THIRD COMMITTEE SPEAKERS STRESS POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF RURAL WOMEN

Press Release
GA/SHC/3524

THIRD COMMITTEE SPEAKERS STRESS POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF RURAL WOMEN

The empowerment of rural women was critical to eradicating poverty, the representative of Malaysia told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) this morning, as it met to continue considering issues related to the advancement of women and implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).

He said that, as the secretariat for the Regional Steering Committee on the Economic Advancement of Rural and Island Women for Asia and Pacific, his country would encourage regional training, research and information exchange for rural women. Programmes in his country focused on inculcating positive values among the poor, particularly among poor women.

Rural women had seen a decline in income due to deterioration in trade for commodities, the representative of Costa Rica said. To improve the situation of rural women, open trade models that led to economic growth through investment and trade needed to be established.

The representative of Uganda said that hunger and starvation were inflicted upon the rural woman by forces of both man and nature. Affected by health problems, they also lacked access to technology to assist in their jobs, as well as education. Cultural practices also left them open to battery, rape and early marriage.

A number of speakers stressed the importance of involving men in the process of advancing women’s rights. Speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the representative of Mozambique said sustainable development with a human face could not be attained unless women, men, girls and boys participated as equal partners in all endeavours. “Beside every successful person, there is a partner”, he added.

The representative of Libya said that, from early childhood on, the man and woman constituted the basic unit of society in every country. It was important to remember that women were not in confrontation with men, and that the family was not a battleground. Active participation in the forthcoming special session of the General Assembly on women would promote that understanding.

The representatives of Israel, Mexico (speaking on behalf of the Rio Group), Bahrain, United Republic of Tanzania, Cyprus, Algeria, Belarus, Australia, Fiji, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iraq also spoke.

Third Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/SHC/3524 11th Meeting (AM) 13 October 1999

The representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO) also addressed the Committee.

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue considering issues related to the advancement of women and implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).

Committee Work Programme

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met this morning to continue considering issues related to the advancement of women and implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). (For background information, see Press Release GA/SHC/3521 of 11 October.)

Statements

AMIRA ARNON (Israel) said her country’s Equal Employment Opportunities Law of 1988 prohibited discrimination in the workplace based on gender, sexual orientation, marital status, parenthood, race, age, religion, nationality, country of birth and political orientation. It also recognized sexual harassment as a form of discrimination in the workplace subject to civil and criminal sanctions.

A long legal process in the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) culminated in 1998 in a new law for the purpose of advancing women’s status. The law was aimed at achieving coordination between the various bodies that dealt with the status of women and to promote education, legislation and law enforcement in relation to women. Also established was the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women. It dictated a binding policy to advance women’s status.

GUSTAVO ALBIN (Mexico), also speaking on behalf of the Rio Group, said he hoped for the promotion of gender equality in all aspects of life. Evaluation mechanisms had been established at the national levels in many of the Rio Group countries in order to review gender equality. The theme of the forthcoming eighth regional conference was “equality and gender, human rights, violence and peace for Latin America and the Caribbean”. The conference would evaluate the accomplishments made during the past five years in the advancement of women.

The International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) should be funded by the United Nations regular budget, he said. That would also help to promote stable human resources and improve the quality of professionals hired since it would provide career incentives.

The improvement of the situation of rural women, especially indigenous women, was of great concern to his country, he said. Mechanisms to include rural women in development programmes had been established, as had a national technical cooperation network to support women. Violence against female migrant workers was also of great concern to his Government. Prepared by a non-governmental organization, a migrant woman card had been issued. The card dealt with sexual violence against women and explained the steps to follow in case of an aggression of that type.

HUSSEIN JASSIM (Bahrain) said his country was closely following the advancement of women in the Arab world. Depriving women of rights negatively affected any society. Among the measures taken to effectuate development that involved both men and women was demographic planning for the heads of families of both genders. Governmental agencies and civil society had been working together to achieve equal access and to assure non-discrimination for women.

