of Italy, speaking on behalf of the European Union as well as Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia, said that the Council of Ministers of the European Union had adopted a new community action programme on equal opportunities for women and men, which would operate to the year 2000. The Council had also adopted a resolution on integrating gender issues in development cooperation which recognized that redressing existing disparities between women and men was a crucial issue in development, both in terms of aid effectiveness and social justice.
"Although the problems that continue to beset women manifest themselves as social issues, the root causes and the solutions lie as much in the economic area", said the Acting Director of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) Martha Duenas-Loaza. "If we are serious in our desire to make progress and to achieve the
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advancement of women, we must insist that these issues be addressed through a multi-sectoral, interdisciplinary and holistic approach and not just as a welfare or civic and political rights problem. A true social and economic development process, with a gender perspective, is the most reliable form of achieving peace."
Also this morning, the Commission elected Sharon Brennen-Haylock of the Bahamas as its Chairperson. Karin Stoltenberg of Norway was elected as a Vice-Chairperson.
The Commission also adopted the session's agenda and approved its organization of work. Among the agenda items are the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women, elaboration of a draft protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, communications on the status of women and the adoption of its report.
In accordance with resolution 1995/29 of the Economic and Social Council, the Commission established an open-ended working group to consider the report requested of the Secretary-General on an optional protocol to the Convention, with view to elaborating a draft optional protocol.
Also taken up was the appointment of not more than five members of a working group to consider confidential and non-confidential communications on the status of women. The members of the group, chosen with due regard for geographical distribution, would meet in closed meetings in each session to consider the communications. The Chairperson urged representatives of the regional groups to hold consultations to submit the names of those to be named to the working group.
The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its general discussion.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on the Status of Women begins its fortieth session this morning, and is expected to organize its work and adopt its agenda. In addition, the Commission will begin its consideration of the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, which was held last September in Beijing. (For general background on the Commission's session, see Press Release WOM/903, of 8 March.)
A report of the Secretary-General on the Commission's mandate, methods of work and multi-year work programme (document E/CN.6/1996/2) contains proposals on that matter in light of decisions taken by the Conference. It recalls that the General Assembly, by its resolution 50/203, mandated the Commission to have a central role in monitoring implementation of the Platform of Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The Commission could thus make substantive recommendations to the Council on trends, emerging issues and new approaches to issues that are being dealt with in the mainstream in terms of the Platform for Action. It can also, in examining substantive issues related to the Platform, draw conclusions about the consistency and adequacy of system response, which can be brought to the attention of the Economic and Social Council.
Regarding the structure of the Commission's agenda, the report calls for "a certain degree of flexibility". One possible approach would be to combine the need for a long-term work programme with a built-in flexibility in the consideration of issues. The following items are proposed for consideration for future agendas: review of implementation of the strategic objectives and actions in the Platform's critical areas of concern; consideration of issues arising from the discussions of the Council and other intergovernmental bodies on gender mainstreaming; consideration of the enjoyment by women of their human rights; and review of matters related to women in the Secretariat.
In terms of the Commission's focus on implementation of the strategic objectives and actions in the critical areas of concern, the report calls for ensuring that, over the 1996-2000 period, all should be considered, either through the item on implementation or through examination of an emerging issue. A possible organization of areas for consideration is presented in the report, by which the present session would focus on poverty, women and media, and decision-making.
Recalling that for the present session, the Bureau has decided to organize the Commission's work using a dialogue format, the report states that such dialogues would allow governments, United Nations organizations, and members of civil society to discuss practical issues of implementation. The dialogue should conclude with an informal meeting among government delegations from which agreed conclusions to be prepared by the Chairman could emerge.
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The draft conclusions could be subject to the usual consultations before their adoption.
The report of the Secretary-General on ways to enhance the Organization's capacity to support the ongoing follow-up to the Conference (document E/CN.6/1996/3) discusses the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the work of the United Nations system. It recalls that the Secretary- General has designated a Senior Adviser to serve as his special adviser on gender issues. The adviser has already convened an internal meeting of heads of United Nations departments, funds and programmes at which agreement was reached on the establishment of three working groups: one focusing on policy and research; another focusing on operational activities; and a third focusing on the status of women in the Secretariat.
