COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN MUST PROVIDE GUIDANCE ON HOW TO ENSURE THAT WOMEN FULLY ENJOY THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS, VICE-CHAIRPERSON TELLS FORTY-SECOND SESSION
Press Release
WOM/1030
COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN MUST PROVIDE GUIDANCE ON HOW TO ENSURE THAT WOMEN FULLY ENJOY THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS, VICE-CHAIRPERSON TELLS FORTY-SECOND SESSION
19980302 Commission Begins Consideration of 'Critical Areas of Concern' on Human Rights of Women, Girl Child, Violence against Women, Women in Armed ConflictThe Commission on the Status of Women must be practical, action-oriented and "real-world-oriented" to help empower the world's women, its newly elected Chairperson, Patricia Flor (Germany), said as the Commission began its forty- second session this morning.
The Commission should also provide guidance on how to ensure that women fully enjoyed their human rights, as well as to safeguard the integrity of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. It should be united in its ultimate goal, which was a just society for all women and men on the basis of equality and non-discrimination. Stressing the importance of the optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, she said an instrument that accorded a right of petition to women would be an important concrete step.
Also this morning, Angela King, Assistant Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said the four critical areas of concern chosen for consideration in 1998 -- human rights of women, the girl child, violence against women, and women in armed conflict -- were the core of the human rights theme of the Platform for Action. In the context of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, she noted that the principle of non-discrimination was fundamental to the understanding of human rights and was firmly established and recognized in international law. The Commission should send a clear message in the anniversary year to the "mainstream" that the full realization of human rights could not be achieved without specific attention to the rights of women.
Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, focused on the reforms being carried out in the Secretariat and its impact on the Commission's work.
The representative of Indonesia, speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, said the full and effective enjoyment of human rights by women could never be achieved in the absence of sustainable economic growth and a supportive international social order. She stressed the
Women's Commission - 1a - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
importance of the adoption of proactive policies and of mainstreaming into the United Nations system a gender perspective in all policies and programmes geared towards the realization of economic and social rights.
The representative of the United Kingdom, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said education, as well as women's participation in the decision-making process at all levels, was vital if women and men were to become equal stakeholders in their societies. The Union took the commitments it had made at the Beijing Conference seriously, but recognized that in their societies there was still much to be done. On violence against women, she said the European Parliament had introduced a comprehensive set of social and political measures to promote "zero tolerance" of it.
Zambia's representative, speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said the issue of land rights was a matter of human rights. In addressing the feminization of poverty, land ownership was a key issue. Without title, women's access to agricultural support services, including credit, was drastically limited. He called for the appointment of a thematic special rapporteur in the field of women's economic and social rights.
Statements were also made by the representatives of the United States, Chile, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Dominican Republic. Representatives of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) also spoke. Cuba's representative spoke on a point of order.
Also elected this morning were the following Vice-Chairpersons: Nonhlanhla P.L. Tsabedze (Swaziland); Zuzana Vranova (Slovakia); Marcela Nicodemos (Brazil); and Karam Fady (Lebanon). The election of the Rapporteur was postponed.
In other action, the Commission adopted the agenda for its session, as well as other organizational matters.
The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its general debate on the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on the Status of Women met this morning to begin its forty-second session, with the election of officers the first item on its agenda.
Also this morning, the Commission will begin discussing national action plans on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. (For background on the session, see Press Release WOM/1029 of 27 February.)
Before the Commission is a report of the Secretary-General (document E/CN.6/1998/6) analysing plans submitted by 85 Member States and one observer. According to the report, the plans reflect the critical areas of concern of the Platform for Action. The momentum created by the Beijing Conference has been sustained at the national level in many countries. Emphasis has been laid by many on the need to strengthen national machinery for the advancement of women by creating coordination mechanisms and by integrating national action plans into larger national development or economic plans.
A number of Member States are making specific institutional arrangements to implement the actions proposed under the critical areas of concern, including coordination, gender training and regular monitoring. The report suggests that more attention should be given to specific, time-bound national actions and targets in the monitoring process to facilitate the implementation of the Platform for Action.