Women had gained access to education and had attained important positions in Bahrain’s society, he said. Because of Bahrain’s size, there was little distinction between the rural and urban communities. Women received the same basic services as men. Working women were protected in accordance with the beliefs of Islam and with Arab and international conventions. Laws and decrees encouraged women to enter the labour market and equal access was given to both men and women, so that they could both take full part in building society.

ZAINAL ABIDIN OSMAN (Malaysia) said that as the secretariat for the Regional Steering Committee on the Economic Advancement of Rural and Island Women for Asia and the Pacific, his country would encourage training, research and information exchange for rural women. Empowerment of rural women was critical to eradicating poverty. The thrust of Malaysia’s development programmes called for review, adoption and maintenance of economic policies and strategies to address the needs of women in poverty. Laws were revised and administrative practices introduced to ensure women’s equal rights and access to economic resources. Research was under way to address the feminization of poverty.

He said Malaysia’s anti-poverty programmes focused on the hard core poor by giving priority to income-generating projects. They also provided constantly improved infrastructure, amenities and programmes that inculcated positive values among the poor, particularly poor women. “The advancement of women is the advancement of mankind”, he said.

CHRISTINE KAPALATA (United Republic of Tanzania) said there had been gains and setbacks in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. An important gain in Tanzania had been the landmark Sexual Offences Special Provisions that criminalized sexual offences and female genital mutilation, stipulating stringent punishment for both. Passage of that important legislation had affected society profoundly in terms of influencing attitudinal changes towards sexual offences against women and mitigating violence against women. In addition, several pieces of legislation discriminatory to women were under review with a view to their abolition. The Land Law Act passed earlier this year had given women the right to own land.

An overarching remaining problem was poverty, she continued. Women were disproportionately hurt by economic crises at the national level. The special session of the General Assembly coming up in June should look at creative ways of solving the problem in cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions and national governments. Also to be addressed at the special session was the need to improve the representation of women in the Secretariat at the professional and higher levels.

Finally, she said, no progress could be made without the partnerships forged over the years and the political will of leaders. In addition to the non- governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in promoting the advancement of women, it was important not to overlook the role of the other significant part of humankind, the men folk.

DEMETRIS HADJIARGYROU (Cyprus) said the Turkish invasion in his country 25 years ago and subsequent events had a devastating impact on women. “My Government has increasingly relied on integrating women into the efforts of economic revival of the country”, he added. Their contribution in the economic revival of his country had been invaluable.

Since 1979, the role of women in his country had considerably improved. Women’s share in the total labour force had risen from 30 per cent in 1976 to 39 per cent today. It was estimated that, currently, 57 per cent of women aged 15-64 years were integrated in the labour force. In addition, approximately 30 per cent of employed women had received higher education, and about 42 per cent had completed secondary education.

Even though rural women were considered to be a category with special problems, they had benefited considerably from the various rural development programmes, he said. In addition, they had access to all basic social services. Furthermore, the House Economic Programme, introduced in rural areas, aimed at improving the status of rural women by, among other things, encouraging women to get involved with income-generating activities.

BERND NIEHAUS (Costa Rica) said millions of women worldwide still lived under grave unequal conditions. It was time to eradicate inequality and injustice. Real participation of women in decision-making positions at various sectors in society was necessary.

The situation of rural women was of special concern to his country. Women were responsible for 40 per cent of agricultural production. The deterioration in terms of trade for commodities had lead to an income decline for rural women. That situation needed to be reversed. The world economic order needed to be changed. Open trade models needed to be established so that investment and trade could lead towards economic growth. In that way, all persons could participate in the process of globalization. Improving the situation of rural women would also improve the lives of thousands of children and the elderly, a group dependent on the rural women who were the heads of households.

IBTISAM GARRUD (Libya) said the basic responsibility for implementing the Beijing Platform for Action belonged to the State. However, an adequately supportive environment that enabled governments to do their work was also required. Her country provided poverty programmes and employment opportunities to promote the advancement of women. At the same time, some countries still made it impossible for a woman to keep her name; she had to take her husband’s. “Was it not the right of a woman to keep her father’s name?” she asked.