The report goes on to say that a gender perspective will be fully integrated in the work of the three thematic task forces (on social services, employment and the enabling environment) of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) working to promote a coordinated follow-up to recent global conferences. The Division for the Advancement of Women, the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) will all play critical roles in follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women which are outlined in the report.
Concerning financial arrangements, the report recalls that at its last session the Assembly decided to strengthen the capacity of the Division in the areas of gender-impact analysis, the advancement of the human rights of women, and the promotion of a system-wide approach to the implementation of the Platform for Action. This action was taken in the context of the Assembly's consideration of the 1996-1997 programme budget. Efforts will also be made to attract support from a variety of sources for UNIFEM and the Institute.
Another report of the Secretary-General, on the elimination of stereotyping in the mass media (document E/CN.6/1996/4), discusses changes in the portrayal of women in the media, including increases in violent content, and considers various measures taken to achieve a more balanced portrayal, building on the recommendations for action contained in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
The report states that, as new means of communication have increased, the media have become some of the most powerful socializing agents in modern society, and their role in either shaping stereotypes or promoting a fair and accurate representation of women is unquestioned. As stated in the Beijing Platform for Action, "Everywhere the potential exists for the media to make a far greater contribution to the advancement of women". Both men and women are stereotyped in the media. Women are often represented in archetypal feminine and caring roles or as sex objects. The stereotyped beauty myth attached to
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them has been most strongly criticized by women who face barriers to their advancement for reasons of race, age, ethnicity and disability.
The report reaffirms respect for freedom of the press and of expression. "To have the media free of State censorship and repression is acknowledged as a condition of a democratic society." It goes on to say that if women do not enjoy the same opportunities for access and expression as men, freedom of the press has not been achieved.
In addressing recent developments, the report notes that market-based self-regulation and technological developments have made the old media order of regulatory measures, designed by governments with the intention of ensuring diversity, fairness and the protection of minority interests, obsolete. The information revolution continues to perpetuate many inequalities. "The increasing concentration of the media in the hands of a few transnational corporations with global reach which transmit images and print at a planetary scale has brought with it the export of cultural models and their codes, perceptions and prejudices, including gender, cultural and ethnic stereotypes."
While stating that new technologies have the potential to democratize information and communications, the report poses questions about women's access to them, citing evidence that fewer women than men master the new technologies. For example, women make up only about 10 per cent of Internet users in the United States. In addition, criticism has arisen about the existence of sexually explicit material and the depiction of violence against women on the Internet.
According to the report, women have become increasingly visible in the media, particularly on television. "However, behind the scenes, they continue to face barriers in their careers and have access only to a limited number of jobs." Women's employment in the media is a matter not only of equal access, but also of impact on output.
The report contains an entire section on "alternative" media, which is defined as representing either an alternative use of the media or being outside the mainstream media. Women have created and used alternative and communicative channels to support their efforts, defend their rights, diffuse their own forms of representation and question the dominant model of mainstream culture. Alternative productions by and for women within the mainstream media have also increased. Women's Feature Service (WFS), an independent press service on women, established in the mid-1970s, covers a multitude of news on and for women. Women's Television Network (WTN) in Canada was launched and awarded a specialty licence in 1994. With a workforce that is 98 per cent female, the WTN has specialized in programmes that are of special interest to women.
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"Despite increased attention to the fair portrayal of women in the media, there are not many success stories to report", the Secretary-General states. While some steps have been taken to combat gender stereotyping, there has also been a significant backlash against such efforts. The portrayal of women and men in the media mirrors socio-economic conditions, but it is also an expression of political ideology. For example, in the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the portrayal of women has gone from one extreme to the other: previous images of political and working women have been replaced, in the democratization process, by images of the fashion model, beauty queen and mother.