Prerequisites for successful implementation of national plans, the report states, include the establishment of institutional and financial arrangements. Most countries did not indicate how the action plans were to be funded. Fifty-six of the national plans submitted contain policies and programmes for eradicating poverty among women. Education and training of women are considered a priority concern, as is the issue of women and health. All the plans address specific health conditions of women, particularly ageing, drug use and abuse, including smoking and mental health.
Most national plans incorporate a section relating to measures to prevent violence against women, including initiatives to adopt or review legislation to create a legal framework to deal with the problem. The report states that a significant number of plans describe shelters and other services available to women and girls subjected to violence. Many plans focus on the importance of the media in combating violence against women by eliminating presentations that encourage such violence.
On the issue of women and armed conflict, the report indicates that some countries specifically made reference to mainstreaming a gender perspective in security and conflict resolution policies. On the issue of women and the
Women's Commission - 3 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
economy, the report states that a majority of countries plan actions to promote and improve women's access to employment; increase their access to managerial positions and to non-traditional fields of employment; reduce the wage gap between women and men; and improve women's working conditions.
Most plans indicate actions related to mechanisms to increase women's voice and representation in power and decision-making, the report notes. A number of plans address national action to promote and protect human rights of women. The elimination of negative cultural attitudes and practices is high on the agenda of national plans. Some of them extend actions beyond the media into arts and culture, including the creation of specialized collections on gender issues in libraries, or by showing the historical contributions of women. Many plans consider the issue of women and the environment in the broader context of achieving the goals of sustainable development, recognizing the importance of increasing women's participation in decision-making on environmental matters.
Twenty-seven governments from all regions except Eastern and Central Europe focused on the girl child as a priority issue in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. The emphasis on the girl child was strongest in Western Europe. In Africa, only six out of the 16 plans submitted considered the girl child a priority, focusing mainly on education.
Some countries set additional priorities to the 12 critical areas of concern of the Platform for Action. Women and the family was mentioned as a separate strategic objective in 15 national plans from all regions, except Eastern Europe. Although the majority of countries target specific groups of women under a number of critical areas of concern, some propose actions in favour of rural women, according to the report.
Statements
PATRICIA FLOR (Germany), Commission Chairperson, said a simple question should guide the Commission's work during the current session: "What difference did the Commission make to an illiterate women in a developing country, to a women professional with a double burden of work and family or to a girl who was trafficked into foreign lands for the purpose of sexual exploitation?" It was a pertinent question to which there was no easy answer. No doubt the Commission had served as the cradle for many of the fundamental United Nations human rights documents that enshrined the equality of women and men, as well as women's rights and governments' responsibilities for realizing those rights. As a result of those documents, women could claim what was rightly theirs, and in terms of their ultimate goal, they knew where they were headed, that was "towards equal rights of men and women ... towards the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, towards empowerment in all spheres of life, political and social, so that women can fully enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms". The 1985 meeting in Nairobi and
Women's Commission - 4 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women provided the blueprint for action to advance those goals.
As a result of developments so far, the illiterate woman and the girl child could call for action to improve their situations in accordance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, she said. Many women around the world had raised their voices using those and other documents as leverage, and since governments and civil society at large were committed to implementation, a lot of progress had been made. The developments to date represented the successes in the promotion of women's rights but did not fully answer the question of what the Commission had achieved in the interest of women. Much remained to be done.
What, therefore, was needed to be done to protect the violations of girls and women's rights? she asked. That question should guide the work of all intergovernmental bodies, non-governmental organizations and all United Nations bodies. The Commission should measure its work by the extent to which it promoted practical measures -- legal and educational -- which would empower women, open the door to education or decrease the number of "trafficked women". The Commission should try to be as practical and action-oriented, as concrete and "real-world"-oriented as possible. Such an approach would benefit the Commission's work, as well as the world's women.
