Economic and Social Council: 2010 Substantive Session General Debate

Economic and Social Council

2010 Substantive Session

19^th & 20^th Meetings (AM & PM)

Note: A complete summary of today’s meetings of the Economic and Social Council will be available after the conclusion of the afternoon meeting as Press Release ECOSOC/6435.

Background

The Economic and Social Council met today to conclude its high-level segment with the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration. It was also expected to conclude its general debate, which began yesterday (see Press Release ECOSOC/6434), and to hold a high-level policy dialogue with international financial and trade institutions, as well as a dialogue with the heads of United Nations regional commissions.

General Debate

MASHIUR RAHMAN, Economic Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, pointed out that both his country’s Prime Minister and the Deputy Leader of the House were women, and women also held the important Cabinet portfolios of agriculture, foreign affairs, and women and children’s affairs. The posts of Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition had been held by women since 1991, he added. The Government had adopted a National Policy for Women’s Advancement and a National Plan of Action. A Women’s Development Committee, headed by the Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, monitored implementation of empowerment policies.

The enrolment of girls at the primary and secondary levels exceeded that of boys, helped by tuition waivers and stipends for girls in secondary school. Since 2008, the Government had approved or enacted laws protecting women against domestic violence and recognizing that children could be granted Bangladeshi citizenship from both their mothers and fathers. The Government was also implementing several projects to develop women’s capabilities, including the Vulnerable Group Development Programme, microcredit, skills training in computers, and product display centres. More women labourers were hired for rural public works than men, he said, adding that those registered with the Vulnerable Group Development Programme and hired for rural works received skills training and credit for capital machinery such as Singer sewing machines so that they could set up their own enterprises.

A number of affirmative actions had been carried out, such as the provision of allowances and shelter, which helped women in distress and old age, he said, adding that dormitory and day-care centres had been built for working women. However, those efforts were too modest and should be scaled up. The Government had introduced a gender-responsive budget for fiscal 2011.

On the international level, he said, an all-female Bangladeshi Formed Police Unit had landed in Haiti early last month, evidence of the country’s support for the participation of women in conflict resolution, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation, as mandated by Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). He urged developed countries to make good on their promises to devote 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product to official development assistance (ODA), including 0.2 per cent for least developed countries.

OCTAVIO ERRÁZURIZ ( Chile) said his country was closer to achieving equal opportunities and rights for women and men, noting that by the end of the decade, Chile would have overcome the adversity that had followed the recent earthquake and become a developed country. He highlighted several initiatives towards ensuring gender equality in the labour market, protecting motherhood, providing childcare and increasing access to health care, stressing that women were playing an important role in post-earthquake reconstruction.

Chile had also worked hard to prevent violence against women and to establish criminal penalties for it, he said. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 61/143, the country had taken measures to increase reporting and reduce prevalence, paying urgent attention to the draft legislation on “femicide”. “ Chile is the first Latin American country to have a plan of action on resolution 1325 (2000) on women and peace and security,” he noted, reaffirming its commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

PRENEET KAUR, Minister of State for External Affairs of India, said her country had a strong interest in the world economy doing well, since that was the key enabler for the pursuit of growth and bringing the fruits of development to all sectors of society. It was also necessary to focus on medium- and long-term structural issues of global governance. Reform of the Bretton Woods institutions must be urgently completed, and the Security Council must reflect contemporary realities by expanding both its permanent and non-permanent membership categories, she said.

The Annual Ministerial Review’s focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment this year was timely, since the Millennium Development Goals aspirations remained unfulfilled, she continued. India’s National Policy for the Empowerment of Women sought to enhance economic and political empowerment and to provide equal access to health care, education and employment for women. Nearly half of the 46 million rural household beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, one the world’s largest cash-for-work programmes, were women. Similarly, India had more than 2 million women’s self-help groups under the Swarnjayanti Gram Rozgar Yojina, a huge rural employment programme. In education, the Government had recently launched Saakshar Bharat, a national programme for female literacy, to impart functional literacy to some 60 million adult women.

