PAST YEAR HIGHLIGHTED AS POSITIVE FOR WOMEN, GENDER EQUALITY

Sixty-second General Assembly

Third Committee

9^th & 10^th Meetings (AM & PM)

PAST YEAR HIGHLIGHTED AS POSITIVE FOR WOMEN, GENDER EQUALITY

Much to Be Done to Elevate Role of Women in United Nations

The past year had been a positive one for women and gender equality issues, but major challenges persisted, not least in the area of poverty eradication, while much remained to be done to elevate the role of women within the United Nations, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it began its discussion on the advancement of women.

Introducing a slew of reports on the topic, including the 498-page Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (document A/62/38), Rachel N. Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, underscored the role that women had to play in development, climate change and conflict resolution.

“Overall, it has been a positive year for women and gender equality issues, with increased efforts to sustain the momentum created by the 2005 World Summit:  High-Level Plenary Meeting of the 60^th Session of the General Assembly, and the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as the outcome of the 23^rd special session of the General Assembly on Beijing+5,” she told delegations.

But she added: “We still face major challenges:  poverty, violence, conflict, marginalization, restrictions in access to resources, and exclusion in decision-making.”  Women still bore a disproportionate burden of poverty; programmes had to take into account the fact that the majority of the world’s poor was female.  Mrs. Mayanja also urged the United Nations, Governments and civil society to put women’s concerns at the heart of climate change initiatives.

Leadership from the Secretary-General on violence against women –- “a pervasive violation of women’s human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender equality” –- was acknowledged, but responses to sexual and gender-based violence in conflict situations were still “highly inadequate”, she said.  Turning to gender mainstreaming within the United Nations, Mrs. Mayanja said that “slow progress in improving the representation of women in the Secretariat continues to be a serious concern”.  She noted that the Secretary-General was “deeply concerned” by the underrepresentation of women in senior echelons, particularly among his special representatives and envoys.  While concrete proposals to address the matter were in the pipeline, Member States were invited to bring their influence to bear and to put forward more female candidates for key positions in the Organization.

The Committee also heard from Carolyn Hannan, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, who elaborated on reports on the Status of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (document A/62/290), among others, and from Joanne Sandler, Ad Interim Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), who noted that “we are at a critical juncture on the path to gender equality and women’s empowerment”.  Carmen Moreno, Director of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), declared that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would not be achieved without the active participation of women.

The issue of the MDGs and women’s participation informed many of the statements made by delegations later in the day.  Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the representative of Guyana said that poverty was among several factors mitigating against empowerment, along with “entrenched attitudes, practices and stereotypes of women and unequal access to economic resources”.  The representative of Pakistan, on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, said that as long as violence against women continued, there could be no real progress towards equality, development and peace.  At the same time, he warned, poverty and economic upheavals exacerbated the risk of abuse and exploitation of women.

A number of delegations stressed the need for women to play a greater role in decision-making; the representative of Thailand, however, said there was a lack of adequate and concrete information to support claims that an increase in women’s participation would lead to greater administrative effectiveness.  The representative of the Netherlands underscored the importance of education –- including sex education –- while Belarus drew attention to illegal trafficking in women and children.

Also making statements today were representatives of Tanzania (on behalf of the Southern African Development Community), Cuba, Sudan, Japan, Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, Portugal (on behalf of the European Union), Dominican Republic (on behalf of the Rio Group), Colombia, Qatar, South Africa, Algeria, Viet Nam, Iceland, Iraq, Norway, Côte d’Ivoire, San Marino, Chile, Kyrgyzstan, Paraguay, Azerbaijan and Syria.

The Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women also spoke, as did the Permanent Observer for the International Organization for Migration.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 16 October to continue its discussion on the advancement of women.

Background

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met today to open its discussion on the advancement of women.

The Committee had before it the report of the Secretary-General on Violence against women migrant workers (document A/62/177).  Women, who make up half the world’s international migrants, tend to be employed in sex-segregated occupations that are generally informal and unregulated, such as domestic work, the report says.  And, while migration provides new opportunities for women, the report continues, it also gives rise to discrimination.  In this respect, the report highlights that women are exposed to violence at every stage of the migration cycle.  Such violence includes sexual and gender-based violence, trafficking, domestic and family violence, as well as racist and xenophobic acts.

The report summarizes measures taken by Member States to address violence against women migrant workers, including statistical, legal and policy measures.  Several countries, in the aim of preventing violence against women migrant workers, printed leaflets, guides and brochures on the rights and obligations of foreign workers, and distributed them at employment offices and immigrant advisory centres.  “ Bahrain published guides in eight languages that provided information to foreign workers, including domestic servants, on their rights and obligations, and distributed them during the mandatory medical check-ups of foreign workers,” the report notes.

The report concludes with recommendations including calls for better regulation of the migration process, as well as gender-sensitivity in international migration policies.  States should educate officials likely to come into contact with migrant workers, and sensitize them to the issue of violence against women migrant workers.  Regardless of their immigrant status, States should ensure respect for the human rights of women migrants, the report concludes.

The Committee had before it the report of the Secretary-General on Improvement of the situation of women in rural areas (document A/62/202).  Rural women are the main producers of staple crops, which account for 60 to 80 per cent of the food intake in developing countries, the report notes.  They are also responsible for caring for children, the elderly and the sick, as well as fuel and water collection.  Major obstacles to rural women’s development are deeply entrenched stereotypes and prejudices, which lead to discrimination against them regarding ownership and inheritance of land, the Secretary-General says, adding that rural women are among the poorest and most vulnerable.

The report concludes that for the situation of rural women to improve, legislative change, targeted activities (such as microcredit and literacy programmes) and work on gender statistics must take place.  The lack of sex-disaggregated data is a serious constraint to assessing progress, the report notes.  To strengthen gender equality, the report recommends, employment opportunities and access to infrastructure, among other initiatives, should be expanded.

The Committee had before it the Secretary-General’s report on Status of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (document A/62/290), on the status of the Convention.  As of 15 August 2007, 185 States had ratified, acceded to or succeeded to the Convention, with the most recent States to ratify or accede being Brunei Darussalam, Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Montenegro and Oman.  The Optional Protocol to the Convention had meanwhile been ratified or acceded to by 88 States parties.  Regarding the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the report says that the Committee has “significantly” reduced a backlog of country reports that had been awaiting consideration.  It goes on to request that the General Assembly extend its meeting time, to enable the Committee to discharge all its responsibilities in a timely and effective manner.

The Committee had before it the Secretary-General’s report on Future operations of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (document A/62/173).  Noting the activities of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), the report lists INSTRAW’s collaboration with the United Nations, international cooperation agencies, other international organizations, governmental institutions and national gender machineries, as well as civil society organizations and the private sector.