Stressing the importance of the optional protocol of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, she said a protocol that would accord a right of petition to women must be considered an important concrete step. She, therefore, appealed to delegations to approach the working group drafting the protocol in a constructive, results-oriented manner. The commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a propitious time for the adoption of such protocol. Commission members should participate in the working group on the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the Convention.
The Commission had also been given the mandate as the preparatory committee for the five year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, scheduled for the year 2000, she said. The Commission was therefore called on to make recommendations to the General Assembly on the format, dates and preparatory process for that high-level plenary review. It must ensure that it would provide the best possible condition for the review and the consideration of further actions and initiatives following Beijing.
The four critical areas of concern which the Commission would address during the current session -- human rights of women, the girl child, violence against women and women in armed conflict -- were a formidable task, because those areas had been some of the most contentious issues of Beijing. But the Commission should provide guidance on how to progress, how to ensure women could fully enjoy their human rights and to safeguard the integrity of the
Women's Commission - 5 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
Platform. The Commission should be united in its ultimate goal, which was a just society for all women and men on the basis of equality and non- discrimination. The simple principle -- the difference it would make to at least one women or girl -- should also facilitate the Commission's work.
NITIN DESAI, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, focused attention on the implications of the United Nations reform process to the work of the Commission. The purpose of the merger of the three departments dealing with economic and social matters was to bring closer together the analytical, normative and operational work of the United Nations. The new divisions within the Department had some additional capacities in the form of advisory services.
The Secretary-General had created four executive committees, he said, adding that he was the convenor of the one dealing with economic and social affairs. The executive committees were meant to provide some level of coordination. It was hoped to secure greater coherence of Secretariat support for all organizations in the system. On the follow-up to conferences, he noted that there were many issues that cut across the various conferences. The idea of coordinated follow-up of conferences was being pursued.
He observed that one of the major objectives of the reform process was mainstreaming of gender equality. It was hoped that would be carried out throughout the system. In the fiftieth anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the work of the Commission should be recognized, praising its contribution to women's empowerment over the years.
ANGELA KING, Assistant Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, introduced the agenda item on follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women. Under a sub-item on implementation of strategic objectives and action in the critical areas of concern, she said the four areas chosen for consideration in 1998 constituted the core of the human rights theme of the Platform for Action. Human rights was the theme for 1998. In the context of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, she noted that the principle of non-discrimination was fundamental to the understanding of human rights and was firmly established and recognized in international law.
The Declaration must be credited for inspiring the development of specific standards that would ensure women the full exercise of equal rights, she said. The range of existing international human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, had the power to shape women's lives at the national, and even at the family, level. However, the focus this year on human rights had revealed that it was not the time to be complacent regarding achievements.
Women's Commission - 6 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
In many countries, laws or customs still curtailed women's rights to freedom of movement, frequently requiring a man's permission to travel, or to pursue gainful employment or to go to the market, she said. Too many women lacked the education to utilize available information about business opportunities or those that would help them to improve their own and their children's health, nutrition, or sanitation. "Too many women remained trapped in extreme poverty because they are denied rights that are essential to break the cycle of poverty. Too many women are subject to forms of violence at the hands of their partners, and others", she said. Changing that situation was the responsibility of all.
She went on to say that the Commission had a two-fold responsibility at the present session. The first was to take practical decisions to accelerate the implementation of four critical areas of concern that they would address. The Commission should be bold and creative in elaborating its recommendations on those areas. Enjoyment of rights required a comprehensive approach, including good and effective laws, and the existence and implementation of regulations, polices and other means to weave those laws into social norms and behaviour. It also required constant vigilance, monitoring of the impact of measures taken and of remedies, when violations occurred. Strengthening implementation through better monitoring and impact assessments at the national level and the availability of effective remedies, including through an optional protocol to the Women's Anti-Discrimination Convention, should be priorities for the Commission.
