WOMEN BEARING BRUNT OF DEVELOPMENT EMERGENCY, NEW GLOBAL CHALLENGES, WARNS

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL IN KEYNOTE ADDRESS TO FOREIGN POLICY GROUP

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro’s keynote address to the Women’s Foreign Policy Group in New York, today, 1 May:

It is an honour to be here to speak with you about major global problems and their impact on women.  And, beyond that, I want to talk about the impact women can have on addressing these concerns.

Right now, the international community is faced with an unprecedented rise of food prices, which is drawing many developing countries into a real crisis that is threatening further efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

The advances we have seen in achieving this collective vision for a better world could all be undermined by rising food prices.  People are taking to the streets in protest from Afghanistan to Burkina Faso, from Egypt to Haiti, from Niger to Sri Lanka.  The World Bank estimates that rising food costs could push 100 million people deeper into poverty.

Families that don’t have enough to eat are being forced to make terrible choices.  Like deciding between food or medicine, when nutrition is a key part of healing.  Or choosing whether to send their children to class to learn or to the fields, where they might earn a bit of money to help the family.

And it’s women who are hit the hardest.  The development emergency engulfing whole communities is taking its heaviest toll on women.

Climate change wreaks the worst havoc in the poorest States, which have the fewest resources to respond.  Poor women are responsible for a tiny fraction of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, but they suffer most from the effects of global warming.  These women depend on natural resources to provide food and water to their families.  They suffer the most from droughts, floods, crop failures and water shortages.

The crisis is acute in Africa, where mothers and infants struggle to survive.  Not a single African country is on track to meet the Goal for reducing maternal mortality rates.  And the continent is lagging behind in other areas, as well.  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon knows we have to act.  That’s why he set up the MDG Africa Steering Group made up of leaders from major multilateral political and financial institutions.  The Group is putting forward fresh proposals for progress.  Recognizing the need to help Africa’s mothers, it is calling for reproductive health care for everyone in need.

More broadly, this Group is advocating a “green revolution” across Africa. The continent desperately needs this transformation.  The call for an African “green revolution” is even more urgent as we try to tackle the food crisis.  Poor farmers in Africa are not benefiting from the inflation.  They can’t afford to pay for fertilizer, seeds and other supplies that cost so much more because of today’s high oil prices.

The Secretary-General has pointed out that this challenging situation offers an opportunity to reinvest in agriculture in Africa.  He told an audience this week in Geneva that African nations can double agricultural production over a few years.  There will also be a need to improve basic infrastructure so that access to food can be made easier.

Helping African farmers can have a decisive impact on women’s lives.  By and large, it is women who are out there under the hot sun, tending the fields and harvesting the crops.  Eighty per cent of Africa’s farmers are women, and they rarely -- if ever -- have any control over how their land is used.

But the same women hit hardest by the food crisis are ready to hit back.  They can move their communities from subsistence farming to commercial farming and even industry.  With support -- the support that they deserve.

Equal access doesn’t just happen; it needs to be a central part of the design of agricultural policies and programmes.

The Africa MDG Steering Group estimates that, with investments of just $8 billion yearly to 2010, we can see tremendous gains.  With the right mix of policies, aid and incentives, with enough fertilizer and improved seeds, African nations can double agricultural yields.

And then, I predict, female farmers on the continent will unleash Africa’s vast potential.

We need this for the farmers in Africa, but we also need it for the world.  Our population continues to grow, and we’re just not producing as much food as we consume.  According to the World Bank, global food production has to grow by 50 per cent between now and 2030 to meet demand.  So we urgently need to increase agricultural yields elsewhere and everywhere.

At the same time, the United Nations system is gathering its forces to tackle the global food problem.  The Secretary-General himself is leading a new United Nations Task Force on the Global Food Crisis, which brings together heads of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes along with international financial institutions, experts and leading authorities from the global community.

The Task Force is aiming to have a comprehensive plan in place by the beginning of June.

Meanwhile, the Economic and Social Council will hold a special session on the food crisis this month.  And next month in Rome, there will be a High-Level Conference on Food Security.  Come September, we’ll have another opportunity, when leaders gather in New York for a summit on the Millennium Development Goals that the Secretary-General is convening, along with the General Assembly President.