Regarding commercials and advertisements, the report states that highly stereotyped portrayals of women and gender relations persist. In addition to reaching women through women's magazines, advertisers have increasingly turned to commercial television channels with programmes featuring advice, celebrity cults, tele-novelas and other entertainment programmes that reflect women in stereotyped roles.
"The representation in the media of violence against women, particularly sexual violence, has increased tremendously in past years", the report continues. The production and marketing of sexually explicit material has become an important business, with established links to forced prostitution and traffic in women, which is also increasing at an alarming rate and reaching global dimensions as a form of organized crime. Women are less likely than men to watch violent programmes and films and are less likely to enjoy them if they do watch. They do not tolerate scenes of sexual violence against women. Whether they have themselves been the victims of violence or not, women have been found to become frightened by scenes of violence, with fear of rape being particularly common. Surveys and informal reports have found that women in all regions express high levels of anxiety about media violence. Women are especially concerned about the possible impact of violent messages on children.
An urgency to formulate ethical codes for the media with relation to the portrayal of women has been generally recognized, according to the report. Within media structures, several types of codes of conduct exist already. However, self-regulatory mechanisms in the media have not demonstrated their effectiveness so far. A code of conduct would include the pledge not to reproduce denigrating stereotypes and images of women and gratuitous gender- based violence, encourage the media actively to promote, from a gender perspective, a more positive image of women's multiple roles in society, and contain provisions to involve more women in decision-making on orientation, programming and content, in order to guarantee the effective implementation of the code.
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In addition to changes within media structures, including through the recruitment and training of more women media professionals, the report addresses changes from outside the media.
Some countries have taken active measures to combat stereotyped portrayals of women through legislation and media guidelines or codes of ethics. The question of imposing regulations on sexually explicit material has raised debate in many countries. Regulation is widely accepted in the case of child pornography or if physical violence is involved. Such activities fall also within the scope of broader legislation relating to assault or the age of consent. Many countries act strongly on child pornography offences, including production and possession. In addition to counteracting images of sexual violence against women from the legal perspective, the report recommends other measures, such as public awareness campaigns, media education and specific action aimed at producers and consumers. Further, independent monitoring of the media can serve as a useful tool. Beyond awareness campaigns, a systematic approach is needed to the development of curricula and training materials that highlight the nature and implications of gender stereotyping in media content.
The report goes on to discuss actions taken by the United Nations system in the area of women and the media. Among the examples cited is the work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) communication activities for women, which focus on the portrayal of women in the media and women's participation in media work. The programme on women and communications of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women has supported the development of communication material for women and development. The Institute also prepared a media handbook to assist people working in media programming and decision-making to become more aware of gender bias in the use of language and images. The Ninth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders underlined the important role that the media play in crime prevention.
A series of questions are posed in the concluding section of the report for further consideration. They relate, among others, to the role of governments in defining media codes of conduct, as well as enforcement mechanisms for such codes; the role of media education in raising awareness of violence against women; expanding the outreach of media monitoring groups; improving gender-sensitive communications training; training women in new communications technologies; and the responsibilities of the international community in the area of women and the media.
The report of the Secretary-General on child and dependant care, including the sharing of work and family responsibilities (document E/CN.6/1996/5) is also before the Commission. The report examines the dimensions of that issue, as well as measures that have been taken at the
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national level to discuss it. It concludes with a series of questions that merit further consideration by the Commission.
There is strong evidence that despite the fact that women's income is increasingly necessary, there has been no corresponding reduction in their domestic responsibilities, the report states. The world's women account for a third of the global labour force, and it is estimated that women will make up half the labour force in most countries and regions by 2000. During the last several decades, women's share of the labour force has increased in almost all regions, while that of men has fallen. About half of all working women in developing countries are found in the informal sector. In most countries, the increase in women's participation in the labour force has been accounted for by the growth in "atypical" or "non-standard" forms of work, such as temporary forms of work, casual work, out-work, homework, self-employment, informal sector.
