STATUS OF WOMEN COMMISSION HEARS CALLS FOR FINANCIAL AND OTHER RESOURCES TO HELP IN IMPLEMENTING BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION
Press Release
WOM/1043
STATUS OF WOMEN COMMISSION HEARS CALLS FOR FINANCIAL AND OTHER RESOURCES TO HELP IN IMPLEMENTING BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION
19980306 Non-governmental organizations called for new and additional financial resources for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, as the Commission on the Status of Women concluded its general debate on the implementation of objectives and action on critical areas of concern adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women.A representative of the African Women's Development and Communications Network, speaking on behalf of a number of non-governmental organizations, said such resources could be made available through cuts in military expenditure in Africa. She urged African Governments to determine their own agenda of development with the full participation of both women and men for the benefit of all African people while strengthening South-South cooperation to promote the advancement of women.
Making recommendations for the Asian region, a representative of the Asian Caucus said military budgets should be reallocated to the development of programmes for women and children and action should be directed to solve the current economic crisis and its negative impact on women. She also called for action to end the suffering of women in Asia, including sexual exploitation. States in the region were urged to ban tests to determine the sex of unborn children; to stop infanticide; to promote education at all levels for women; and to ensure the availability of health and education programmes.
Countries that had experienced internal conflict and crises faced even greater obstacles in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action, the Commission was told. The representative of Rwanda said the challenges raised at Beijing remained huge for countries facing genocide, which destroyed infrastructures and tore apart the social fabric. Rwanda's implementation of the Platform for Action centred around defining a solution to its internal problems. Despite some progress, the path ahead was long, and Rwanda therefore, requested the assistance of the international community to continue to confront the challenges raised in Beijing.
The representative of Guatemala said his Government had made some progress towards resettling Guatemalan women who had been affected by the war. However, the road ahead towards the full human rights of Guatemalan women was a long one, but his Government had made and would continue to make all the necessary efforts to get there.
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The representative of the General Federation of Arab Women said while the obstacles to women's enjoyment of their human rights were outlined in the Beijing Platform, women living in the occupied areas of Palestine continued to be affected by the brutality inflicted by the occupying military authorities. Furthermore, the world had witnessed the phenomenon of economic sanctions which violated human rights in Libya, Sudan, Cuba and especially Iraq. Prohibiting food as a means to achieve political purposes seriously affected the implementation of the Beijing Declaration.
Despite remarkable advances in recognizing and elaborating the human rights of women, including through international treaties, millions of women and girls remained largely untouched by those agreements, a representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said. Many continued to suffer from lifelong, gender-based oppression, and many were denied their human rights to health, reproductive choice and freedom from coercion and violence.
Statements were also made by the representatives of Peru, Ukraine, Venezuela, Greece, Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Sudan.
Representatives of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also spoke, as did representatives of the World Islamic Call Society and Housewives in Dialogue.
The representative of China spoke in exercise of the right of reply.
The Commission will meet again at a date to be announced in the Journal.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on the Status of Women met this afternoon to conclude its general discussion on implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women.
Statements
LUNTANGIN BAYAMA, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the importance of integrating a gender perspective in the Federation's policies and programmes was being emphasized. Action plans had been developed for Africa and Europe and a plan was currently being developed for Asia. The plans included establishing regional and subregional networks; developing means to address gender issues consistently into the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes; training of Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers, staff, managers and field delegates in gender analysis methods; collecting and using gender disaggregated data and reviewing programmes to monitor progress.
On the issue of women and armed conflict, she said it was extremely important to ensure camps for refugees and internally displaced persons designed according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1995 guidelines on the protection of refugee women. Only through enhanced cooperation between policy-making bodies and cooperating partners could words be translated into action. A more close collaboration among United Nations agencies, particularly UNHCR, was welcome.
She said the Federation dealt with the consequences of different types of violence against women, ranging from armed conflicts to domestic violence. It contributed to identifying abused, violated women and men through Red Cross and Red Crescent chapters, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations and government authorities. The Federation also supported activities by the United Nations system to emphasize women's full and equal enjoyment of their rights. Women and men's access to human rights information needed to be increased, and existing mechanisms to identify and assist women whose human rights were being violated needed to be reinforced.