During the reporting period, INSTRAW had conducted pioneering research on democratic governance and women’s political participation, as well as national implementation on Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security.

The Committee had before it the Secretary-General’s report on Efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women (document A/62/201).  The report details efforts aimed at achieving greater coordination and collaboration within the United Nations.  According to the report, United Nations entities have stepped up their efforts to address violence again women according to their various mandates and have developed, supported and implemented a range of initiatives aimed at preventing and eliminating such violence.  The report concludes, among other things, that within the United Nations system, adequate resources should be assigned for work on violence against women.

The Committee had before it the Secretary-General’s note on the Activities of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (document A/62/188).  The note concludes its recommendations by emphasizing that the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is an essential component of the United Nations gender architecture and of the ongoing United Nations reform effort, and recommends that UNIFEM continue to be involved in all such processes.

The Committee had before it the Secretary-General’s report on Measures taken and progress achieved in follow-up to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (document A/62/178).  The report provides information on follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women by examining the extent to which intergovernmental bodies have paid attention to gender perspectives in their work.

The report concludes that effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action requires the incorporation of gender perspectives in social, political and economic development, at all levels.  Gender perspectives were given the greatest attention in outcomes dealing with social development and human rights, but received less attention in outcomes relating to economic and political issues.  Further efforts could be made to examine the gender dimensions in areas such as disarmament and international security, administrative and budgetary matters, and legal affairs, the report notes.  It recommends that the General Assembly facilitate gender-sensitive policy development by more systematically including qualitative gender analysis, among other recommendations.

Statements

RACHEL N. MAYANJA, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said that overall, it had been a positive year for women and gender equality issues.  In that respect, she highlighted the increased efforts to sustain the momentum created by the 2005 World Summit and the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.  In March 2007, an informal thematic debate on gender equality and women’s empowerment was held by the General Assembly, while the Economic and Social Council held a very successful discussion of the centrality of gender equality to development and poverty eradication.  The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meanwhile reviewed the issue of discrimination and violence against girl children.  She noted that, overall, there had been an increased focus by Member States and United Nations entities on implementing commitments to gender equality and further efforts to build United Nations effectiveness in meeting the challenges faced by women in the world.

Despite such gains, major challenges remained, such as poverty, violence, conflict, marginalization, restrictions in access to resources, and exclusion from decision-making, Ms. Mayanja said.  A disproportionate burden of poverty was still borne by women, who made up the majority of the one billion people living in extreme poverty.  They had limited access to credit, land and training in new technologies, and fewer educational and employment opportunities than men to lift them out of poverty.  Without reducing women’s poverty, the goal of alleviating and eliminating poverty would remain elusive.  Member States needed to keep that in mind at their high-level dialogue on financing for development next week.  Women’s concerns and gender considerations should be integrated into programmes and policies on climate change.  The Secretary-General had been providing leadership for action on violence against women; later this year he would launch a system-wide and multi-year campaign to ensure a consistent and comprehensive response on that issue, especially in support of action at the national level.

In both conflict and post-conflict situations, she said, the response by Member States and the United Nations system to grave violations of women’s human rights -– particularly sexual and gender-based violence -– had remained highly inadequate.  Efforts to make perpetrators of such crimes accountable had been weak and had failed to produce significant results.  Impunity was practically the rule.  Women had hardly been present at peace negotiations.  A large gap between policy and practice had been acknowledge by two reviews of the implementation of the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan; that gap needed to be addressed as an urgent priority.

Turning to gender mainstreaming, she said that an Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality had been collaborating effectively on the issue.  Slow progress in improving the representation of women in the Secretariat remained a serious concern; women represented 37 per cent of all professional and higher category staff with appointments of one year or more as of 30 June 2007, down 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier; out of 33 Under-Secretaries-General, six were women, and out of 42 Assistant-Secretaries-General, 11 were women.  The Secretary-General was deeply concerned by such underrepresentation, and concrete proposals were being drawn up to address the matter.  On gender equality, informal consultations by the General Assembly this summer had strongly affirmed that gender equality was a central goal, that it was a cross-cutting issue, and that the existing gender architecture was incoherent, fragmented and under-resourced.

In conclusion, she said that the opportunity for decisive action and speedy progress had never been better; the economic and social consequences of discrimination and the disadvantages faced by women had never been more clearly understood.  The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was looked upon for guidance and leadership in moving forward the agenda of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and to remake the United Nations into a strong voice on women’s issues and gender equality.

CAROLYN HANNAN, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women (Department of Economic and Social Affairs) gave an overview of the reports before the Committee.  Regarding the report on the Status of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (document A/62/290), she said the report recommended that the Assembly approve the Committee’s request for extension of its meeting time for 2008 and beyond.  Commenting on the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination of Women, thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth sessions (document A/62/38), she noted that over the last two years, the Committee had held constructive dialogues with 69 States parties, and recommended that the Assembly extend this Committee’s meeting time too, so it could continue to maximize its impact on the lives of women worldwide.  On the occasion of the transfer of servicing the Committee to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), she expressed the appreciation of the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) for the opportunity to service the Committee over the last 25 years.

Regarding the report of the Secretary-General on Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women (document A/62/201), she said the report concluded that the United Nations had stepped up its efforts at addressing violence against women in accordance with its mandates and had developed, or was in the process of developing, a range of initiatives aimed at preventing and eliminating such violence.  Addressing the report on Violence against women migrant workers (document A/62/177), she said the report concluded that violence against women migrant workers was still an issue of concern.  The need for gender-sensitive international migration policies that supported the empowerment of female migrants was noted, she said, and added that further measures such as efforts to provide female migrants with independent residency permits were needed in order to prevent and eliminate violence against women migrant workers.

On the report on the Improvement of the situation of women in rural areas (document A/62/202), she said rural women played a critical role in enhancing rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty, but were underrepresented in decision-making processes.  On the report on Measures taken and progress achieved in follow-up to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (document A/62/178), she said gender perspectives were less prominent in areas relating to economic and political issues than to outcomes dealing with social development and human rights.

She noted that there was a need for more systematic attention to gender perspectives by functional commissions, including through increased consultation with the Commission on the Status of Women.  Two of the recommendations provided in the report, she said, should be highlighted for consideration.  The report of the Secretary-General, submitted to the General Assembly, should facilitate gender-sensitive policy development by more systematically including qualitative gender analysis, quantitative data and concrete recommendations for further action.  Second, gender perspectives should be explicitly incorporated in the implementation and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits, in particular the follow-up to the twenty-seventh special session of the General Assembly on children in 2007, the outcome of the International Conference on Financing for Development in Qatar in 2008, and the third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Ghana in 2008, she concluded.