She went on to say that the newly enacted Right to Education Act guaranteed free and compulsory education for all children, adding that girls would be the obvious focus. However, figures on maternal and infant mortality remained unacceptably high and efforts to reduce them through various schemes, including the Janani Suraksha Yojna cash assistance programme, were beginning to yield results. She expressed particular concern over the disparity between female and male literacy rates, the exceptionally high maternal mortality rate, the lower rate of women’s participation in the job market as compared with that of men, and issues of violence against women. However, Indian women were participating in greater numbers in the political process and in decision-making structures, she said, noting that they occupied some of the country’s highest positions, including those of President, Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament), and leader of the ruling coalition.

FREDERICK BARTON ( United States) applauded efforts to raise the participation of girls in school, improve the safety of giving birth, reduce trafficking, strengthen women farmers, and increase women’s economic independence. Underlining the catalytic role that women played in guiding and uniting efforts by donor and partner countries, he called for a holistic approach to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, noting that enormous progress had been made and encouraging Member States to build on that positive momentum to make historic breakthroughs.

He went on to cite some of his country’s efforts to integrate gender concerns into its international programmes, highlighting President Barack Obama’s recent initiatives on food security and health. Such initiatives would bring attainment of the Millennium Goals closer to reality, he said, affirming his country’s commitment to drive innovation, invest in sustainability, evaluate outcomes, and reinforce mutual accountability. “Not only must we empower women to have a hand in shaping more stable and peaceful societies, but we must also work together to change the cultural setting which accepts violence against women, he emphasized.

HAMID AL BAYATI ( Iraq) said his country had been among the first in the Middle East to pay attention to women’s causes. As early as the 1930s, the women’s movement had made important gains, and a law had been enacted in 1936 to guarantee their rights in the workplace. Women had opportunities to participate in important economic, social and political fields, and their participation in decision-making was vital, he said, adding that Iraqi law guaranteed equality and non-discrimination.

The proportion of women in the previous Parliament had stood at 27 per cent, he recalled, noting that the country now had three women ministers, holding the portfolios of Human Rights, Environment and Housing. It also had two female Ministers of State, and women held numerous other important Government positions as experts and under-secretaries, among others.

He went on to note that a woman headed Parliament’s Commission on Women and Children, the highest body for the promotion of women’s affairs, which drew up policies for their advancement. Numerous non-governmental organizations throughout the country carried out plans and programmes to advance the lot of women and children, and the Government had adopted a policy to promote women’s affairs in fields including community policing and caring for victims of violence. Iraq’s social welfare policy provided credits to help women improve their economic lot.

CLAUDIA BLUM (Colombia), aligning herself with the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, stressed that non-discriminatory access to education was an essential prerequisite for empowerment and equality. Colombia had achieved universal basic education coverage, having taken measures to educate men and women on gender equality and to support education on sexual and reproductive health. Women’s economic empowerment was crucial for the realization of women’s fundamental rights, as well as inclusive and sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Highlighting her country’s initiatives, she said the Government had strengthened laws against specific forms of violence, such as domestic violence and trafficking in persons, by adopting legislation to that end in 2008. Colombia’s quota law helped increase women’s participation in the executive branch, where they held 30 per cent of decision-making positions, she said. Acknowledging that more progress needed to be made, she reaffirmed the importance of international cooperation to support national efforts.

CHRISTINE KALAMWINA, Director of Social, Legal and Governance in the Ministry of Gender in Development of Zambia, said promoting gender equality was an important part of her country’s development strategy as it sought to improve people’s lives. For the past five years, the Government had been implementing the Fifth National Development Plan, in which promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment had been a priority. The Government was now in the advanced stages of developing the Sixth National Development Plan, which systematically mainstreamed gender into all development sectors.

National budgets had been allocating additional funds to the National Gender Machinery and the Ministry of Community Development and Social Welfare for the economic empowerment of women, she said. In 2006, the Government had established the Citizens Economic Empowerment Fund with a specific mandate to ensure that women were given preferential access to it. Conditions for obtaining funding had been relaxed to allow women easy access funding, she said, adding that 40 per cent of the Fund was reserved for women.

The Government had committed to provide women with greater access to productive resources such as land, affordable credit, agricultural extension services, and appropriate technology, she said. With leadership from the Bank of Zambia, financial institutions were beginning to engage more with women entrepreneurs in addressing some hurdles that women faced in relation to access to bank and financial services. Zambia had made steady progress towards realizing the Millennium Development Goals, he said, adding that it was likely to meet the targets on hunger, universal primary education, gender equality, maternal health, and HIV/AIDS by 2015.