MARIE CLAIRE MUKASINE (Rwanda) said that the challenges raised at Beijing remained huge for countries facing genocide, which destroyed infrastructures and tore apart the social fabric. Disease had increased, and vulnerable groups had been further traumatized. Within that sad picture that had brutalized Rwandan women -- who were increasingly the heads of households -- Rwanda's implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action centred around defining a solution to its internal problems.
In that context, Rwanda had implemented measures such as specific support for those who escaped genocide and for those who had been victims of
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sexual violence, she said. Efforts had been made to raise women's awareness of their right to health services, as well as to support services for the survivors of the genocide. Other efforts included general education aimed at reducing literacy and promoting access to education, and consciousness raising of authorities at all decision-making levels. Rwanda sought to strengthen its machinery and achieve women's advancement by setting up focal points to ensure that the gender perspective became part of its central policy. The establishment of an office responsible for dealing with women and children triumphed in the recent revision of legislation governing matrimony and women's concerns in general.
Rwanda was also embarking on information campaigns at all levels to promote peace, gender-balance and development, she said. The Government also undertook the organization and celebration of special events concerning women. In that regard, it chose the topic of "fighting to defend women's rights" on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Specific actions favouring the girl child aimed at their education, training and health had also been a source of concern. Despite some progress, the path ahead was long, and Rwanda therefore requested the assistance of the international community to continue to pick up those challenges raised in Beijing.
JULIO ARMANDO MARTINI HERRERA (Guatemala) said that the peace agreements had helped ensure the involvement of women, as reflected in the creation of a nationwide policy tailored to women. A draft national policy had been elaborated for the advancement and training of Guatemalan women designed to promote their condition and status. Another draft was launched in the area of judicial reform, in order to reduce the existing inequities. Such reforms sought to revise several criminal, labour and health laws.
Violence against women represented a major challenge in Guatemala, he said, as the problem was deeply rooted in Guatemala's social structure. Guatemalan women historically had very little protection of their rights. In 1996, however, the Congress adopted a law to curb family violence, and it was currently reviewing a draft law against sexual harassment. Concerning women in armed conflict, particularly pertinent in Guatemala, the Government had progressed towards resettling Guatemalan women. Many such women were heads of households and therefore especially vulnerable and hard-hit by poverty.
Training programmes and opportunities for access to micro-credit were intended to improve their living conditions, he said. The Government also sought a substantial increase in women's access to positions of political leadership. The women's forum, for example, was an extensive arena for pluralism and representation for Guatemalan women, and it afforded them the chance to discuss women's issues. Another programme called "Let's Educate Girls" strove to increase the rates of enrolment and graduation among girls through fellowships. The road ahead towards the full human rights of
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Guatemalan women was a long one, but Guatemala had made and would continue to make all the necessary efforts to get there.
MARITZA RODRIGUEZ (Peru) said that with regard to the eradication of violence against women, Peru's legislation had made decisive strides that included a legislative framework outlining the nation's policy on family violence. Initiatives included an amended Penal Code, an expanded definition of family violence and a provision of no-fee medical care at the request of police, prosecutorial authorities or the courts. In addition, the Government had launched training campaigns concerning family violence for members of the police and human development workers. It had also opened a telephone hotline to report cases of family violence, as well as provide emotional support and referrals to special services.
She said that as part of a framework of action to establish basic conditions for the integrated development of emergency areas, another programme emphasized the problems faced by displaced women. Activities included workshops and training, and strengthening women's organizations in the areas of health, reproductive rights, sexual rights and the prevention of violence. In addition, the Government had begun the process of adapting national legislation to the principal international instruments. An example in Peru of the growing interest in human rights was the creation of the national commission on human rights in the Ministry of the Interior.
The girl child was of paramount importance to Peru, she said. Indeed, two major treaties -- the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women -- converged on the subject of the girl child. With respect to the provisions of those treaties, Peru had developed a national plan of action for children that included specific actions and strategies aimed at conferring equal opportunity to girls, especially in the areas of education, the prevention of violence and the treatment of domestic workers.
Ms. SHIN, of the Asian Caucus, said because of the Asian region's diversity, women were confronted with a range of problems, including trafficking in women; dowry practices; the exploitation of migrant women; prostitution; the spread of HIV/AIDS; violence against women; infanticide; early marriage; discriminatory laws; and fundamentalism and violence resulting from conflicts.