JOANNE SANDLER, Ad Interim Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), presenting the report on the Fund’s activities, underlined the need to formulate and implement plans, laws and policies that promoted gender equality and women’s empowerment.  To ensure gender mainstreaming, national plans related to gender equality had to be integrated into, and financed through, national development strategies, sector-wide approaches and other “new aid modalities”.  Laws and policies, by themselves, did not translate into change for women and girls.  Too often, such efforts lacked funds, personnel or political will.  Mainstream institutions that generated policies and delivered services had to have the capacity to understand gender-differentiated priorities and allocation of resources.  There had been a greater political will for action among such institutions, from finance ministries to the Security Council, but political will did not translate into greater security, resources or rights for women and girls; the increasing use of rape as a weapon of war was an illustration of that.  With others, UNIFEM had been supporting the efforts of gender equality advocates to influence mainstream policy processes, including poverty reduction strategies.

She said the path to gender equality and women’s empowerment had reached a crucial juncture.   Within the context of United Nations reform, the Millennium Development Goals, and the roll-out of the aid effectiveness agenda, there were new opportunities and challenges for advancing effective strategies and practices to help countries reach their objectives.  Some approaches had been successful; integrated national strategies that brought together health care, legal and education systems had helped in ending violence against women and reducing vulnerability of women to HIV.  More investment was needed in evaluation, documentation and disseminations; UNIFEM had put this at the heart of its upcoming Strategic Plan.  There was a crucial need for more systematic and rigorous approaches to capacity building.  If the United Nations was to be a valued partner to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, it had to focus and step up holistic and coordinated support to countries to deliver their national priorities for development and gender equality.

Question and Answer Session

In a question and answer session, the representative of Cuba asked about duplication of efforts, notably following the creation of a gender issues unit within the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.  He also requested more information about the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.  The representatives of India and Sudan raised questions about efforts to put gender mainstreaming into action, particularly among senior managers in the United Nations system.  The representative of Sierra Leone expressed her Government’s appreciation for the support it had been getting vis-à-vis women’s issues, including the ability for her country to meet its reporting obligations.  Syria’s representative asked how violence against women had been addressed in the Occupied Territory.

Ms. MAYANJA explained that a task force had been put in place to coordinate activities relating to women’s issues.  A dozen United Nations entities had come together to work on sexual violence and rape in conflict, and there was a concerted effort to work in teams to address such topics.  High-level officials would become more engaged, becoming advocates across the United Nations system against violence against women.  Gender mainstreaming, she said, had not been an easy concept to grasp; very often, at the highest levels, there was not as good an understanding as there should be.  Work was underway on a system-wide action plan, with clear indicators, timeframes and monitoring systems.  Hopefully, top management would be responsible for gender mainstreaming, rather than delegating the matter to lower levels.  Gender balance within the Organization was a concern for all, she said.  The numbers had been falling and at best they had been static, and that was unacceptable.  Why was the United Nations not attracting or retaining women?  In addition, at the highest levels, a number of other issues had to be taken into consideration, such as geography and competencies.  The Secretary-General had taken up the initiative to improve recruitment at the senior level.  And while it was hoped that a mechanism would be in place shortly, the current system was unacceptable.

Ms. HANNAN said that the gender issues unit at OHCHR would not duplicate the work of her division, which had met members of the unit in Geneva and would continue to do so.  Joint work programmes were being prepared on an annual basis to ensure collaboration and coordination, as well as to avoid duplication.  Regarding the Palestinian territories, a number of United Nations agencies were involved, and one area of interest for them was violence against women.

Ms. SANDLER, elaborating on work in the Occupied Territory, said that a number of initiatives were in place.  UNIFEM had been supporting women’s centres that not only focused on livelihoods but also incorporated programmes that addressed violence against women.  Norway and Japan had supported that work, and hopefully Italy would as well.

Statements

CARMEN MORENO, Director of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), said that INSTRAW’s work was now a matter of consensus, not confrontation.  This year, the Executive Board approved the Strategic Framework for 2008-2011, a resource mobilization strategy and a work programme for 2008.  A resolution adopted by consensus at the Economic and Social Council provided further direction and widened the areas of work, she said.

INSTRAW was undertaking research, capacity-building and knowledge management to improve the lives of women in the areas of development, peace and security —- the three pillars of the United Nations, she said.  Noting INSTRAW’s initiatives in the area of development, she said the Millennium Development Goals could not be achieved without the active participation of women.  A gender perspective must be included in any analysis on ways to achieve those Goals, she said.

The need to include the gender perspective into reform of the security sector and comply with resolution 1325 had led INSTRAW to develop many initiatives, such as an inter-agency working group and an interactive Web section on gender training of peacekeeper personnel, she said.  On human rights, she noted that discrimination against women persisted, and new forms of discrimination were produced.  Speculating about why this was so, she asked whether it might be in defence of the monopoly of power that women continued to be underrepresented in important posts in national elections and other decision-making positions.  UN-INSTRAW’s research had shown that discrimination against women was stronger at the local level than at the national level.

In conclusion, she said the greatest challenge of the Institute continued to be its volunteer-based funding.  She called upon all Member States to make contributions to the core budge of the Institute and thanked everyone who had contributed to revitalizing INSTRAW, once again making it an active part of the “gender machinery”, she said.

DUBRAVKA ŠIMONIVIĆ, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, said that the Committee had celebrated the 25^th anniversary of its inaugural session by reflecting on the Committee’s history and accomplishments, and charting its future vision for the promotion of gender equality.  The Committee was made up of 23 independent experts, she said, that monitored implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  Over the past 25 years, she said, her Committee has considered hundreds of reports and adopted 25 general recommendations.

Thanks to the last two years’ extended meeting time, the Committee had been exceptionally productive, she noted.  It sought authorization to hold three annual sessions, as a long-term measure, making the Committee’s meeting time equal to the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Council.  Commenting on the impending move of the Committee to OHCHR in Geneva, she thanked the Division for the Advancement of Women of the United Nations, and noted that meetings would be held with the Government of Switzerland. 

FARUKH AMIL (Pakistan), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said the elimination of discrimination against women, and their equal rights and participation were prerequisites for successful and sustainable development.  As long as violence against women continued, he said, no real progress could be made towards equality, development and peace.  At the same time, poverty and economic upheavals exacerbated the risk of abuse and exploitation of women.

Women continued to suffer discrimination and exclusion in all societies, he said.  At the same time, there was a clear connection between underdevelopment and violence against women, he noted, underscoring that “the goals of development and poverty reduction cannot be realized without the empowerment of women”.  In particular, the plight of women in rural areas, in conflict situations, in territories under foreign occupation, and migrant and trafficked women needed to be addressed as a top priority.  The advancement of women was both a national and an international responsibility and could be achieved by cooperation and by enabling developing countries to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

Education was key to reducing poverty among women.  Education decreased child mortality, improved the health of the family, enhanced chances for employment, and increased women’s political participation and their representation in decision-making processes.  However, the persistence of conflicts in various parts of the world was another major impediment to the elimination of violence and sexual abuse of women.  He called on the international community to pay special attention to the plight of women and their families living under foreign occupation and to ensure that their rights were granted.  “The resolution of disputes including the situations of foreign occupation and the attainment of peace are prerequisites for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals,” he added.

