PRESS CONFERENCE ON 1998 GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON 1998 GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS

There could not be human rights without women's rights, correspondents were told this afternoon in a press conference on the 1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights to demand greater attention and resources to protect and promote women's human rights.

Attending the press conference were Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Lydia Zigomo Nyatsanza of the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers' Association, Zieba Shorish Shamley of the Afghan Women's Network and Susana Fried, the Coordinator for the Campaign.

Over 250 organizations in some 80 countries were participating in the Campaign which was launched in the beginning of 1998, Ms. Bunch said. Local and regional tribunals had been held to give voice to the problems faced by women. Postcards with the message "Imagine a world where all women enjoyed their human rights" had been designed with space for messages. The Campaign had met with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and delivered all those messages to her. The messages were aimed at reminding the world that when one speaks of human rights, one is talking about the rights of women which are violated in every country of the world, Ms. Bunch said. Fifty years after the Universal Declaration, women remained woefully unprotected by governments and the United Nations from human rights abuses. Ms. Robinson had pledged that she would accord women's human rights a priority on the human rights agenda; in particular she would look at worldwide trafficking in women and women's social and economic rights. Ms. Nyatsanza said that as part of the Campaign, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women had been translated into local languages and distributed to women's grassroots organizations as a way of educating women about their rights. The tribunal held in her country had looked at the ways in which women's rights concerning property, family and the workplace were violated, and had generated many articles on the subject of women's rights. Another result was that ways in which women's human rights concerns could be incorporated into the Zimbabwe Constitution, which was currently undergoing reform, were being examined. Ms. Shamley said that in Afghanistan, women were banished from the public sphere of society. They were being denied the right to work, the right to education and access to medical care. They were sold as slaves and forced to marry. Girls as young as nine and ten were being forced to marry members of the Taliban militia, while thousands of people had been massacred by the Taliban militia because of their ethnicity and religious beliefs. Given those conditions, she said the celebration of the Universal Declaration meant nothing to the people of Afghanistan. "It's wonderful that we have the Declaration, but what is the use of rhetoric if we do not take action to protect women and children and people all over the world"? she asked. Ms. Fried said the Campaign had sought to celebrate the creative and effective work that had been done by women's human rights activists. As an example, she mentioned the fact that issues of sexual and gender violence had been incorporated into the Rome Statute. Ms. Bunch concluded by appealing for a change in the lack of political will and lack of resources devoted to the problems of women. * *** *