Concerning changes in the family support network, the report states that average household and family sizes -- and, accordingly, family support networks -- are decreasing as a result of declining fertility rates and dispersal of family members. "As average family size shrinks, there are fewer aunts and uncles to help to tend young children, and fewer children to support ageing parents, and dependant family members may be less likely to receive adequate care." Women are expected to carry a disproportionate share of the costs of child care and social reproduction and to do so often from a diminished resource base as a result of reduced government expenditures on social spending, particularly that brought on through structural adjustment.
The report goes on to describe the rising proportion of female-headed households. Among the reasons for this are the dissolution of marriages for a variety of reasons, migration and non-marital child-bearing. The effects of drug and alcohol use by males constitute another factor. In countries ravaged by the AIDS epidemic, caring for the rapidly growing number of AIDS orphans has been largely left to women, whose family-support network may be dramatically depleted by the disease. Some studies suggest that men's unwillingness to marry or to assume family responsibility, or their readiness to leave the household, is a result of their inability to sustain a family.
Evidence has been found that the strong correlation between female headship and poverty results from higher dependency ratios, inadequate remittances from absent fathers and gender differentials in access to resources and employment. Female heads of household bear the full costs of child-rearing and nurturing, as well as the care of other dependants, in systems where public transfers do not adequately address the fact that all women shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden of social reproduction. In the case of women heads of household, overlapping productive and reproductive responsibilities affect mobility and create trade-offs between reproductive, often child-care, and income-earning activities.
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According to the report, young men often refuse to marry and/or acknowledge paternity because they lack sufficient resources, or prospects for them, to enter into family commitments. The reported rise in teenage pregnancies in Africa, for example, may indicate that it is young men who refuse to marry. A significant factor in this could be the increased cost of children under conditions of economic decline. This is particularly the case where male employment opportunities and wage levels are also in decline. Increasing numbers of men find that they cannot support families. Even among middle-class families men seem to be using their greater bargaining power to ensure that women shoulder the greater proportion of the costs of child- rearing and welfare. Prejudices which assume women's particular responsibility for the reproduction of the human capital are often reflected in the way they are held to be primarily responsible for child welfare and for any intergenerational transfer of disadvantage. A focus on women in cases of premature motherhood and single parenthood reveals the extent to which women are held to be responsible for child welfare in a way that men are not.
"Women's and men's use of time is different and unequal", the report continues. In both developed and developing countries, women -- whether mothers or not -- generally work much longer than men in both developed and developing countries. Women's increased participation in the work force has an impact on children, especially girls, and on relationships within the family, especially with men. "The double burden of working women could be a principal cause for their predominance in low status and low-paid employment and often precarious working conditions, offering them little income, job security and prospects for advancement." Rural women and women in the urban informal sector often opt to bring their young children with them to the workplace. Some mothers use informal forms of care with, in many cases, negative impact on the child's safety and health.
Concerning child support, the report finds ineffectiveness in enforcement of child-support payments by men in the case of marital dissolution. Delinquency in child-support payments occurs in 25 per cent to 40 per cent of cases in Western Europe, and 40 per cent of divorced fathers do not pay child support in the United States. Similar patterns were found in Asia of radically reduced child support from fathers following divorce. In Malaysia, only 50 per cent of divorced fathers contribute financially to their children. In an effort to protect children's right to paternal support in such cases, a number of countries have increased the categories of children for whom fathers are legally responsible.
In proposing solutions for the double burden endured by working women, the report states that alternative approaches would suggest that rather than changing gender roles, human reproduction activities should be remunerated through a "housewife wage" or a basic entitlement for everybody in the society. Other proposed measures discussed in the report concern maternity, paternity and parental leave; working-time arrangements; the provision of
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child-care and elder-care services; support for persons with disabilities; and changing attitudes and stereotypes.
The Secretary-General's report on education for peace (document E/CN.6/1996/6) states that, recently, attention has begun to focus on the issue of war-related violence against women since, in many armed conflicts, women were subjected to rape and forced prostitution as a "weapon" to humiliate adversaries. The fact that women have not been involved in decisions on war or peace but were their victims has prompted governments to consider the issue of women's participation in decision-making in the area of peace and security.