He closed by saying that Group of 77 countries and China were asking all countries to take concrete measures to address this challenge at the national level, by instituting legislation in conformity with international human rights instruments and ensuring the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sex.  There was also a need to increase international cooperation and global partnership, while the international community needed to honour its commitments to Official Development Assistance (ODA) by committing to debt relief and the opening of markets.  In particular, increased development assistance for education, health and job creation was vital to eliminate gender disparities and violence against women.

MARIAM MWAFFISI, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children for the United Republic of Tanzania, speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said that her delegation was convinced that gender equality and equitable participation in society by all people was not only a human right, but also an imperative for economic growth, poverty eradication and overall human development.  SADC had relevant policy frameworks in place to guide its Member States in their efforts towards achieving gender equality, namely the Declaration on Gender and Development that had been signed by Heads of State in 1997, including its addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women and Children that had been signed in 1998.

While those documents had helped advance gender equality objectives, disparities nevertheless existed between policy and practice.  She said that those disparities were aggravated by technical, human and resource constraints, as well as inadequate systems for monitoring, evaluation and timely reporting of relevant programmes and activities.  To address those challenges, SADC was now in the final stages of developing a regional gender policy, which would be the guiding tool for improving synergies between national as well as regional structures and gender mainstreaming.  Also imminent was a SADC gender protocol.  This would contain a set of legally binding obligations for SADC Member States, which was expected to muster the necessary political will to narrow the gap between policy and practice.

She went on to say that gender equality could not be achieved without focusing on the situation of rural women.  Although the majority of women in Southern Africa lived in rural areas and made up the largest percentage of the poor, regional measures had so far been ineffective in getting them more involved in the decision-making structures that could help them improve their lives and livelihoods.  She called for intensified international focus on the plight of rural women and for international cooperation in implementing the Secretary-General’s relevant recommendations on the matter, included in his report on Improvement of the situation of women in rural areas (document A/62/202).

Among other issues of concern to SADC was the increased feminization of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.  She called on the international community to continue to support the efforts of Southern Africa in the development of policies and programmes designed to scale up access to comprehensive prevention, treatment, care and support.  On violence against women, she said that in January 2008, SADC would hold a regional conference to present the results of its study on the matter and to develop strategies to eradicate such violence.  She called for greater cooperation between United Nations agencies and programmes working on gender issues, and for better coordination between such entities and Member States.  SADC also called on INSTRAW to make its work more visible in all regions and for that agency to collaborate with regional gender bodies.

CLAUDIA PÉREZ ÁLVAREZ ( Cuba) said there was little room for optimism when discussing either the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals or the situation of women and young girls in the world today.  Due to the persistence of a vast gender gap, a “feminization of poverty” was taking place where women and young girls made up the majority of the global poor.  Also contributing to the problem were the alarming rates of HIV/AIDS and illiteracy among women.  To counter those trends, her Government had developed a national gender equality strategy which recognized the full rights of women and the important roles they played in the economy and the family.  Much work still had to be done to offset the traditional stereotypes of women which still persisted, but already results were visible.  Nationally, there had been a significant increase in the number of women working as well as an increase in their salaries to a level equal to men.  Thirty-six per cent of seats in the national Parliament were now occupied by women, and their high participation levels contributed to the creation of a development strategy which prioritized women’s participation in the labour market.  Women who chose to focus on domestic labour, such as taking care of the elderly, the handicapped, or children suffering from ongoing sickness, were also a priority in her country and were able to receive financial assistance for their work at home.

She said governments proved their commitment to the concept of gender equality through political will and the implementation of social programmes that guaranteed free access for women to health care, education, employment and social security.  Her Government had successfully implemented such programmes despite the economic, commercial and financial sanctions imposed on Cuba by the United States.  She added that, along with such sanctions, the United States Government had supported terrorist acts against her country.  There were currently five Cubans being held in North American prisons for opposing such acts.  Their wives and daughters were being denied visas for visits, which was in direct violation of the international rights of prisoners to receive visits from their families.  She called on the international community to come to the aid of those women in particular and, on a more global level, to come to the aid of all women and to work together to ensure the development of a more just society where human solidarity and the rights of women and young girls prevailed.

REGINA SMIT, National Women’s Representative of the Netherlands, underlined the importance of education in empowering women and creating gender equality.  It was good for society and a healthy economy to ensure that all girls had high-quality education.  In the Netherlands, more than half of all university students were women.  Women were, however, heavily under-represented in the technical professions and in management positions.  Less than 10 per cent of senior managers were women, and women accounted for only four per cent of corporate directorships.  One explanation was the “glass ceiling”, while another was the difficulty in combining work and care.  For an economy to prosper, men and women had to work; women were as important to the world economy as men.

Much had to happen before girls the world over could fully develop their talents, she said.  Education should be gender-neutral.  Male and female teaching staff had to be balanced.  Good sex education was vital.  Moreover, parents had to persuade their daughters to finish school since doing that would discourage early marriages.  Schools also had to provide appropriate sanitary facilities for girls to feel safe and welcome.  In addition, society had to support young people on their journey to independence and prosperity, while governments had to provide the conditions to do so.  Girls had to be empowered to make good, responsible choices, in every country, starting today.

IDREES SAEED ( Sudan) said that the Beijing Declaration, which coincided with the 50^th anniversary of the United Nations, represented great progress in the advancement of women.  Yet despite the fact that progress had been made on policies of gender equality, he said, the expectations were much higher, and efforts must be redoubled to promote participation in all societies.  Women were the main pillar of the family, he said, and the nucleus of society.  The Sudanese woman had been visible in all arenas, with the first woman Member of the Sudanese Parliament receiving her seat in the sixties, he said.

The Sudanese Constitution noted the equal rights of men and women, he said, adding that his country had a national policy for the advancement of women -- an important document based on monotheistic religion and the Sudanese ideals based on humanity and justice between men and women, and the advance of the family.  National institutions and relevant ministries had started a project to empower women in all programmes, he said.  That will have a great impact on enhancing the role of women in the Sudan.  In conclusion, he noted the situation of Palestinian women who, he said, were languishing under occupation and the other forms of discrimination under which they suffered.

NOBUKO KUROSAKI ( Japan) gave a brief overview of her country’s progress in efforts to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.  Much remained to be done if the Millennium Development Goals were to be achieved by 2015, she said.  Women’s representation in Japan’s House of Councillors had increased in the last election, she noted.  One-third of the budget for promotion of gender equality in Japan was devoted to efforts to “support the efforts of women and men to harmonize with their family and community lives”, she said.