There were other practices that should be eradicated, she said, such as abuse of women and violence against them, including by genital mutilation. Implementing the Platform was critical for societies all over the world. From early childhood on, the man and woman constituted the basic unit of society. It was important to remember that women were not in confrontation with men, and the family was not a battleground. Active participation in the special session would promote that understanding.

In her country, she said, legislation had been used to ensure equality for men and women in all social areas, such as education and health. Libya had made rapid progress in achieving equality for its women, both in terms of social position and the advancement of their human rights.

ABDALLAH BAALI (Algeria) said his country had made many advances in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. It had also made every effort to mobilize the large-scale resources necessary to maintain the social programmes that enabled women’s empowerment. Over the next five years, the quality of basic education for girls and women would be improved. The principles of social justice with regard to health care would be ensured. Initiatives would be taken to improve women’s position in the job market. Rural women would be fully involved in policies of agricultural development affecting them, and their economic standing in the world would be improved.

Algeria was fully supportive of the Platform for Action, he said. It supported the removal of obstacles to woman’s development, as well as steps that would achieve her emancipation. The President had initiated a necessary revision of the family code towards that end. For the first time, a woman prefect had been appointed. Algeria had committed itself to its women. “Yesterday to their liberation, today to their equality”, he added.

ANGELA KORNELIOUK (Belarus) said 56 per cent of her country’s population were women. Those women had felt the difficulties of societies with economies in transition. Women still had weak representation in executive bodies. In June 1996, her Government had established a body to improve the situation of women. Hiring programmes to improve women’s situation in the labour market had also been established.

There was a growing feminization of poverty in countries with economies in transition, she continued. That was a new phenomenon. Technical and financial resources were needed for those countries. Environmental problems, such as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, had also affected women in her country. National efforts had received support from the international community through United Nations organs.

ROBYN MUDIE (Australia) said when women participated fully in their community, societies had a better chance to reach their full potential. Her country had quickly responded to the tragic developments in East Timor and Kosovo over the past year, she said. “We have provided a temporary safe haven for people fleeing the destruction in their homelands”, she added. Of more than 1,500 East Timorese evacuees, 52 per cent were women. In addition, many of the 4,000 Kosovars given a temporary safe haven in her country were women and children who had been separated from the rest of their families.

Her country had put in place a concerted campaign to eliminate domestic violence through the Partnership against Domestic Violence initiative. Her Government had also introduced strategies aimed at eradicating the practice of female genital mutilation, a practice that existed among ethnic communities.

She hoped for a partnership between the Commission of the Status of Women and the Commission on Human Rights. There was still too much of a gap between the specialized and mainstream mechanisms. Human rights treaty-monitoring bodies and special procedure mechanisms, such as special rapporteurs, needed to give increasing attention to the gender dimension of their work.

CARLOS DOS SANTOS (Mozambique), speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said sustainable development with a human face could not be attained unless women, men, girls and boys participated as equal partners in all endeavours. “Beside every successful person, there is a partner”, he said.

The 1998 SADC Plan of Action, requesting the secretariat to monitor the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development, had led to progress in encouraging women’s participation in decision-making, he said. Women’s participation at the parliament and cabinet level in SADC countries had increased 15 and 12 per cent, respectively. The SADC experience confirmed the global observation that proportional representation worked more favourably for women than constituency representation. The SADC heads of State had committed themselves to a minimum target of 30 per cent of women in decision-making positions by 2005. They had also committed themselves to eradicating violence against women.

The situation of women in sectors of the economy under development had not improved significantly in SADC member States, he said. The international community had to provide more financial assistance to developing countries to ensure the success of programmes for women’s empowerment. In preparing for the General Assembly’s special session on women, it was important that delegations return to the capitals and stress the political commitment necessary to ensure that governments be represented at the appropriate level.