Attention must be given to the suffering of women in Asia, she said, calling for the Commission to ensure that States remove all reservations on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child; implement the Beijing Platform for Action; mobilize resources to prevent violence against women; undertake research to collect gender disaggregated data; provide assistance for older
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women and disabled women; and protect the right of girls from sexual exploitation.
States must also be urged to protect working girls without families; ban tests to determine the sex of unborn children; stop infanticide; promote education at all levels for women; help to change attitudes of women; and ensure the availability of health and education programmes, she continued. On the issue of war crimes, she said those States which had committed those crimes should publicly apologize to the women who had been exploited in those circumstances, including the "comfort women". Furthermore, military budgets should be reallocated to the development of programmes for women and children and action should be taken on the current economic crisis and its negative impact on women. She urged the Commission to complete the drafting of the optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and stressed that it should not allow reservations to the optional protocol.
OKSANA BOYKO (Ukraine) said her country's parliament had approved a national plan of action for 1997-2000 aimed at improving the situation of women. It would set up a steering council on women under the Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs. The plan also included the elaboration of a draft declaration on the general principles of state policy concerning family and women, and a draft convention for improving the situation of women. The principle of equality was enshrined in a range of laws in Ukraine.
She went on to say that there was a continuation of violence against women and girls, as was recognized in various communities and cultures worldwide. Of particular concern was the ongoing trafficking in women, including the recent increase in trafficking and enslavement of women from eastern Europe. The victims were young, naive Slavic women who were entrapped, enslaved and stripped of their basic human rights and had been forced to work as prostitutes in various parts of the world. Widespread measures should be taken to prevent such occurrences. Her Government supported action taken to prevent trafficking in women. A non-governmental organization programme existed in Ukraine that had as its objective strengthening non-governmental organizational structures whose activities focused on the prevention of the illegal trade in women.
Measures such as targeting the media, developing educational programmes and programmes for legal and social aid for the victims were being pursued, she said. She welcomed the adoption in the European Union of the joint action plan to combat trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children. Efforts at that level would bring tangible results, she added.
CARMEN TERESA MARTINEZ (Venezuela) elaborated on a number of steps that had been taken in her country to make improvements in all areas that impinged on women's human rights. Action had been taken also through non-governmental
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organizations. The need to resolve women's problems had to be emphasized. Venezuela had prepared an intersectoral plan to prevent violence against women. It included the sensitization of officials at all levels, including at the level of prefectures and at the community level, in women's rights and how to prevent violence within families. A statewide network to assist victims of violence had been developed and hotlines had been set up to provide information on violence against women.
Venezuela had also adopted a national women's plan of action, covering the period 1998 to 2003, to achieve the integration of women into society by opening up opportunities for them and encouraging their involvement in all areas of life. Legislation to improve the situation of women should become part of national legislation very soon. It would increase women's access to elective office and create a ministry to deal with adolescent issues and the exploitation of the girl child.
WARIARA MBUGUA, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that despite remarkable advances in recognizing and elaborating the human rights of women, including through international treaties, millions of women and girls remained largely untouched by those agreements. Many continued to suffer from lifelong, gender-based oppression, and many were denied their human rights to health, reproductive choice and freedom from coercion and violence. Society restricted their opportunities and limited their role to childbearing -- without lending their support to that role.
It was time to break the silence that surrounded such injustice, she said. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action and the Beijing Platform for Action were all essential to that effort. To promote the human rights of adolescent girls, the UNFPA, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) had held an expert meeting in Addis Ababa last October, resulting in a call on governments, civil society and the international community to work together to expand the options available to girls. Also stressed were the special needs of refugees, the disabled, those orphaned by AIDS, maternal death or war, victims of sexual crimes and female genital mutilation.
She said that gender-based violence had reached alarming proportions in all parts of the world. Domestic violence and other acts that jeopardized women's lives and denied them human dignity were closely linked to sexual and reproductive health. The UNFPA supported various advocacy and legislative initiates to prevent violence against women, including an inter-agency campaign led by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Action was also urgently needed to protect the human rights of women in conflict situations. Fortunately, the international community had begun to pay attention to the special needs of such women. There could be no more
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fitting way to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights than to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in promoting women's human rights, including their reproductive and sexual rights.
