PRESS CONFERENCE on gender equality global call to action

 

Denmark’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Carsten Staur, announced his country’s new “MDG3 Champion Torch” initiative as a “global call to action on gender equality”, as he also welcomed the new Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Inés Alberdi at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

Mr. Staur said 100 torches would be handed out in the next few months to business leaders, government representative and community groups.  They would all be handed out by the time of the September high-level meeting on the Millennium Development Goals and the torches would be handed to the Secretary-General on 25 September, along with a list of commitments to women’s empowerment.  Ms. Alberdi and UNIFEM would be among the recipients, in acknowledgement of their commitment to the empowerment of women.

He said the aim of the initiative was to create a stronger environment for women’s empowerment, particularly in the poorest countries.  One specific goal was to double the development aid targeted at women.  His country was taking the lead by doubling its aid from 200 million Danish kroner to 400 million by 2010.  Other donors would be recruited to join the effort and “dramatically increase” funding for women over the next years.

In response to a question on how torchbearers had been selected and how implementation to commitments would be ensured, Mr. Staur said Member States and others had been consulted and asked to make recommendations.  The hope was that torchbearers would pass the torches on, from hand to hand, so as to build momentum.  A list of commitments would be handed to the Secretary-General, along with the torches.  The initiative was a curtain-raiser for intensified action.  His country had doubled its contribution to UNIFEM this year, since it was particularly effective in addressing violence against women, in addressing the feminization of HIV/AIDS and in working to reduce poverty among women, at the political, social and legal levels.

Ms. Alberdi noted that countries had committed themselves to actions towards gender equality since 2000, but now the focus had to be intensified on implementation and accountability.  To accept the torch was to make a pledge to make specific commitments.  Her pledge was to focus on the priorities Member States had set out.  Specifically, she would address the feminization of poverty, particularly in Africa, as key for reaching the Millennium Development Goals and for addressing the food crisis.  UNIFEM’s advocacy and support mechanisms would be stepped up to enhance women’s economic security and rights.  An initiative would be launched by year’s end on informal cross-border trade in Africa to strengthen the policies, capacities and infrastructure needed to build assets, including in the areas of property and inheritance rights.

Further, she said “violence against women is a problem with a solution”, adding that this issue was the missing Millennium Development Goals target.  The responses to date had often missed two critical ingredients -- money and men.  As the manager of the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, UNIFEM would make every effort to ensure that the Fund grew from its resource base of some $5 million in grants in 2007, to $100 million by 2015.  UNIFEM would also “vigorously” reach out to men as key partners in addressing the issue.  A meeting had already been held to explore how peacekeepers could more effectively protect women from sexual violence and to stop the rape and violence against women that was used as a “tool for war”.

UNIFEM’s “Say NO to Violence against Women” was an internet campaign that was a key tool for raising awareness of the subject, she said.  The campaign was increasingly regarded by high-level decision-makers as a platform to publicly commit to ending gender-based violence.  The Presidents of Senegal and the United Republic of Tanzania had been the first Heads of State to sign on.  Spain had signed on last week.  Denmark was hereby invited to also join.

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For information media • not an official record