WOMEN'S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE HEARS OF PLANS TO CREATE DEPARTMENT FOR WOMEN'S ADVANCEMENT IN ARMENIA IN EARLY 1998
Press Release
WOM/989
WOMEN'S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE HEARS OF PLANS TO CREATE DEPARTMENT FOR WOMEN'S ADVANCEMENT IN ARMENIA IN EARLY 1998
19970716 Plans were under way for the creation in early 1998 of a new department for the advancement of women in Armenia, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was told this afternoon. It heard of that new department as members of Armenia's delegation responded to questions which had been raised regarding the country's initial report on its compliance with the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.The structure and mandate of the new department was currently under discussion, Anna Aghadjanian told the Committee. She said the Government realized the need to review its policy on the position and role of women in society. To that end, it had elaborated training programmes to promote their participation in parliamentary and local elections.
With respect to the mainstreaming of gender issues, Ms. Aghadjanian said the Government had launched a "Support to Gender in Development" programme with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and as a follow-up to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. Further, the Ministry of Social Security was addressing women's issues in the absence of specific machinery for that purpose.
Also this afternoon, the head of the legal department at Armenia's Foreign Ministry, Sghahem Avakian, said that national legislation was being reformed to ensure that new codes took account of Armenia's international commitments. In addition, a centre for democracy and human rights had been set up, with UNDP assistance, to address issues relating to the advancement of women's rights.
In a concluding statement, Armenian Charge de Affaires Morses Abelian said the need for technical assistance for the countries in transition of the former Soviet bloc had been recognized for the first time in 1994. Armenia was only the fourth country from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to present its report to the Committee. Thanking the experts for their recommendations, he said they would be taken into account.
Commenting on Armenia's response, expert members of the Committee emphasized that the taboo on talking about violence against women must be overcome. They warned that privatization could be devastating for women and was generally not appropriate in the area of health care. With respect to parenting, the Government should address the issue of male responsibility.
The Committee also heard a statement by a representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The 23-member United Nations Committee, in monitoring implementation of the Convention, reviews reports of States parties submitted in accordance with article 18 of the Convention. That article requires States to submit reports within one year after accession and thereafter at least every four years. Such reports are to focus on legislative, judicial and administrative measures adopted by States to give effect to the Convention's provisions.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 17 July, to consider the initial and second periodic report of Israel.
Statement by Armenia
ANNA AGHADJANIAN, First Secretary of the Armenian Mission to the United Nations, said that years of severe economic decline had forced many women to focus on meeting their families' daily needs rather than on their careers. However, with the improvement in the economy that was changing, enabling women to pay more attention to their role in public life without sacrificing their families. The combination of the two roles represented a great challenge and required a shift in the national mentality.
While domestic violence was not yet a matter of public debate, it was gradually becoming an issue in the media, she said. Victims of domestic violence were often reluctant to report it. No special measures had been taken by the Government to prevent or combat domestic violence, and such cases were rarely the subject of court action or police intervention. The Government, in cooperation with the United Nations Crime Prevention Centre, was elaborating a programme to accumulate data on the subject.
It was very difficult to change cultural stereotypes, she told the Committee. The small number of women in the higher echelons of decision- making was not an indication of their passive stance but the reflection of a worldwide phenomenon. The larger number of women in high positions during the Soviet era was the result of quotas, which provided that one of the three secretaries of the local Communist party had to be a woman.
Women's Anti-Discrimination Committee - 3 - Press Release WOM/989 349th Meeting (PM) 16 July 1997
She said Armenia had received 418 refugees during the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh. The attitude was to accept them as part of society, and a 1995 law granted them the right to Armenian citizenship. Further, Armenia had unilaterally released prisoners of war on the list of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and was a State party to all Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols on that issue.
With respect to education, she said the drop-out rate was near zero and there had been no indication of any reduction in the number of girls at any level of education. Further, 44.7 per cent of professors at the state universities and 18 per cent of the overall number of faculty deans were female. In addition, 41 per cent of law students and 54 per cent of social science students were female. Women constituted 69 per cent of doctors in Armenia and a vast majority of its nurses were female.
She said that Armenia's labour code provided that women should not be employed in conditions which could harm their health. So far, health care was under government patronage, although possible strategies for private medical service development were being discussed. However, no final decision had been taken on whether medical care should be private, or to what extent.
On abortion being the primary means of birth control, she said one way to address the problem was to encourage modern means of contraception. Contraceptives were free at the Centre for Reproductive Health of Women and its branches in the provinces. Free anonymous tests were available for HIV/AIDS at laboratories established by the Ministry of Health in 1995.
Statement by UNESCO
NINA SIBAL, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said that body's work concerning women, girls and gender equality was guided by five resolutions which had been adopted by its General Conference in 1995, immediately following the Fourth World Conference on Women. Those resolutions reflected UNESCO's commitment to the United Nations system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, the Beijing Platform for Action, and the coordinated and integrated system-wide follow-up to other major conferences, as well as to such documents as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
She said particular attention was being given to creating a UNESCO Web site on the Internet regarding women, girls and gender equality, as well as an easy-to-update basic information kit for the general public. Those initiatives were expected to help "de-ghettoize" the women-girls-gender dimension of UNESCO's work in the mentalities of both men and women.
Women's Anti-Discrimination Committee - 4 - Press Release WOM/989 349th Meeting (PM) 16 July 1997
A number of events were planned for later this year and the beginning of 1998 which might have a significant impact on gender mainstreaming, she said. Among them was the preparation of an international campaign to promote women's right to education as a fundamental human right. That was to be launched in 1998 as a contribution to the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Also, in September 1997, UNESCO would organize an expert group meeting in Oslo on "male roles and masculinities in the perspective of a culture of peace". That meeting was expected to help broaden understanding of gender socialization within different cultural contexts, with a special focus on men and boys. Another UNESCO project, "a lifeline for Afghan women", used a radio soap opera and a cartoon magazine to transmit key health and education messages to women and their families.
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