SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES NEED TO GIVE REAL MEANING TO IDEALS OF WOMEN'S EQUALITY AND PARTICIPATION

10 March 1997

Press Release
SG/SM/6179
WOM/957

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES NEED TO GIVE REAL MEANING TO IDEALS OF WOMEN'S EQUALITY AND PARTICIPATION

19970310 Addressing Status of Women Commission, Kofi Annan Says Women's Programmes Will Be Protected in UN Reform Process

Following is the statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the opening meeting of the forty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women at Headquarters this morning;

It gives me great pleasure to address the Commission on the Status of Women. Today, we honour its 50 years of dedicated work on behalf of the world's women. That work is today more relevant than ever. New challenges await us. Above all, we have to give real meaning to the ideals of women's equality and of women's equal participation.

The Commission has been a powerful catalyst for women's equality. It has mobilized international efforts to defend women's rights. It has played a crucial role in monitoring progress in the advancement of women -- and in holding Governments accountable for their actions. It is a place where all women have a voice in shaping the policies of the international community.

Four determined women signed the Charter of the United Nations. We are privileged to have one of them with us today. Let us give a warm welcome to Minerva Bernardino of the Dominican Republic. This institution, this Commission, is to an important extent her creation. We all owe her profound respect and gratitude.

Ms. Bernardino was the Chairman of the Inter-American Commission of Women in 1944. She represented her country at the San Francisco Conference and at the first session of the United Nations General Assembly in London in 1946.

It gives me personal satisfaction to remember the first African Chairperson of the Commission. Justice Annie Ruth Jiagge, who died last year, was my countrywoman and a leading member of the Ghanaian legal profession. She served as a delegate to the Commission from 1962 to 1972. Her contribution was immense. She served both as Rapporteur and as Chairperson. Her shaping of the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women helped to transform dreams into reality.

The Commission has received vital support from the United Nations Secretariat. Also with us today is one of the early members of the Commission's Secretariat, Margaret Bruce. She joined the United Nations in London in 1945. It is my pleasure to recognize her distinguished contribution to the advancement of women at the United Nations. She played an instrumental role in organizing the first global women's conference at Mexico City in 1975.

We also welcome Esther Hymer, who was also present 52 years ago at San Francisco. Still active in promoting women's equality, Ms. Hymer represents the best tradition of non-governmental organization activism in the United Nations. I thank her for her contribution.

It is impossible to recognize in this short address all the remarkable women who have contributed to the work of the Commission. It is likewise impossible to describe all of the Commission's achievements. But one achievement stands out: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the treaty that defines international standards touching all aspects of the lives of women in every nation and every stratum of society.

In its early days, the Commission sought to provide international guarantees for women in areas such as voting and nationality rights. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Commission addressed the issue of gender in development. Today, the focus is on gender mainstreaming, the empowerment of women, and ensuring implementation of Government commitments made at four United Nations conferences on women from 1975 to 1995.

All of the many individuals, organizations and Governments involved in the Commission's work have been guided by three fundamental principles. Those principles are as relevant today as they have ever been. They will guide the Commission's future work. They involve equality, development and peace.

First, freedom and equality are essential to human development. Women must have equal access with men to political power and decision-making.

Second, the well-being and progress of society is possible only when both men and women have a clear role to play in the building of their

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societies. Women are more than merely participants in development. They are agents of development. That fact is still insufficiently recognized in development plans and programmes.

Third, women must take an active part in the promotion of peace and in the prevention of aggression, both personal and public. In war-torn societies, women often keep society going. They maintain the social fabric. They replace dislocated social services, and tend to the sick and wounded. As a result, women are often the prime advocates of peace. We must ensure that women are enabled to play a full part in peace negotiations, in peace processes, in peace missions.

Modern media show us daily and graphically the persistence of gender inequality. Women continue to suffer disproportionately in armed conflict. Rape has become a common weapon of aggression, a horrendous sign of a new barbarity. Women continue to be harmed by gender-based violence of all kinds. Even in the family, an institution which should nurture and protect all of its members, millions of women suffer abuse.

In our own house, the United Nations, we still have a long road to travel to achieve gender equality.

More effort will be needed if we are to reach the twin targets: 25 per cent women in all senior positions, and complete gender equality -- that is, 50 per cent women -- in the Secretariat by the year 2000. I realize that culture change -- not necessarily measured by statistics -- is also needed. My aim is to create an employment environment supportive of women's needs and which helps women staff members to give of their best.

I can assure you of my personal commitment to equality between women and men in the United Nations, and to the creation of a gender-sensitive workplace.

I have appointed Angela E.V. King, at Assistant Secretary-General level, as my Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. Ms. King reports directly to me. She will assist me in ensuring the system-wide coordination of policy for implementing the Beijing Platform, as well as for mainstreaming a gender perspective in all United Nations activities.

Progress will, I hope, be visible soon: it will take time to bring results.

In the process of reform and revitalization, we will protect the full visibility and recognition of women and women's programmes.

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John Humphrey, the first Director of the United Nations Division for Human Rights, described the Commission on the Status of Women as a "kind of lobby for the women of the world". As such, the world's women have a strong and effective instrument.

I wish the Commission every success in its endeavours.

Let us work together to ensure that women's issues have top priority in the global agenda.

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