The Commission's second responsibility should be to send a clear message in the anniversary year to the "mainstream" that the full realization of human rights could not be achieved without specific attention to the rights of women, she said. Women's enjoyment of their human rights required explicit, careful attention every step of the way. Governments, independent human rights institutions, intergovernmental and expert bodies on human rights, the entities of the United Nations system and civil society had to be responsible for working actively for the protection, promotion and fulfilment of women's human rights. That should be the Commission's clear, unequivocal message.
She then introduced the three reports on the agenda item and informed of the panel discussions that would be held to explore the four critical areas of concern, adding that those discussions and the general debate on implementation of strategic objectives and the panel discussions would result in clear guidance to governments, the Secretary-General and the United Nations system for further action.
Providing highlights of the work of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality, which she chaired, she said the Committee had taken a number of actions which included: designating task managers and ad hoc working groups to prepare a number of topics for decision at its next session; finalizing a mission
Women's Commission - 7 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
statement for the United Nations system on gender equality and mainstreaming in the work of the system; agreeing on guidelines for the compilation of good practices in the implementation of the Platform for Action; and gender mainstreaming and establishing a timetable for their collection.
As a result of the decisions, resources would be sought to conduct a review of the women in development/gender focal point function in the United Nations system, with a view to making recommendations for a core set of criteria to guide the system in relation to such focal points, she said. The work on indicators, budget codes and financial monitoring systems for gender mainstreaming would continue. There had also been agreement to convene a workshop to clarify understandings of a rights-based approach to the advancement and empowerment of women, and gender equality.
She said the Division for the Advancement of Women remained a clearly well-defined unit in the new consolidated Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The Department's responsibility to mainstream a gender perspective in all sectoral areas had been established. The Division was coming full circle and renewing the approach to implementing intergovernmental mandates in a holistic manner, that included support to governments in particular areas, at their request. The Division would seek to augment the resources available for such work through extrabudgetary resources. Regarding the agreed conclusions of the Economic and Social Council on gender mainstreaming, which requested the support and advice of the Special Adviser, she said it had resulted in increased demand that did not match the Division's resources. She was, therefore, seeking to strengthen the capacity of her office through extrabudgetary resources.
PEDRO NUÑEZ-MOSQUERA (Cuba), speaking on a point of order, informed the Commission that some members of the Cuban delegation to the session had not been granted visas by the United States authorities. Requests for the visas had been submitted in good time, but their processing had been delayed by the United States authorities, which had asked for additional information about the delegation. The practice was unacceptable, he said, adding that the United States authorities had no right to determine the composition of Cuban delegations to United Nations meetings. The action undermined the work of its delegation, he stressed.
The first speaker in the general debate on follow-up to the Beijing Conference, RINI SOEROJO, Assistant State Minister of Indonesia, speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, said they continued to view the multi-year programme of work adopted by the Commission as a positive framework for assessing the progress achieved in implementing the Platform for Action. The Group attached considerable significance to the themes under consideration during the Commission's current session -- violence against women, women and armed conflict, human rights of women and the girl child.
Women's Commission - 8 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
The Group was seriously concerned about the injustices suffered by women and would like the problem to be dealt with in a holistic and comprehensive manner, she said, calling for better collection of data and statistics on acts of violence against women and clear international commitments on financial and technical assistance to developing countries in accordance with arrangements outlined in the Beijing Platform for Action. It fully supported incorporation within national plans of action of measures to promote the protection of women against any form of violence. Appropriate protection should be afforded women subjected to violence. National plans should also address the need for training of relevant personnel and the adoption of appropriate measures in education systems, as well as the development of advocacy strategies on gender-based violence.
The Group fully endorsed the increased participation of women in conflict resolution at decision-making levels. Women should have equal opportunity within the United Nations to contribute to the achievement of global peace and security. Likewise, their role at decision-making levels in national and international institutions dedicated to peacekeeping, preventive diplomacy and related matters should be strengthened. She reaffirmed the urgent need for the full promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms which were essential for the advancement of women. The negative impact of globalization and the current global economic system threatened to permanently marginalize some developing countries. It had also victimized and worsened the well-being of women.