Credence was also being given to the theory that all forms of violence, from family and personal violence to large-scale armed conflicts, were inter- related and had common roots, according to the report. "It is argued that peace between and within nations cannot be achieved without the elimination of all forms of violence, oppression, discrimination and militarization, as well as the preservation of a healthy environment, participatory democracy, and the elimination of instruments of war. It also requires the development of new types of interpersonal and international relations based on a comprehensive concept of security, partnership and tolerance."
Annexed to the report are the conclusions and recommendations of an expert group meeting on women's contribution to a culture of peace which was held in Manila from 25 to 28 April 1995. "Since peace cannot be enforced, a culture of peace cannot be imposed." For the contributions of women to be realized, women must have equal access to all areas of political action and decision-making. "From the family to global society, a culture of peace will require new social contracts based on equality and partnership."
Among the meeting's recommendations are that women should be encouraged to participate in career development and should be given incentives to participate in public forums. All sectors of society should elaborate plans to promote a new "gender contract" based on authentic equality between women and men. The United Nations system should review from a gender perspective the approaches and methods used in the implementation of the Secretary- General's Agenda for Peace and any policies or initiatives related to conflict resolution, peace-keeping and peace-building. Women should be represented and their competence used in all peace- and security-related activities and at all levels, including the decision-making levels.
The report of the Secretary-General on the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat (document E/CN.6/1996/7) is also before the Commission. "It is noteworthy that during the General Assembly session, when special attention was being given to women's issues, statistics on the appointment and promotion of women in the Secretariat showed, in fact, a decline at some levels." That underscored the need for special diligence in
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keeping the focus within the Secretariat on the effective implementation of the strategic plan of action for the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat (1995-2000).
Statistics presented in the report indicate that the overall representation of women rose by 0.5 per cent to reach 34.6 per cent at the end of last year, only 0.4 per cent short of the 35 per cent target set by the General Assembly. The number of women promoted within the Professional and higher levels has generally declined during the reporting period, with the only increase in the percentage levels relating to the D-1 level, which increased from 29.2 per cent to 31.4 per cent. Efforts will have to be made to maintain the focus on the need to ensure that every opportunity to appoint or promote qualified women is taken.
Regarding harassment, including sexual harassment, the Secretary-General reports that the Secretariat recently received a grant to finance the development of a questionnaire to gauge the degree to which harassment exists in the global United Nations Secretariat. Work on the survey is expected to begin in early March. Given the project's broad scope, it is expected to take a year to complete. "As far as possible, however, the lessons learned during the course of implementing the project will be put into action along the way." For example, the Secretariat would produce a pocket guide outlining existing measures and resources to staff experiencing harassment. The survey's results will be used to strengthen existing policies for dealing with harassment in the United Nations workplace.
The Secretary-General's report on the situation of and assistance to the Palestinian women (document E/CN.6/1996/8) monitors conditions of human rights throughout 1995 and provides suggestions in line with the Beijing Platform for Action. Despite significant progress in the implementation of the recent agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), conditions in the occupied territories remained tense, and life in the self- rule areas continued to be affected by Israeli military and economic measures detailed in other United Nations reports.
The peace process has had a significant impact on the lives of women, according to the report. The Interim Agreement called for the release of all female Palestinian prisoners; so far 21 were released while five others were not. Women's organizations had participated in the preparations for the 20 January elections. Women led protests demanding a quota for women on the Palestinian Council, arguing that women faced difficulties in competing with men in the elections because of historical inequalities in the male-dominated society. Ultimately, five women, representing 5.6 per cent, were elected to the Palestinian Council.
The report reviews United Nations assistance to Palestinian women, especially that provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
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Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNIFEM. In addition, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has worked to meet the needs of Palestinian children, youth and women through strategies to promote basic education for all, health promotion and empowerment of women.
In light of the shift in the Commission's monitoring of the situation of Palestinian women towards aspects of development, accountability and respect for human rights, the report recommends that efforts be made to ensure women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision-making. A gender perspective should be integrated in legislation, public policies, programmes and projects. Equality and non-discrimination should be ensured in law and in practice. A national machinery for the advancement of women should be created. Women's economic rights and independence should be promoted, and they should have equal access to resource, employment, markets and trade.