SAKIUSA RABUKA (Fiji) said that small island developing States needed international support for access to markets, technology and human capacity in order to create an environment conducive to social policies, including women’s empowerment. For Fiji, implementing the Beijing Platform for Action was not just a step forward to enhance the participation of women; it was a catalyst to reduce poverty and bring prosperity to the whole community.

He said it was true that the empowerment of women could not be seen in isolation from the complex issues of poverty eradication, unemployment and under- employment in many developing countries. Poverty was disproportionately female, and, therefore, poverty-eradication programmes needed to combat gender inequalities.

CATHERINE OTITI (Uganda) said the problem of rural women was hunger and starvation inflicted upon her by forces of both man and nature. “With a patriarchical power structure, family planning is, more often than not, an accident that happens when the husband is not home for long periods of time”, she said.

Disease compounded the health problems that were caused by hard labour, which was responsible for spinal and pelvic deformities in women, she explained. In addition, HIV/AIDS was always at the top of the list of diseases. “A sick mother has to cope with her own illness and will many a times pass it on to her unborn child”, she said. Rural women worked the land with no technological aid. They lacked education, and acquiring capital was just a dream for them. The problem was heightened, she continued, by cultural practices which did not protect those women, but left them open to battery, rape and bodily disfigurement, as well as very early marriage -- mostly in a polygamous setting -- and mental torture. Some organizations, founded by Ugandan women, in her country were advocating improved health standards, provision of safe water, the promotion of girl-child education and information dissemination on family-planning programme activities. The Government has also taken affirmative action steps to improve the position of women.

JONG MYONG HAK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) said, instead of stipulating women’s rights in terms of legislation, concrete measures should be taken in order that women might go into the world and fully enjoy their rights. Thus, State investments in advancing the situation of women should be increased and women’s participation in public life should be encouraged.

Violence against women, the gravest violation of women’s human rights, was contrary to the desires of humankind, he said. It could not be tolerated. In order to eradicate violence, it was necessary to eliminate its social root and establish a strong punitive system. It was also important to nurture youth to have the correct view of women. In addition, it was vital to legislate the legal norms for gender equality in all public sectors.

He regretted that the Japanese Government had not settled the sex-slave crime of “comfort women” committed by it and by military authorities before and during the Second World War. He strongly urged the “Japanese Government to give up such impropriety to beautify its criminal history and to acknowledge its State responsibility over the sex-slave crime of ‘comfort women’”, he said. The Japanese Government needed to “honestly apologize and compensate for it”, he stated.

MOHAMMED AL-HUMAIMIDI (Iraq) said his government had taken legislative measures to eradicate inequalities against women. As a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Iraq had devised a national plan for advancement of women, in effect since 1997. Responsibility for follow-up lay in national implementation of measures. International measures should be translatable into national terms. In the absence of sustained social development, however, it was impossible to implement measures at the national level. In Iraq, that impossibility had been compounded by the blockade against it.

Families, in general, and women, in particular, were suffering from the effects of the blockade, he said. Half of pregnant Iraqi women were anaemic, for example. There were psychological, as well as physical, stresses, in addition to the routine difficulties of life. The blockade was violating the human rights of all Iraqi people.

RHITU SIDDHARTH, of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said the organization aimed at ameliorating discrimination faced by women in the workplace through the setting of international labour standards, eradicating poverty through productive work, and promoting better social protection and working conditions.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the ILO’s Conventions had a common basis in the same principles and, hence, were complementary and mutually reinforcing, she said. The organization was also launching programmes to create sustainable jobs in micro and small enterprises. Those were being successfully targeted towards women entrepreneurs in developing and transitional economies. Also, the organization gave great importance to the creation of jobs in post-conflict situations, and it promulgated standards to improve workplace conditions.

Workplace violence had gone global, she said. The ILO had recently conducted a study which found that women were particularly vulnerable. “Some workplaces and occupations are high risk and women are concentrated in these exposed jobs as domestic servants, teachers, nurses and shop workers”, she continued. The survey report proposed dialogue and initiatives to repudiate workplace violence at the workplace.

* *** *