She noted, however, that in Japan, as in many other countries, women were struggling to strike a good work-life balance as they were confronted with traditional gender roles and a gender-based division of labor.  The number of women company executives was still comparatively low, and Japanese women’s pattern of leaving the workforce once they married or had a child contributed to them having the lowest rate of labour force participation, she noted.  But, among other initiatives, Japan was making efforts to improve the situation by adopting a law against layoffs for reasons such as pregnancy and childbirth.  Her country had recently hosted regional dialogues on women and poverty eradication and noted that they were an effective measure of sharing information, good practices and lessons learned in mainstreaming gender in similar social and cultural contexts.  She added that the United Nations system-wide coherence panel had called the current gender structure fragmented and incoherent, and emphasized that coordination and strategic partnerships within the United Nations were of critical importance.

TAREQ MD. ARIFUL ISLAM (Bangladesh), calling gender equality a core element for sustainable development, said that greater synergies should be developed between the Millennium Development Goals, the Beijing Platform for Action and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women as a means to achieve all other development goals.  Bangladesh was a State party to almost all major international instruments relating to women’s rights; it remained fully committed to implementing the Beijing objectives and had developed a national policy and action plan for the advancement of women.  Domestically inspired ideas such as access to microcredit and non-formal education had led the way to economic emancipation, with more and more women now in the workforce.  Job creation was directly linked to capacity-building and human resource development, however, and in that regard, international cooperation in the form of financial and technical assistance was critically important.

In contrast to an enormous gender gap in education at the start of the 1990s, Bangladesh had achieved and even surpassed 100 per cent parity in primary and secondary school enrolments by the end of last year, an accomplishment that had been acknowledged by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), while education for girls was free up to grade 12.  Poverty eradication had been inextricably linked with gender justice, and several laws had been enacted –- in compliance with international obligations –- to protect women and girls from all types of violence.  As one of the largest troop contributors to United Nations peacekeeping missions, Bangladesh had a significant role in furthering the objectives of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, which it had co-sponsored.  The gender perspective should be integrated into the Peacebuilding Commission.  Women and girls in Bangladesh were still the least privileged and most vulnerable, and discrimination was still prevalent.  Establishing gender parity remained an uphill battle that could not be won without partnerships across the broadest spectrum.

ZHANG DAN ( China) said her country appreciated the growing attention being given to gender equality by the United Nations, and it supported the Secretary-General’s recommendation to incorporate gender equality into major conferences and summits.  China supported the Organization in paying greater attention to the rights and interests of rural women, with a focus on helping rural women eradicate poverty, improve education and enjoy health services.

The Chinese Government consistently upheld gender equality, she said.  It attached importance to enhancing the status of women and giving full play to the initiative and creativity of women in political, economic and social spheres; it was also committed to protecting the rights and interests of women.  Realizing gender equality was the basic national policy of China, which opposed all forms of discrimination against women.  Out of the 34 objectives set out in the Programme for the Development of Chinese Women (2001-2010), 28 had been met ahead of schedule, including increasing women’s employment, attendance of girls in middle schools, and the average life expectancy of women.  The development of women in overall planning for economic and social development had been incorporated by governments at all levels.  China was willing to work with the international community to promote the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and, on the basis of China’s specific conditions, making unrelenting efforts to safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese women.

MARIE YVETTE BANZON ( Philippines) said that even more disturbing than the prevalence of stereotypical attitudes towards men and women was the many political, social and economic changes wrought by globalization.  Those changes had reinforced such attitudes and provided fertile ground for a perilous mixture of gender bias and other types of discrimination based on class, age, race, ethnicity and faith.  Women migrants were the most vulnerable to this discriminatory environment with its attendant violence and exploitation, she said.  Because of this situation, her delegation would introduce discussions on an updated draft resolution dealing with violence against women migrant workers.  The draft resolution would respond to the realities women migrant workers faced, such as their employment in less formal work, violence at the hands of authorities and the lack of focus on preventive efforts.

Experience showed that there was a direct correlation between democracy and women’s empowerment.  The fundamental ideals of democracy, such as the upholding of human rights, primacy of the rule of law and the presence of constitutionally granted freedoms, were key factors for strengthening gender equality and women’s empowerment, she said.  Regarding the United Nations’ new gender architecture, she said the Philippines supported restructuring aimed at enhancing the effectiveness and coherence of both the normative and operational aspects of the Organization’s gender work.  The new entity’s work should be demand-driven, and given the necessary profile and stature to engage in important decision-making within the United Nations.  It also had to be adequately funded, she said.

CATARINA CARVALHO (Portugal), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said 2007 had been a year for deepening ideas and debates, reinforcing commitments and focusing on different strategic goals on the path towards gender equality, the advancement of women, and the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by women.  The 25^th anniversary of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was an opportunity to take stock of how much had yet to be accomplished.  The 185 ratifications, accessions and successions to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women had been a very positive sign, but it was disappointing to see that only 88 countries had become parties to the Optional Protocol.  The European Union called upon States parties to the Convention to withdraw all reservations that were contrary to the object and purpose of the instrument, and for all States that had not ratified, acceded or succeeded to the Convention to do so.

She said the past year had also been the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, with four core themes:  representation, recognition, respect and tolerance.  For the European Union, special attention had to be given to the multiple forms of discriminations that women often faced.  In the European Union, girls now outperformed boys at school, and more women had been entering the labour market with university degrees, yet a pay gap of 15 per cent still separated men and women.  In a communication earlier this year, the European Commission underscored the need to systematically address gender equality vis-à-vis development, both in developing countries and in the European Union’s own development cooperation mechanisms.  The Council of Ministers of the European Union had meanwhile been working towards a set of indicators on women and poverty.  More and more Member States should set higher and bolder goals regarding gender equality, as full achievement of human rights would always be hindered as long as women’s human rights were neglected.

GEORGE TALBOT ( Guyana) spoke on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).  The Community fully recognized that several factors mitigated against the effective empowerment of women, he said, including poverty, entrenched attitudes, practices and stereotypes, as well as unequal access to economic resources.  While progress had been made in CARICOM, particularly in the fields of education and women’s participation in politics and decision-making, challenges remained.  Those included violence against women, HIV/AIDS and the disproportionately high levels of poverty among women.

But despite women’s educational attainments and the enactment of legislative reforms by Member States, violence against women was pervasive in the region, and did not discriminate on the basis of education, class or ethnicity, he added.  Human trafficking was also a problem, he noted.  The HIV/AIDS epidemic was having a disproportionate effect on women, and national efforts had to be complemented with international assistance in order to adequately deal with the problem.  CARICOM had also taken note of the current proposals for the establishment of a new “gender architecture” in the context of system-wide coherence, and stressed the critical need for further discussion at the intergovernmental level.  In closing, he said the Community associated itself with today’s celebration of World Rural Women’s Day, which had as its theme, “The right to food:  rural women produce and provide”.  Those women should be granted greater access to land and credit, as they currently had a disproportionately small share of these essentials, he said.