The report of the Secretary-General on the extent to which violations of women's human rights have been addressed by human rights mechanisms (document E/CN.6/1996/9) reviews progress in that area and contains a series of recommendations directed to treaty bodies; non-treaty human rights mechanism, including the Centre for Human Rights; and the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education.
Among the report's recommendations to treaty bodies, it states that handbooks focusing on the gender dimension of each particular treaty could be prepared for members serving on them. Treaty bodies could be encouraged to develop a common strategy towards mainstreaming the human rights of women in their work. Information-sharing between treaty bodies and between specialized agencies and treaty bodies should be facilitated.
With respect to non-treaty human rights mechanisms, the report calls for the development of a gender-sensitive approach with urgent action or good offices procedures. The mandates of all non-treaty mechanisms should be revised to incorporate specific references to gender. The Centre for Human Rights should develop "early warning" mechanisms that incorporate a gender perspective. All of the Centre's publications, including training materials, should be gender-sensitive.
The United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education should also incorporate a gender perspective into all of its activities, the report continues. International programmes for human rights education which incorporate the notion of women's human rights should be strengthened. The evaluation criteria of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in drafting both the mid-point and final reports on the Decade should include whether the human rights of women are a mainstream concern.
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Annexed to a note by the Secretary-General on UNIFEM's role in eliminating violence against women (document E/CN.6/1996/11) is the Fund's report, which provides an overview of its work towards that end. Among the activities carried out was the publication of a policy paper titled "Battered Dreams: Violence against Women, an Obstacle to Development". The UNIFEM has increasingly utilized a programme framework that views the pursuit of sustainable human development as a fundamental human rights issue, and consistently relates women's human rights, particularly in cases of gender- based violence, to the development process.
The report goes on to describe the Fund's activities in the preparatory process for the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1993), at which UNIFEM sponsored the participation of 15 persons who testified at the global tribunal on violations of women's human rights. In its work on human rights, UNIFEM has identified violence against women as a key component of its activities. In Beijing, UNIFEM assisted in the launching of a world-wide campaign to end violence against women. It also focused attention on the urgent need to implement the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and supported the work of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women.
In a note before the Commission, on violence against women migrant workers (document E/CN.6/1996/12), the Secretary-General states his intention, in response to recommendations of the General Assembly, to convene an expert group meeting on that subject from 27 to 31 May in Manila following the invitation of the Government of the Philippines. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, UNIFEM and the specialized agencies have been invited to participate. The conclusions of the meeting, together with the news of Member States which the Secretary-General will solicit, will be included in a future report to the Assembly.
The joint work plan of the Division for the Advancement of Women and the Centre for Human Rights (document E/CN.6/1996/13) is contained in another report of the Secretary-General. It seeks to identify areas in which the Centre and the Division can jointly promote the mainstreaming of women's human rights in the human rights regime. In the area of the development of norms and standards, the report states that the Centre and the Division will work jointly to develop strategies for the universal ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by the year 2000.
Concerning the monitoring of human rights, the report states that the Division and the Centre will continue their systematic exchange of information in connection with the work of human rights mechanisms. With respect to advisory services, training and human rights education, the Division and the Centre will begin the development of a training manual on human rights monitoring that includes gender dimensions, as well as a manual on human
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rights standards and procedures for humanitarian, peace-keeping and civilian mission personnel. They will also begin the elaboration of guidelines on gender aspects of human rights for use by United Nations staff.
Also before the Commission is a note by the Secretary-General on proposals for the medium-term plan for the period 1996-2001 (document E/CN.6/1996/14). The note reviews the subprogramme on the advancement of women, stating that its overall objective is to achieve effective support for the implementation of actions contained in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Its objectives include monitoring the extent to which the gender dimension is reflected and acted upon within relevant intergovernmental forums and in policies and programmes of the United Nations system. Further, it aims to analyse and develop policy issues on emerging global trends.