NADJIBA TABIBI, of the World Islamic Call Society, said as an Afghan, she wished to raise her voice for the rights of Afghan women. It was important to remember Queen Radiya, who played a great role in Afghanistan, and Nahid Shaid, who had defended the country and given her life under a Russian tank. Afghan women and children were suffering not only from the consequences of 20 years of war, but from not being allowed to attend school, participate in domestic activities or go to the public bathhouses -- an important need for preserving health. More than 10 million Afghan refugees were scattered in Pakistan, Iran and Turkey in conditions which were detrimental to the future of the next generation.
She expressed support for the efforts of the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Emma Bonino, for defending the rights of Afghan women. She also expressed appreciation to United States First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton for speaking about the plight of Afghan refugees and to United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who had visited Afghan refugee camps. According to the Director-General of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, the future of Afghan children was at risk. Their rights to safety and security and to participate in public and private life, school and the workplace were being violated.
ANASTASIA SOTIRIADOU (Greece) said that her Government had striven to ensure the widest access of women to education and counselling, particularly concerning violence against women and girls, and the prevention and treatment of sexual abuse. Such services conformed to the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. However, men must also be reached through formal education and community outreach programmes in order to prevent sexual violence, and promote national policies in that regard.
Continuing, she said that women and girl children had a right to proper health care, and to liberation from the customary practices that marginalized their humanity. Towards that goal, the international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equitable manner, taking into account the various historical and cultural backgrounds. The national human rights movement had been slow to address women's rights as human rights issues, but that was beginning to change. At the Conference in Beijing, the Secretary- General had described violence against women as an intolerable breach of human rights. Indeed, the many forms of violence against women compromised their rights as citizen, including their socio-economic, cultural, political and civil rights.
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The phenomenon of violence against women was on the rise, she said. Unfortunately, agreements had not contributed to its reduction. Such violence had become a source of income and was perceived as men's right, at home and in the workplace. It should not be tolerated. Women must resist violence, and governments must make inroads in that regard. It was one of the top priorities of the Greek Government that had resulted in substantial legislative reform and the promotion of information and fair legal protection. However, a real shortage of services for women victims of violence in Greece persisted, despite the establishment of a centre for battered women in Athens, as well as state hospitals and mental health centres.
ARIANE SAND-TRIGO, of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said that the special protection of women recognized by international humanitarian law had led the ICRC to give women particular attention during its activities in the field. The ICRC had sought separate quarters for women in prisons, and during the distribution of aid, it took into account the special needs of pregnant women and nursing mothers. In some situations, the ICRC had intervened to abolish unfair discriminatory treatment of women. For example, it had actively contributed in the progressive re-admission of women into hospitals in Kabul.
The ICRC viewed women as the central element of the family, which was often shattered by conflict, she said. In those cases, it reacted to restore links between various family members through its central research agency. That might include an exchange of messages through the ICRC, visits to prisons or family reunions. It also sought to establish programmes aimed at enabling women to resume their role as the focal point of the family, and it might provide financial support to women heads of households. Women were also considered by the ICRC to be central pillars in food programmes, given their active involvement in the distribution of food and water in refugee camps, for example, and also given the care they gave to their children. With women required to carry heavy loads in times of conflict, the ICRC would emphasize the need for real measures that respected women's dignity and fundamental rights.
CHOE MYONG NAM (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action had resulted in significant progress in the promotion and protection of women's rights. The progress clearly demonstrated that the importance of the inalienable rights of women as human beings was increasingly being highlighted. The efforts of non- governmental organizations throughout the world in follow-up action after Beijing were appreciated. Despite such progress, all forms of discrimination and violence against women still continued unabated. The Commission's current session would provide important momentum in identifying new challenges ahead of the international community's attempts to promote women's rights and explore ways of overcoming difficulties.
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On the issue of violence against women, he said its most serious form was sexual slavery, and war-time sexual slavery in particular, since such acts had not ceased even in the late part of the century. If sexual slavery was to be brought to an end, a thorough liquidation of the past crimes of war-time sexual slavery should be assured. He drew attention to the case of military sexual slavery committed with the direct involvement of the Japanese Government and military before and during the Second World War. Japan had never made serious apologies to the "victimized States" and to the victims or their bereaved families for the crime. It was refusing to offer material compensation to the victims or their families. The setting up of a non- governmental fund was part of an effort to distort international opinion on the issue of compensation. Such irresponsibility and insincerity should not be tolerated. He welcomed the recommendation of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women of the Commission on Human Rights to resolve the issue, and asked how could the international community trust Japan, write off its "enemy State" name from the United States Charter and endorse its permanent membership of the Security Council in such circumstance.