ENRIQUILLO A. DEL ROSARIO (Dominican Republic), speaking on behalf of the Rio Group, said the historic contribution of women to the restoration and strengthening of democracy, the promotion of human rights, gender equality, social justice and development was recognized by the Group.  Women had made significant contributions, especially to food security and preservation of the environment.  Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women had primarily consisted of the formulation, design and management of policies aimed at gender equality at the highest State levels.  At such levels, there was a principal responsibility to guarantee human rights for women, young girls and adolescents.

Member States of the Group, individually as well as collectively, had been working constantly in favour of the empowerment of women, he said.  Women and girls throughout the region had been benefiting from more access to education and the work force.  Such actions had to be broadened with a view to eradicating poverty, improving access to health services (particularly in light of a feminization of HIV/AIDS), implementing social security systems with universal access and coverage, and eliminating domestic violence, trafficking of women, and other forms of violence against women.  As an issue, violence against women lacked the necessary international visibility.  A more cohesive and strategic approach was therefore needed, with greater collaboration from all parties.  Effectiveness of United Nations action on gender was proportional to coordination and cooperation between the various agencies of the Organization involved in gender issues; they should do more in that direction.

CLAUDIA BLUM ( Colombia) said that her country attached special importance to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which was reflected in actions and public policies adopted by Colombia.  The affirmative action policy “Women Builders of Peace and Development” was being implemented to increase employment and educational opportunities for women.  The country was pursuing a multifaceted gender mainstreaming agenda, as well as a social reactivation policy that emphasized human capital development, social protection, poverty reduction and microcredit.  As a result, she said, differences in access to education for women and men had practically disappeared, and women’s unemployment had decreased.  Women’s participation in public offices continued to grow.

Turning to the issue of rural poverty, she said that rural families headed by women tended to be more vulnerable to poverty, and that it was important to gather data on the situation, making such families more visible.  She said the “social management for rural areas” policy included programmes to support rural micro-enterprises, productive partnerships, and a development fund for rural women, as well as special consideration for them in subsidy programmes for rural housing and land reform.

Violence against migrant women workers was another major issue which concerned Colombia as a State party to the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.  There should be a broader ratification of that instrument, in particular by the destination countries for migrants.  Further, she recognized the work of UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Assistance Framework and INSTRAW.  She spoke about the importance of ensuring coordination and effectiveness in the United Nations system, which could assist in strengthening national structures and promoting cooperation for poverty reduction, as well as meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

NOOR MOHAMMED AL-MANSOURI ( Qatar) said her country was concerned by the human rights and well-being of all its citizens.  It had pursued the enhancement of the role of women, with support from its leaders and encouragement from the Emir and his wife.  Participation of women at all levels had been encouraged, based on the idea that women were part of a family that could not make progress unless all members enjoyed full rights.  After studying the status of its women, a National Action Plan 2008-2013 was adopted, involving all government ministries and departments.  Major changes had been taking place.  Women in Qatar could vote or stand for election; they enjoyed freedom of expression and the media, and they were more involved in decision-making.

More key posts in Qatar were being held by women, she said.  The Minister of Education was a woman, and so was the Rector of Qatar University, as well as the Secretary General of the investment agency, demonstrating that Qatar could implement programmes that promoted gender equality.  More progress would be made in the years to come, as more women got university diplomas and with more access to labour markets and higher positions in the public and private sectors.  Women also held high-level positions in non-governmental organizations.  As could be seen, Qatar was putting great importance on gender equality.

LOUISE GRAHAM ( South Africa) said that though some progress had been made, the General Assembly had to recognize how far it still had to go in achieving full gender empowerment and equality.  Discrimination against women and girls, as well as poverty and underdevelopment, were some of the most important challenges the international community faced today, she said.  Both men and boys played an important role in women’s empowerment, and men had to participate meaningfully in order to achieve gender equality.

In 1994, when South Africa established its democracy, oppressive legislation was dismantled and progressive policies were put in place, she said.  The goal was a truly non-racial and non-sexist society.   South Africa had achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education, and was also implementing the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which was a continent-wide social and economic initiative to expedite Africa’s development through harnessing skills and resources towards common goals, she said.  Much progress had been made at the local level, but there was still a need to enhance international cooperation and global partnership.  The international community had to honour its commitments to Official Development Assistance (ODA) and debt relief, as those were critical to eliminate gender disparities, she concluded.

SALIMA ABDELHAK ( Algeria) said that even if the condition of women had improved in some countries, overall, remained inferior to that of men.  A major problem was violence against women; not only did it impact on the physical and mental health of victims; it was also an obstacle to social cohesion and equality.  And while more attention had been paid to women’s rights, violence against women had hardly declined.  It was far from a phenomenon limited to certain regions or cultures.  Algeria was resolutely engaged in combating violence against women.  Besides legal protection and the criminalization of sexual harassment, the Government had, with civil society, begun consultations on a national strategy to address violence against women that would include raising the awareness of society to address the problem.

Her Government had taken a number of steps towards the emancipation of women in Algeria, she said.  Bringing national legislation in line with international commitments was a top priority.  Within a generation, equal access to education at all levels had been guaranteed, and now there were more girls than boys at the secondary and higher levels of schooling.  Disparities in the workplace had been narrowing slowly, and more women had been setting up businesses.  The State had also been taking steps to improve the status of women in rural areas.  Yet, even if more women were working in Algeria, their overall numbers remained weak, and much remained to be done.  That reality nevertheless would not diminish Algeria’s determination to make gender equality and the emancipation of women a principal axis of its development policy.

PHAM HAI ANH ( Viet Nam) said his country appreciated the launch of the United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, and expressed hopes that those endeavours would contribute to the effective coordination and collaboration among various United Nations entities.  Recognizing that gender equality and the advancement of women were crucial elements to a nation’s socio-economic development, Viet Nam’s “Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy” had been heralded as the most gender responsive strategy to date in the country, he said.

Viet Nam’s 2006-2010 Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women aimed to significantly reduce the proportion of poor female-headed households, he said.  Along with national trends, women in rural areas were becoming more active in making decisions for themselves and the communities, he added.  The basic needs of rural women, he concluded, such as access to infrastructure, land, finance, healthcare and education, continued to be accorded high priority in various programmes and projects.