The subprogramme will also aim to improve the monitoring of the extent of women's enjoyment of their human rights; to support the development and strengthening human rights mechanisms; to monitor implementation of the system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women; to maintain a continuous dialogue on gender issues among United Nations bodies; and to maintain an interactive exchange of information with specialized constituencies related to the Platform for Action. Regarding the latter objective, the note states that a system would be designed and implemented involving use of the Internet.
Statements
ROSARIO GREEN, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on gender issues, said that efforts should continue the work of Beijing, so that women and men would address the next millennium's problems on the basis of equality. The Platform of action showed the direction in which the United Nations was moving. Since the beginning of the United Nations, women had used non-governmental organizations to exert influence at the international level and try to bring about binding conventions. While women had come a long way now, they still had some distance to cover before all their goals were attained.
The partnership of governments, civil society and the United Nations should that helped lead to the Beijing Conference should be built upon to help push for further progress, she continued. The first partners were governments on whom the implementation of some of the decisions reached would rest. Struggle at the national level should continue in order to ensure that governments kept their commitments with regard to women. The participation of women in decision-making must be one of the tasks of the organizations of civil society. The vote of women was an instrument not just for their advancement, but for society as a whole. They should help hold governments accountable.
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She said that non-governmental organizations had further contributions to make to the work of the advancement of women. A large number of tasks were to be performed by the organizations of the United Nations system to link the work of the non-governmental organizations and take actions at the international level in their own right. The international public sector was created to help promote the advancement of people. The Platform recognized that mainstreaming of gender concerns should permeate the work of the United Nations, to help ensure that it supported the changes in attitudes and institutions necessary for progress.
She said that she was receiving key input from the Division for the Advancement of Women, the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and other parts of the United Nations system. The presence of women at all levels of decision- making would help ensure the mainstreaming of women's issues. The strengthening of the partnership that led to Beijing and beyond should be one of the tasks of the Commission's current session.
ANGELA KING, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, introduced the reports before the Commission. She said that the Commission's entire agenda in the coming years would focus on the follow-up to the outcome of the Beijing Conference. The Commission had before it the proposed medium- term plan for 1998-2001 for the Division for the Advancement of Women, which indicated some of the directions that would be taken in implementing the Platform for Action. It also would consider the report of the Secretary- General describing steps being taken to integrate the system-wide follow-up to the Conference.
She went on to say that a number of documents before the Commission dealt with mainstreaming the gender perspective. The Secretary-General's report on the extent to which violations of the human rights of women have been addressed by human rights mechanisms showed how gender was increasingly being taken into account in the United Nations human rights machinery. The report on the joint work plan of the Division for the Advancement of Women and the Centre for Human Rights showed how those two entities proposed to strengthen their cooperation in linking women's human rights with actions in the wider regime.
One element in mainstreaming was to ensure that the problem of violence against women was dealt with, she continued. Reports before the Commission included a note transmitting information provided by UNIFEM on its efforts to combat violence against women, as well as a progress report on work to address the issue of violence against women migrant workers. A further report involving mainstreaming discussed the situation of Palestinian women in that regard.
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She went on to say that the Commission would deal with priority themes on which reports had been prepared: the report on women in the media and the report on child and dependent care. Each of those reports ended with a series of questions which may be useful in beginning the dialogue within the Commission. "The Commission also has before it an 'orphan priority theme' in the report on education for peace, which the Bureau felt could be deferred until later", she said. She suggested that the Commission consider that report when dealing with the critical area of women in armed conflict. The reports before the Commission described a series of challenges and opportunities, of issues to address and approaches to helping the United Nations perform its history-making role of fundamentally changing the nature of society by achieving equality between women and men.
SILVA COSTA (Italy), speaking on behalf of the member States of the European Union, as well as Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and the Slovak Republic, said the Platform for Action had raised expectations which must be met by all actors in society, especially governments. The European Union was determined to take all necessary measures to eliminate discrimination against women and girls, and to remove all obstacles to gender equality and the advancement and empowerment of women. Women and girls must have access to power and decision-making processes, and their human rights and fundamental freedoms must be secured. "The human rights of women include their sexual rights free of coercion, discrimination and violence", she said.