She said the full and effective enjoyment of human rights by women could never be achieved in the absence of sustainable economic growth and a supportive social and international order. She stressed the importance of the adoption of pro-active policies and of mainstreaming into the United Nations system a gender perspective in all policies and programmes geared towards the realization of economic and social rights. She agreed that specific goals should be established to enhance the situation of the girl child and to improve their conditions of health, nutrition and education. Each country, reflecting its culture, traditions and values, should adopt legislation to protect the rights of women and girls and offer them opportunities in society.
JOAN RUDDOCK, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women of the United Kingdom, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, noted the little progress that had been achieved in the area of women's human rights. Significant changes needed to be made to the way in which societies were structured and they operated in that regard. Education, as well as women's participation in the decision-making process at all levels, was vital if women and men were to become equal stakeholders in their societies.
The member States of the Union took the commitments they made at the Beijing Conference seriously, but recognized that in their societies there was still much to be done. On violence against women, she said the European
Women's Commission - 9 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
Parliament had introduced a comprehensive set of social and political measures to promote "zero tolerance" of it. The Union encouraged United Nations Member States to consider adopting similar measures in the fight against violence against women. States had an obligation to punish perpetrators of crimes of violence against women and to protect women from that violence. The Union had adopted a joint action plan to combat trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of children. It had also concluded The Hague Ministerial Declaration on European guidelines for effective measures to prevent and combat trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
She stressed the importance of increasing women's participation in conflict prevention, peacemaking and conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction. That could only be achieved when women enjoyed full and equal access to local, national and international decision-making processes, including parliamentary assemblies. On the issue of human rights of women, she said States should ensure that the principle of non-discrimination was reflected in all regional and national legislation. States should work to remove early childhood discrimination in all areas, especially those which arose from a cultural preference for boys. The Union supported the efforts of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to combat child labour, and welcomed the organization's inclusion of child labour on the agenda of its 1998 session.
The Union would like to see more coherence in United Nations efforts to promote mainstreaming of a gender perspective into its policies and programmes. Better links between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Division for the Advancement of Women would be an obvious first step, as well as more integration of a gender perspective in all human rights mechanisms and procedures. She also called for close cooperation between the Commission and other organs such as the Commission on Human Rights.
PETER L. KASANDA (Zambia), speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said the Community attached great importance to the question of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action as it was a vital instrument in facilitating development in the subregion. SADC member States had made great strides in putting in place the necessary institutional arrangements and structures for implementing the Platform for Action. Most countries in the subregion were in the process of finalizing their national programmes of action. In September last year, the SADC heads of State and governments had adopted a Declaration on Gender and Development, which acknowledged and reaffirmed that gender equality was a fundamental human right. That Declaration was a "categorical manifestation of the determination of SADC countries to implement the Platform for Action". The commitment of the SADC governments was unquestionable; they had demonstrated political will.
On the four critical areas that would be taken up during the session, he said worldwide there was a systematic and systemic discrimination against women.
Women's Commission - 10 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
The catalogue of injustices was almost endless and warranted a holistic approach to the Platform for Action. In fact, all the 12 critical areas of concern in the Platform were interrelated and interdependent. All human rights instruments clearly stated that the rights they set forth should be applicable to all persons without distinction of any kind, including sex. But perhaps there was need to analyse the implications of a State becoming a party to such international instruments. They put the onus on the State party to undertake measures to ensure the equal access of women and men to the enjoyment of rights set forth in each treaty. Those obligations implied the need to remove obstacles. In that connection, it was time to establish concrete standards and mechanisms of accountability for violations of human rights.
The time was now right to move beyond recognition of the realization of women's economic and social rights to developing strategies for ensuring their implementation, he said. In that connection, the issue of land rights, which was important in the SADC member States, must be addressed. It was a matter of human rights. Land right discrimination contravened the provision of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In addressing the issue of feminization of poverty, land ownership was a key issue. Without title to land, women's access to agricultural support services, particularly credit and extension services, was drastically limited. Furthermore, in Africa, the right to equal inheritance was of vital importance and was key to women's economic empowerment. The SADC, therefore, supported the recommendation that the Commission consider the appointment of a thematic special rapporteur in the field of women's economic and social rights.
