PRESS CONFERENCE ON WOMEN AND DECISION-MAKING

 

Stressing the importance of promoting women’s access to leadership and decision-making positions, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today called for the organizational structures, civic activism, high-level leadership and necessary resources to enable Governments and the United Nations system to significantly increase their efforts to fulfil global promises on women’s human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Drawing on her experience as the first female President of Ireland, and current Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, Mary Robinson said that she had been fortunate enough to have been elected to the Irish Senate at the age of 25. “But there were only 6 of us and we didn’t make much of a difference -- 6 out of 60,” she said.  Later, when there had been 13 women in the Senate, and even more in the Lower House of Parliament, they had begun to see that critical mass made a difference for ordering priorities.

Speaking to correspondents during a Headquarters press conference, Ms. Robinson, who was joined by Beatriz Paredes, President of Mexico’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) political party, previewed the topic of an informal panel discussion to be held later today on women and decision-making, in connection with the General Assembly’s informal thematic debate on gender equality and the empowerment of women.  The events take place just ahead of the celebration of International Women’s Day and coincide with the fifty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Ms. Robinson said that, among other things, the interactive panel would touch on the report issued last year by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s High-Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence, which called for the Organization’s machinery to greatly augment the prioritizing of women’s issues, including through a single, high-level agency dedicated to women’s human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, possibly even joining the Division for the Advancement of Women with an agency, such as the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).  The effort would get a significant boost if it was lead by an Under-Secretary-General, she added. 

Ms. Paredes said that raising the profile of women already in positions of power and increasing awareness about the deficit of women lawmakers was critical to the effort.  It was necessary, then, for the world media to become involved, not only to spotlight progress and challenges, but opportunities and avenues available for women to increase their participation.  Media outlets should join with non-governmental organizations and women’s grass-roots groups to boost public opinion about women’s participation, as well as to highlight the efforts of the women working to bring about positive change in the field, she added.

She also said that affirmative action had proved a valuable tool, particularly in cultures rooted in patriarchal tradition.   Mexico had an affirmative-action policy that had led to more women from all political parties participating in Congress and similar initiatives were being considered in other countries in the region.  Women’s participation in community- and municipal-level government was increasing, but it was important for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNIFEM to continue their leadership training programmes and for adequate funds to be earmarked for that purpose.

Asked by reporters about the call by Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain for “concrete action” by the United Nations on women’s rights, Mr. Robinson said that she had been very impressed by the way Sheikha Haya had used her position proactively on behalf of women.

Long before the events around the Commission on the Status of Women and International Women’s Day, the Assembly President had been party to the launch of a women leaders intercultural forum and had spoken strongly about the need for women to have a more systematic and structured involvement, both in civil society -- in relation to the United Nations -- and within the United Nations.

By “within the United Nations”, Ms. Robinson surmised the Assembly President meant the recommendations of the Coherence Panel, as well as data compiled by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which revealed that much work was needed in the area of prioritizing women’s issues. “I really like the way she is using her moral authority on behalf of women,” she said. 

Asked about quotas for women’s participation, Ms. Paredes Rangle said the process could be accelerated with a two-pronged approach: promoting affirmative-action legislation and implementing a strategy for leadership training that provided access to campaign financing and access to women’s solidarity networks for female candidates in competitive elections.  The principle of women supporting and encouraging other women was crucial, she said.

Asked about women parliamentarians, Ms. Robinson said that the numbers had come up, but could anybody really be proud of a 17 per cent representation?  “Of course not,” she declared.  There was a need to get well beyond the 30 per cent figure that had been called for in the Beijing Platform for Action.

She said that experience had shown that different forms of quota application could greatly enhance women’s participation in decision-making, which was absolutely vital for changing priorities -- priorities which, at the moment, were askew.  Taking HIV/AIDS funding as an example, she said that women represented 58 per cent of the prevalence base in sub-Saharan Africa, but received only about 19 per cent of the funding.

So, ensuring women’s participation was “critical at every level”, she said, adding that she was in favour of experimenting with different forms of quotas, but hoped that they could be done away with at some point, when the natural process of participation meant that they were no longer necessary.

Asked if she had faced difficulties in promoting human rights in South Asia or in the Middle East, Ms. Robinson said that her on-the-ground experience had revealed that women there wanted to enjoy a full range of human rights linked with their own strong sense of spirituality.  There was no conflict there, she said, adding that the human rights agenda was a broad one and she had tried to promote it as such.

For instance, she said that, when poor women in Asia or sub-Saharan Africa were asked what human rights meant to them, they overwhelmingly responded that it meant access to water and sanitation and freedom from violence.  While that dealt more with economic and social rights, difficult issues like female genital mutilation could, and should, be addressed not by lecturing, but by informing women in the community or village, so that they would be empowered.  It still took time, she said, but added:  “As to the idea that human rights cannot be embedded in certain parts of the world, I absolutely know from my own deep experience it is not the case.”

Ms. Paredes added that the issue of human rights had sparked broad debate in the indigenous communities in some Latin American countries, particularly among indigenous women and on the promotion and protection of their fundamental rights.  But those nations that were committed to development had understood that it was essential to combine respect for traditions and cultures with human rights and to deter the notion that dangerous cultural practices reflected the feeling of the broader community.

Asked about the current state of human rights around the world, Ms. Robinson said things were “very worrying” and “not necessarily headed in the right direction”.  What came immediately to mind was the situation in Darfur.  “It is so shocking that we do not have the will to stop the terrible plight of mainly women, children and elderly people -- civilians generally -- in Darfur,” she said, adding that the International Red Cross had announced recently that it might have to pull out of the war-torn region.

Ms. Robinson said that her main concern was that the situation was getting worse and, while the international community needed to throw more support behind the African Union’s effort, it was not enough.  She said the (refugee) camps had no way to deal with gender-based violence.  She was shocked that women, even when they left the camps in groups, were raped over and over again.  There should be no tolerance for such violence.

When asked about what measures should be taken, she said the international community should look at ways to tighten targeted sanctions and to get China and the Russian Federation more involved in the effort -- China in particular  -- and make it somehow shameful if they did not get involved.

Turning to other issues, she noted that the approach of a number of Governments, including the position of the United States, in tackling HIV/AIDS – the “abstinence/be faithful” approach -- was frankly not helpful and undermined efforts on the ground.  While such views were desirable, to mandate a particular approach by suggesting that “money will not be spent on projects that do or do not…” was not helpful.

Ms. Paredes added that another area where human rights had undergone a setback was in the toughening of migration policies, particularly in North America and involving citizens from Central and South America.  Migrant women, who were subject to countless forms of degradation and harassment, were particularly harmed by those new policies.

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For information media • not an official record