The strategies reflected in the Platform should be implemented by reallocating resources and applying a gender perspective to all policies, she said. The Council of Ministers of the European Union had adopted a new community action programme on equal opportunities for women and men, which would operate to the year 2000. The Council had also adopted a resolution on integrating gender issues in development cooperation, which recognized that redressing existing disparities between women and men was a crucial issue in development, both in terms of aid effectiveness and social justice. In addition, the Intergovernmental Conference for the revision of the Maastricht Treaty, to begin on 29 March in Turin, would consider ways of strengthening the Treaty's legal basis for equality.
Regarding the Commission's work, she said that in view of the traditional importance of non-governmental organizations in the advancement of women, they should be allowed to participate in the Commission's work on a continuous basis. Expressing awareness of the financial constraints on the Organization, she stressed that they should not disproportionately affect women's programmes and activities. "We hope that the necessary resources for the implementation of the Platform for Action are provided in the current revision of the budget biennium", she said.
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Speaking as her own country's representative, she informed the Commission that the Italian Parliament had recently passed a law against rape and sexual violence that made them crimes against the human person, safeguarded minors through severe penalties, and allowed the victim to name groups and organizations to act on his or her behalf in court.
MARTHA DUENAS-LOZA, Acting Director, International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), said that INSTRAW was an autonomous research institute set up in 1976 to promote the advancement of women by creating conditions for their empowerment as participants and beneficiaries of development. It conducted research and training to raise awareness of women's issues worldwide and to help them meet new challenges. Its research addressed obstacles to the political, economic and social empowerment of women and attempted to identify the means through which they could be overcome.
The Fourth World Conference had presented an opportunity for assessing the advancement of women since the First World Conference held in Mexico City two decades ago, she continued. Building on the precedents of those Conferences, recent United Nations international conferences had incorporated the concerns of women as an integral part of their endeavours. For women, part of the value of the recent conferences had been the firm establishment of their concerns as a integral part of the international agenda.
The evolution of international standards to guide the development of national and international policy to advance women provided a basis against which the reality of their lives could be measured, she said. They could be used to hold accountable those who violated established women's rights. Despite that, women continued to face harsh realities. For instance, they constituted 70 per cent of the world's 1.3 billion people living in poverty and two thirds of its 900 million illiterate people. Moreover, women living in absolute poverty had risen by nearly 50 per cent since the First World Conference on Women.
Based on those facts, she continued, it could be seen that the greatest challenge was to close the gap between principles and the reality of deprivation and discrimination suffered by women. The facts also showed the need to identify and implement sustainable development strategies to close the gap. Development strategies were not gender neutral. To address the specific needs of women, research was needed to provide policy makers with reliable guidelines focusing on the realities of women's lives.
The Commission would address implementation of strategic objectives and actions in such critical areas of concern as poverty, women in the media and child and dependent care, she said. The INSTRAW understood that tackling those problems required research on the causes and solutions. It had seen from its research that increasing women's income improved patterns of
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nutrition, education and health within families and expanded the occupational spectrum of women. The INSTRAW carried out research on the eradication of poverty and in relation to granting access to employment and self-generating activities. That research had been the basis for developing methodologies that measured the value of unpaid work.
She said that INSTRAW had organized panels and workshops at the Non- Governmental Organization Forum in Huairou and the Fourth World Conference in Beijing to address several issues. Its pioneering work had been incorporated in the documents and recommendations used in the United Nations system. It had helped improve and expand the global debate, by increasing women's visibility through valuing their work and their contributions to the social well-being, without losing sight of the realities on the ground and the new challenges affecting women's lives.
"Although the problems that continue to beset women manifest themselves as social issues, the root causes and the solutions lie as much in the economic area", she said. "If we are serious in our desire to make progress and to achieve the advancement of women, we must insist that these issues be addressed through a multi-sectoral, interdisciplinary and holistic approach and not just as a welfare or civic and political rights problem. A true social and economic development process, with a gender perspective, is the most reliable form of achieving peace."
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