Stressing the importance of addressing the situation of the girl child, he said the empowered girl child was the empowered women of tomorrow. A meeting in October 1997 in Addis Ababa had focused on the particular problems of adolescent girls. Governments should pay special attention to the protection of girls from sexual exploitation and abuse, harmful traditional practices, including genital mutilation, early marriage, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The SADC appealed to the Secretary-General to consider appointing a special representative to focus on the special needs and concerns of the girl child. On violence against women, he called on States to facilitate the implementation of the model strategies and practical measures on the elimination of such violence in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. But legal change needed to be accompanied by changes in the economic and social situation of women. Greater efforts should be made to understand the particular ways in which women were affected by armed conflict.
LINDA TARR-WHELAN (United States) said with the Commission's focusing this year on human rights of women, women in armed conflict, and violence against women and the girl child, in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, it must play a crucial, aggressive and forward-leaning role in advancing the human rights of women. She urged the Commission to focus on civil and political rights and to re-emphasize
Women's Commission - 11 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
their indivisibility. Human rights and development should complement rather than compete with each other.
The United States would introduce a draft resolution on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, she said. The Commission should speak out when women and girls lose their ability to be heard or to go to school, work or get medical care. The draft resolution would send a message that no group had the right to deny women and girls their human rights. She stressed the importance of the elimination of violence against women to the present United States Administration.
On the issue of women in armed conflict, she said the Commission should encourage the United Nations to strengthen its ongoing efforts to train peacekeepers in human rights issues, including human rights of women; to assess the effectiveness of its human rights training by encouraging the Office of Internal Oversight Services to include human rights and gender in its reports on peacekeeping operations; and to encourage peacekeepers to work closely with non-governmental organizations to improve their respect for and protection of human rights. The Commission should also urge the war crimes tribunals to pay particular attention to crimes against women and girls and should encourage the establishment of a permanent international criminal court.
She addressed the issue of the girl child and older women, as well as trafficking in women and girls. The trafficking of women and girls was a serious women human rights issue. It was time for a global strategy aimed at prevention, protection and enforcement on that issue. She strongly supported the conclusion of an optional protocol to the Convention on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as an effective instrument to strengthen that important treaty.
JOSEFINA BILBAO, Minister for Women's Affairs of Chile, described the principal achievements her country had made in 1997 in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. The Government was carrying out broad educational reforms to achieve gender balance in training of children and creating awareness among teachers. The foundation for further work in women's development had been laid last year. A tripartite effort of trade unions, employee organizations and the Government had led to the improvement of the welfare of children.
The Government intended to work towards improving women's participation in decision-making and to ensure equality of opportunity for them, she said. A machinery had been created to follow up on the Beijing Conference decisions, including those on women's rights. Chile had hosted a regional conference on women that had dealt with women's access to power and sustainable development. The final declaration, called the Santiago Consensus, contained 52 specific proposals relating to the advancement of women. She expressed her Government's readiness to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Women's Commission - 12 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
THELMA KAY, Chief of the Women and Development Unit of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), spoke of a regional meeting organized by the Commission. Recommendations from the meeting had covered economic and social rights of women, as well as trafficking in women and children. A subregional meeting on the eradication of violence against women had been held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Studies showed that efforts to eliminate violence against women were limited. Recommendations of that meeting had focused on measures and institutional mechanisms to deal with the problem.
She said major issues being tackled by ESCAP included improving the capacity of women; fostering women's involvement in the informal sector; support for women and the elderly; and increasing women's role in decision- making. Referring to the region's economic crisis, she said that preliminary reports indicated that women were being affected and that they would be increasingly marginalized in the efforts to resolve the problem. The ESCAP would work to help women overcome the challenges they faced, she stressed.