HJÁLMAR HANNESSON ( Iceland) said Iceland was firmly committed to the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and urged all those who had not yet ratified it to do so as soon as possible.  In the years to come, he said, Iceland would continue to support the Committee which monitored the implementation of the Convention.  Gender-based violence was a universal phenomenon, he said, and affected almost one in every three women around the world.  That fact needed to be systematically addressed, and the United Nations played a central role through both global advocacy and leadership, as well as through operational work at national and regional levels.

He said Iceland strongly supported the measures outlined in the Secretary-General’s report on the Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women (document A/62/201), and in the same context underlined the importance of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.   Iceland also welcomed the establishment of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, he said, noting that the current United Nations structures and approaches to gender issues were still too fragmented and did not appropriately reflect the importance of the issue.   Iceland therefore supported establishing a new gender entity to strengthen the Organization’s performance in this field.  In conclusion, he noted that Iceland had decided to double its contribution to UNIFEM in recognition of the Fund’s excellent work, and because women’s rights should be a central theme in all development efforts and in the global fight against poverty.

SERGEI RACHKOV ( Belarus) said the greater attention being given to gender equality at the United Nations was a positive trend that should be reinforced.  Last year, Belarus had initiated a debate on the illegal trafficking of women and children.  Domestically, a third five-year plan to promote gender equality had been put into place, aimed at eliminating gender discrimination in all spheres of public life.  Women in Belarus now held management positions in the Presidency, the Government and business, while there were now more than 20 public women’s NGOs.  One-third of parliamentarians were women, and in local government, women held 45 per cent of elected positions.

Given its low rate of unemployment, creating jobs for women was not such an acute issue for Belarus as it was in other countries, he said.  An imbalance in salaries, however, needed to be remedied, given that women on average earned 80 per cent of what men were getting.  Twenty-five per cent of women in Belarus had higher education degrees, compared with 20 per cent for men.  Belarus also had the lowest infant mortality rate in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).  His country was working decisively to combat trafficking in women and children, and it was implementing legislation to protect victims.  If victims of trafficking suffered serious harm, assistance was extended at the State level, as NGOs were not yet in a position to give qualified help.  Major strides could be made if the United Nations could come up with a strategy to address contemporary forms of slavery; there should be no delay in such work.

SHIRIN KAMARAN ( Iraq) said that due to the conflicts facing the Iraqi people, few tangible results had been achieved over the past year in the field of the advancement of women.  Her country had, however, expanded the participation of women in public life, for example in Parliament and Cabinet posts.  Women’s organizations had also been established, through which Iraqi women had assumed responsibilities at all levels.  These organizations had played an important role in the advancement of women, she noted.

After suffering poverty and the deterioration of living standards, as well as ignorance, illiteracy, food shortages and absence from the political stage, the responsibilities of women in Iraq had become heavier, she said.  Noting that women wanted security and freedom, as well as a greater role in building Iraq, she concluded by appealing to all international organizations to support Iraqi women’s organizations.

GURO KATHARINA VIKØR ( Norway) said violence against women was a global phenomenon that prevented women from participating in political, cultural and social arenas.  Gender-based violence was being used as a strategy in civil wars, she noted.  Effective measures had to be taken for harmful practices such as female genital mutilation to be abandoned.   Norway therefore welcomed the joint United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF programme, “Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting:  Towards Social Convention Change”, with the objective of contributing to the abandonment of the practice in 17 African countries.

She enumerated Norway’s contributions to various United Nations funds and pointed out the need for better data to monitor the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.  It was also vital to give the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women the necessary tools and space to perform the tasks assigned to it, she said.   Norway urged all states which had not ratified, acceded or succeeded to the Convention to do so.  A new and more dynamic gender equality architecture was needed, she said, and concluded by saying that the international community now needed to move from good intentions to action.

FLORE CHANTAL ASSOUMOU ( Côte d’Ivoire) said that despite the primordial role of women, and despite all the international conferences that had taken place, the fundamental rights of women had still not been recognized.  Women continued to be victims of discrimination and violence on a daily basis.  In Côte d’Ivoire, the Government had put into place judicial, administrative and political instruments to promote the rights and welfare of women.  On 27 February this year, President Laurent Gbagbo signed a declaration on equality that called for women to occupy at least 30 per cent of positions in the public and private sectors, as well as in elected bodies.

Turning to violence against women and girls, she recalled a number of laws that had been put into place, including a 1998 law that banned female genital mutilation.  In 2007-2009, the Government planned a number of measures, consisting of more campaigns to raise public awareness of violence against women, including female genital mutilation.  The justice system would be strengthened to better enforce legislation on violence against women, and an early warning system for gender-based violence would be introduced in collaboration with civil society.  Such actions could only be realized in a climate of peace; as President Gbagdo recently had told the General Assembly, Côte d’Ivoire needed, more than ever, international help as it emerged from a period of crisis.

ELENA MOLARONI ( San Marino) said the country chaired the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers from November 2006 to May 2007, during which protection of women’s rights was a priority.  Also, as part of the Special Council of Europe’s campaign on violence against women, San Marino launched its own national campaign in November 2006.  Victims of violence could call the “pink telephone line” if they needed legal, medical or psychological support.  The Government also sponsored a television spot about violence against women and organized debates on the issue.  On International Women’s Day, the Government held several events on violence against women, with interventions by distinguished female leaders.  San Marino also conducted a review of its criminal code, to determine the necessary steps to reach full gender equality in the country.

BELÉN SAGAP MUÑOZ DE LA PEÑA ( Chile) said that Chile wished to acknowledge the work of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW,) as well as the participation of NGOs.  Women’s rights were human rights, she pointed out.  As a result, Chile supported the transfer of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to OHCHR.  Further, the Committee would benefit from convening three permanent sessions a year, like the two other human rights committees were doing.

Chile condemned all violence against women, she said, adding her country’s support for the various reports before the Committee today.  Citing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s recent speech to the General Assembly during the General Debate, she noted that the international community did not need new commitments regarding the rights of women, but rather needed to fulfil the commitments that had already been agreed.  The Millennium Development Goals would not be met unless initiatives were harmonized, she noted, and concluded by saying that Chile saw a holistic approach as key to building a new gender architecture.

NURBEK JEENBAEV ( Kyrgyzstan) said his country had ratified more than 30 conventions and protocols on human rights, including those that dealt with discrimination against women.  Nevertheless, a gulf between legislation and practice remained.  Equality was enshrined in the Constitution.  Statistics played an important role; revised annually, they enabled an ongoing comparison of the status of men and women.  Promoting respect for the rights of women and encouraging full participation of women at all levels of decision-making was a key objective of Kyrgyzstan’s policies.  Equal opportunity in the labour market, business and finance was another policy aim.  Men were encouraged to help raise children and do domestic chores, while stopping violence against women was a priority. 