ATTIATA MUSTAFA (Sudan) said her country had been developing projects and plans to implement the Platform for Action. There had been attempts to integrate the work of all the ministries to address women's affairs, including focusing on the health of women and children and eliminating the practice of female genital mutilation, which was very prevalent in Sudan. Other projects focused on income-generating activities. Non-governmental organizations from different parts of the country had been working on women's issues.
The number of women in the Cabinet and at the ministerial level had increased, she said. The statistical department was developing a gender- sensitive data collection system on the status of health of the girl child and on women. Reproductive health issues had been introduced in the curriculum of secondary schools and all universities. Women in Sudan now had the right to own land, to own commercial activities and have separate bank accounts, as well as to have access to financial support for development programmes.
JONES SHELLENBERG, of the African Women's Development and Communications Network, spoke of a number of challenges to the successful implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and made a number of recommendations on behalf of African women's non-governmental organizations. There was a failure at all levels to allocate new and additional resources for implementing the Platform. In her recommendations, she called on all parties concerned to make additional and new resources available for implementation of the Platform for Action.
Those resources in Africa, she went on, could be made available through cuts in military expenditures, which increased from $154 million in 1995 to $255 million in 1996. She called on the international community to put an end to the flow of the sale of arms or military aid to African governments in
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civil wars. She called on governments and international agencies to establish mechanisms to involve women in conflict resolution and peacemaking.
She made other recommendations on the issue of violence against women, and the girl child. On the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, she urged all governments to ratify it without reservations and to support the expeditious passage of the draft optional protocol being considered by the Commission. African governments were urged to determine their own agenda of development with the full participation of both women and men to the benefit of all African people while strengthening South-South cooperation.
PHOEBE JONES SCHELLENBERG, Housewives in Dialogue, speaking on behalf of several non-governmental organizations, said that there was a tendency to consider housewives as women who worked at home. In reality, their work included, among other roles, caring for victims of rape and violence. Most of the world's subsistence agricultural work was done by women. Calling them farmers obscured the fact that they also processed and cooked the food they grew. Their lives were devalued, which made them vulnerable to human rights violations. Unpaid women who cared for children were most vulnerable.
She said that while a paying job enabled women to leave behind marital rape and abuse, they might face sexual harassment in the workplace, for low wage workers were often prey to employers' sexual demands. Domestic workers were particularly vulnerable. It was essential to count the price that women paid for violence and increase their economic and social autonomy. The vulnerability of women and children to violence also needed to be addressed, especially for those considered outside the protection of the law, such as sex industry workers. In addition, poverty and overwork should be recognized as a violation of women's rights, especially considering the detrimental effect on girls' education.
ELHAM MOSTAFA, General Federation of Arab Women, said that the future would be brighter with the effective participation of women worldwide. Undoubtedly, the liberation and advancement of women and the enjoyment of their full rights was related, in part, to the successful implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. While the obstacles to women's enjoyment of their human rights was outlined in the Beijing Platform, women living in the occupied areas of Palestine continued to be affected by the brutality inflicted by the occupying military authorities. In recent years, the world had witnessed the phenomenon of economic sanctions which violated human rights, in Libya, Sudan, Cuba and especially Iraq. Prohibiting food as a means to achieve political purposes seriously affected the implementation of the Beijing Declaration.
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Right of Reply
Speaking in exercise of the right of reply, the representative of China said that this morning a spokesperson from the non-governmental organization Women and Armed Conflict had made allegations about the human rights of Tibetan women, which the Chinese delegation rejected as "totally groundless". The spokesperson totally disregarded the facts and used the Commission on the Status of Women to attack a sovereign nation. Such despicable action should not be allowed by that solemn Commission.
He said that it was known to all that Tibet was an inseparable part of the Chinese territory. The issue of Tibet was an internal affair of China. Moreover, the status of Tibetan women and their enjoyment of human rights had greatly improved, as witnessed by the world community. The erroneous view expressed by the spokesperson was self-defeating.
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