NOELEEN HEYZER, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund For Women (UNIFEM), said that while the norms and standards of human rights were usually set in international forums, their implementation should take place at the national level. Towards that goal, UNIFEM was employing a number of national strategies that included building the capacity of women's organizations to develop networking and leadership skills, focusing on the pivotal institutions such as the police and the legal system in order to bring about new attitudes and behaviours, and exploring ways to build favourable conditions in which groups could learn to live together amicably.
She cited some concrete examples of UNIFEM's work in the area of human rights that included the establishment in 1996 of a trust fund in support of actions to eliminate violence against women. The UNIFEM had also coordinated the participation of United Nations agencies and leading non-governmental organizations in the Latin American and Caribbean Campaign on Women's Human Rights: A life Free of Violence, to be launched on 8 March. Also, it had developed an array of initiatives to encourage universal ratification of the Women's Anti-Discrimination Convention and strengthen the awareness of women's organizations about that Convention's usefulness. At the national level, UNIFEM had striven to integrate a component of the Convention into school curriculums and into UNIFEM-sponsored training seminars for human rights advocates and members of the judiciary, among others.
In the area of peace-building and conflict resolution, UNIFEM's African Women's Crisis Programme provided quick response to internally displaced women, as well as refugees and returnees, she said. In addition, UNIFEM had sought to promote women's concerns in the peace process and to bring the voices of women afflicted by conflict to the implementation process of the Beijing Platform for Action. For example, UNIFEM supported the launching of
Women's Commission - 13 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
the Federation of African Women Peace Networks and was facilitating the participation of 20 women from the Federation in the Commission's work. Given the destructive power of the world's weapons and their spread as big business, along with the technology that promoted their widely broadcast justification, there was an urgent need for fresh understanding and action to resolve conflicts, prevent new wars, and build peace on a sustainable basis.
MARGARET RASHIDI KARAMBA (Democratic Republic of the Congo) reaffirmed her country's devotion to peace, democracy and human rights. Because of its natural wealth and its geo-strategic importance, her country had always been coveted by western Powers that had scorned the respect of human rights. They had supported a dictatorship in the country during the cold war. The negative impact of that dictatorship was well known and had led to a struggle for the restoration of the Republic.
She went on to say that the four critical issues that the Commission would take up were vital to the advancement of women. It was important to understand how armed conflict had affected the women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Women had been subjected to all forms of persecution during the war of liberation by the former Zairian Army. Their rights had been violated, and they had been humiliated. Research had shown that girls had been raped during detention and vile sexual acts had been performed on them. There was a lack of rape counselling centres, which made it difficult for the girls to cope with their experiences.
She paid tribute to the United Nations agencies for their assistance to the people during those times of conflict. However, the spectre of the atrocities they had been subjected to still hung over them. She wondered why the team investigating human rights abuses in her country had to exhume the bodies of those who had died during the war of liberation. "They were our bodies", she said. Violence against women should be a crime before the proposed international criminal court. Women's rights were integrated into the development plans of the new Government. Elaborating on the plans, she said the Government strongly supported a culture of peace and was determined to maintain peace in its territory. She called on the international community to assist the Democratic Republic of the Congo in its development.
CRISTINA AGUIAR (Dominican Republic) said the principle of gender balance had been given pride of place in the country. A number of initiatives by non- governmental organizations in enhancing the advancement of women had been adopted. The Director General for Women's Advancement had carried out country-wide consultations that showed progress made in the effort to combat violence against women. The penal code had been amended to provide for definition of and penalties for violence against women. Pimping and abandonment of children and family were among the punishable offences.
Women's Commission - 14 - Press Release WOM/1030 1st Meeting (AM) 2 March 1998
The Government had ratified international legal instruments on violence against women, she said. A campaign had been organized to arouse public awareness and sensitivity to the problem of violence against women. Measures taken by the Government had led to the establishment of women's trust in the police. Special police teams known as "Friends of Women and Children" had been established to advise women, she said, adding that the wall of silence which allowed impunity to prevail had been destroyed. There was still a great deal yet to be achieved, she added.
* *** *