A strong women’s movement had been established in Kyrgyzstan, he said, with some 160 women’s organizations active today.  Eighty per cent of NGOs were headed by women.  Equality and the development of rights and opportunities for women was one of the Millennium Development Goals, which Kyrgyzstan had signed up to, and efforts had been made in that direction.  While major progress had been made through legislative measures, Kyrgyzstan intended to make further progress and would not rest on its laurels.

ELADIO LOIZAGA ( Paraguay) said gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment should be deepened, as should the dissemination of information on key achievements, lessons learned and good practices.  He said the imbalance in the incorporation of approved indicators that reflected the situation of women should be corrected.  Gender-based language must be incorporated in the outcome documents of the Main Committees of the General Assembly.  He further suggested that the United Nations should more effectively use the outcomes of the sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women and disseminate their impacts.  Paraguay supported the request for further extension of its 2008 meetings by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year.  It urged the intensification of national and international efforts to eliminate violence against women through national initiatives to incorporate data compilation into national action plans.

Paraguay supported the initiative to promote the adoption of a United Nations international day for rural women as an explicit recognition of their contribution to the economic development of their communities.  His country commended the work of the following bodies in the promotion of gender equality and women’s rights:  UNFPA, UNIFEM and INSTRAW.

He said that the Secretariat for Women created in his country 15 years ago incorporated gender perspectives in national policies, fought for the human rights of women and achieved important advances for women through the ratification of conventions and protocols, the approval of national laws and the introduction of modifications in the civil, penal, labour and electoral laws.  Another activity was the monitoring of plans and projects at the local, national and regional levels and the offering of advice on the creation of women’s organizations.

CHIRACHAI PUNKRASIN ( Thailand) said most countries had yet to achieve the target of 30 per cent female representation in politics.  Women’s impact in decision-making was further constrained by the dearth of women in committees addressing economic and financial issues.  His country aimed to double the number of women in political posts.  The Office of Women’s Affairs and Family Development supported greater women’s participation in local and national politics through awareness-raising programmes and by encouraging women’s political participation in 75 provinces.  Local women’s organizations working to upgrade women’s status and quality of life in every province received Government funding.  There was, however, a lack of adequate and concrete information to support claims that an increase in women’s participation would lead to greater administrative effectiveness.  While noting the appreciation for various studies and surveys on women and development cited in the Secretary-General’s report, he said it would be fruitful for the United Nations to conduct a study on the impact of women’s participation in decision-making.  Adequate and accurate information was needed to make informed decisions and recommendations on that issue.

Thailand’s educational reform had not been specifically designed to change traditional attitudes, but reforms did encourage educational development based on personal interests rather than on stereotypical gender roles, he said.  Thailand had achieved gender parity in primary and secondary school enrolment, and was working to do the same at the tertiary level.  Statistics showed an increase in female undergraduate students in such non-traditional areas as law, agriculture, forestry and fishery.  He also supported the role of rural women in agriculture and sustainable development.  Thailand was also committed to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and had taken steps to revise and enact laws that complied with that instrument.

RANA SALAYEVA ( Azerbaijan) welcomed the Committee’s ongoing focus on the situation of women and girls in rural areas, and called for the wider United Nations to intensify its efforts on their behalf.  She said rural women and girls in Azerbaijan faced the same challenges as those in other countries, including low income, early marriages and domestic violence, lack of infrastructure and health care, and limited access to education.   Azerbaijan’s Government had therefore incorporated measures aimed at increasing economic opportunities for women, especially those living in rural areas, into all its national development strategies.

On violence against women and girls, she welcomed the Secretary-General’s decision to launch a multi-year, system-wide campaign to eliminate such violence.  She hoped that along with global advocacy, the campaign would generate practical results, especially through strengthening coordination among relevant United Nations entities and ensuring efficient action on the ground.  Azerbaijan had just completed drafting its first national law on combating domestic violence.  She thanked UNFPA for its invaluable assistance in that process and stressed that women’s NGOs had participated actively in the preparatory work, a fact that had been reflected in the draft law.

Moving on to gender equality, she said that as of last October, the first national law on equality between men and women had been adopted, and the State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs had been appointed as the body responsible for its implementation.  Finally, she stressed that women and girls were most affected by war, and Azerbaijani women and girls who had been displaced as a result of the armed conflict with neighbouring Armenia continued to suffer economic and social insecurity, as well as psychological trauma.  Government measures to improve the living conditions of refugees and internally displaced persons should be complemented by concerted international efforts, she said.  It was critical to ensure that the needs and perspectives of women and girls affected by armed conflict were mainstreamed into international humanitarian and development projects, in particular in the phase from relief to development.

WARIF HALABI ( Syria) said that the rights of women were indivisible from human rights.  A national plan had been established to protect women from violence with the participation of non-governmental organizations, which also had a number of national advisers.  The Ministry of Social Security and other authorities, along with the Ministry of Agriculture, had established a map of rural poverty with a special focus on women.  The Ministry of Social Affairs and Culture had also participated in programmes to eliminate illiteracy in rural areas.

Regarding the rights of migrant workers, in 2005 Syria had acceded to international conventions to protect the rights of migrant workers and their families.  She drew attention to Syrian women languishing under occupation in the Syrian Golan and said establishing a durable and comprehensive peace on the basis of legitimate international resolutions would empower women.  She concluded by thanking all of the international organizations that worked with her national Government to advance women, especially the Syrian women under foreign occupation.  She added her support for granting the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) further assistance.

LUCA DALL’OLGIO, Permanent Observer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that while trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation was the most visible and prominent form of violence against women, it was certainly not the only one.  More than half the world’s 195 million migrants were women, and there had been a considerable increase in the number of women migrating independently to pursue opportunities on their own.  While this phenomenon was evidence of greater autonomy and self-determination on the part of women, it also represented a dangerous and unsafe experience.  Even those women who avoided trafficking networks were not exempt from employment in gender-segregated sectors that were informal and unregulated.  Such situations gave them less access to State protection and increased their vulnerability.  Women migrants also often faced hazardous working conditions and were exposed to serious health risks, as well as sexual and physical abuses.  Many migrant women were virtual prisoners in workshops, private homes and dormitory-style housing where seeking help was difficult if not impossible.

It was essential for policies related to international migration to become more gender sensitive, he said.  Vulnerabilities could be reduced if women were informed of their rights; work registration with consular authorities was encouraged and a migrant worker database created; the adoption of human rights-based regulations for the employment of migrant workers, and women in particular, was promoted; migrant workers were given access to the level of protection and safety afforded to national workers; job qualifications and skills were matched, so that migrant women workers had access to appropriate job opportunities; domestic workers’ rights were advocated and their situation monitored in collaboration with State authorities and recruiting agencies; and awareness was raised to prevent abusive practices by employers.  Assistance networks would also have to be strengthened.  Breaking the cycle of violence against women, including migrant women, required broad and active commitment by State and non-state actors and a change in thinking among families, communities and societies.

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