But we’re not just waiting for leaders to act.  We’re taking steps immediately on the ground.  Just this week we saw the first public demonstration in Afghanistan against food price increases.  The World Food Programme immediately responded by loaning the Government 1,000 metric tons of wheat for bakeries in Kabul.

This is the Secretary-General’s strategy.  He said in Bern: “First, feed the hungry.”  We have to staunch this wound before the bleeding starts to haemorrhage.  Food price riots can lead to more unrest.  In some countries, this could threaten fragile security gains.

The World Food Programme requires an infusion of resources to reach those in peril.  The agency needs some $755 million to help millions of people who don’t have enough food.

And the Food and Agriculture Organization is calling for $1.7 billion for an emergency initiative to provide seeds and inputs to boost production in low-income countries.  Meanwhile, the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development is making available an additional $200 million for poor farmers in the hardest-hit countries.

Top United Nations officials are working together on a comprehensive, rapid-fire response.  We are analysing the situation so that we can help Governments.  We are drawing up support strategies.  We are mobilizing international assistance.

We’re also looking ahead, with plans to give Governments the best information to boost agricultural production.

We have to help farmers and we have to adjust policies.  That’s why we’re calling for immediate steps to address trade distortions that hurt exports from developing countries.  We need to end harmful trade subsidies and we need to stop export restrictions on food.

We must deal with the structural and policy issues behind the crisis.  That includes the production of biofuels and how they affect the planet’s food supply.

Once we take these measures and get farmers on a sound footing, we’ll not only relieve the hunger -- we’ll advance other development goals.  More children will attend school.  Antiretrovirals can do a better job helping HIV patients who are well fed.  Women will be empowered economically.  And that can boost their political power, too.

Support has to go beyond the farms and into the legislatures.  This requires better property registries.  It means putting in place clear legal instruments to secure women equal rights to secure land and home ownership.

When women’s property rights are secure, they will have stable incomes.  This will protect them against gender-based violence.  And that, in turn, will reduce their susceptibility to HIV.

As we work to address this current daunting challenge, we have to also remember our girls.  The Millennium Goal for eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education was made because we know that investing in girls’ education yields high returns not just for individual students but for entire societies.  And when societies are more productive, they can better respond to crises.

Still, let’s not stop there.  We need girls in our classrooms, but we also need women in public office.  Ultimately, if we want to reach these ambitious development goals, women must take up leadership positions, driving policy, making decisions and achieving results.

So far, progress has been painfully slow.  The Inter-Parliamentary Union released a study showing that the share of women lawmakers has increased by just 2 per cent since 2005, so that women make up under 18 per cent overall.

Rwanda is topping the list with women taking up almost half the seats in Parliament.  It’s just one of several countries that have emerged from conflict with strong measures to ensure that women are active in Government.  We’ve seen this in Burundi, and we’ve even seen it also in Afghanistan, where, as you know, the Taliban had imposed some of the most oppressive measures against women in our time.

As long as I am among friends, I want to self-reflect for a moment.  I want to be honest about how the United Nations is doing.  And the truth is, we could learn a lot from Rwanda on this score.  At the United Nations, we are making good progress to implementing the legislative framework on gender parity, but we still have a long way to go.

The Secretary-General is personally committed to ensuring gender balance.  He pledged this when he took office and he’s kept his word.  And we’ve been doing well on the ground, too.  In Liberia, for example, the Secretary-General is represented by Ellen Margrethe Løj.  We have also a number of female Deputy Representatives in the field.  And we’ve also sent the first all-female police contingent to Liberia.  The Formed Police Unit from India is showing the uniquely valuable contribution that women can make to law enforcement.

We need to do much more, in the United Nations and across the world, to empower women.  Women can drive the green revolution in Africa.  They hold the key to breaking out of the food crisis; to educating the young; to peace, progress and prosperity.

Women may suffer the most from the world’s problems, but – look at that – they are also able to contribute most to its solutions.  The time to act is now.

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For information media • not an official record