NORIHIRO OKUDA ( Japan) stressed that not enough progress had been made thus far and further efforts to realize the Millennium Goals should be based on national ownership. Japan was focused on protecting women from critical and pervasive threats so they could “achieve freedom from fear, freedom from want, fulfilment and dignity”, he said. Japan was making efforts to help other countries promote gender equality, he said, adding that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in cooperation with the Government of Yemen, had developed girls’ education in that country, with the result that enrolment had risen by 50 per cent in 59 pilot schools.

He went on to state that his country had established the Trust Fund for Human Security, which had recently undertaken a project in Nepal to provide comprehensive assistance to women and girls amid armed conflict. However, Japan needed to improve in the area of decision-making, a category in which women’s participation remained quite low. There had been encouraging developments in that regard, he said, noting that 54 women had been elected to the House of Representatives in 2009 — the highest proportion of women in that body. Japan was formulating a Third Basic Plan for Gender Equality to tackle challenges to the creation of a gender-equal society, he said.

JULIO RAFAEL ESCALONA OJEDA ( Venezuela) said his country had not cut social spending despite the recession. It was maintaining cooperation and solidarity for fair trade, as well as efforts, with other countries in the South, to reduce poverty and inequality. Determined to bring about gender equality, Venezuela’s Constitution used non-sexist, non-discriminatory language, and women were protected from discrimination under the law. The Government had enacted a law giving women the right to a life free of violence, protecting them from violence and punishing offenders. It had also set up special tribunals to deal with violence against women.

He said his country had been a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women since 1982, and had ratified its Additional Protocols. To promote gender equality, it had created various instruments such as shelter and housing for abused women. The mission called “Mothers of the Neighbourhood” had been formed to eliminate the social exclusion of women, he said, adding that the Development Bank provided poor women with microfinance. By the end of 2009, a total of 99,724 women had been benefiting from the Mothers of the Neighbourhood, receiving funds in an amount equal to the national minimum wage. That recognized their value as domestic workers, he said.

The Ministry of Popular Power for Women and Gender Equality had been established to promote women’s participation he said. It functioned throughout the country and allowed women collectively to make proposals and discuss their needs. Venezuela had already achieved the Millennium Goal of eliminating the gender disparity in primary and secondary education, he said, adding that women’s participation in higher education had surpassed that of men.

EZINNE NWADINOBI, Director of Social Services, National Planning Commission of Nigeria, said there had been a marked increase in national strategies to provide women with a competitive edge and help their entrepreneurial development. The Government had increased its budget by 5 per cent since 2005 to address gender issues.

She said her country had made significant progress in the area of education, and school enrolment rates for both boys and girls had increased at the secondary and tertiary levels. Underscoring the emphasis placed on land reform in her country’s development agenda, she expressed hope about efforts to facilitate women’s access to land and to the financial resources required to purchase it. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, Nigeria had implemented strategies focused on prevention at the national and local levels.

In light of the challenges posed by global crises, Nigeria had limited capacity to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, she said, calling for the strengthening of the links between expressions of commitment and capacity to implement them. She went on to emphasize that special attention must be paid to several elements, including technical assistance and capacity-building, and measures to combat the impact of climate change, among other challenges. She also called for a scaling up of ODA to developing countries and for the extension of more debt relief packages.

LIBRAN CABACTULAN ( Philippines) said his country had just entered a new phase of development with the election of a new President, who had assumed office just two days ago, having won the election on a popular mandate based on a platform of good governance imposed not by external influences, but born of a nation’s disaffection with negative bureaucratic behaviour. The new Administration would oversee the development and implementation of a new Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for the period 2010-2016, he said. The new President had instructed his new Cabinet to focus on projects in health, education, food security, job creation, justice and anti-corruption, he said.

The Philippines had done comparatively well in terms of gender equality and women’s empowerment, he said. The passage of the Philippine Magna Carta of Women in August 2009 had put into one comprehensive law the role that women played in nation-building, and sought to eliminate all forms of discrimination against them by recognizing, protecting, fulfilling and promoting their rights, especially those in marginalized sectors. The law also protected women from all forms of violence and ensured mandatory training on human rights and gender sensitivity by all Government agents involved in the protection and defence of women against gender-based violence. Through that law, Filipina women could claim legal accountability for violators and offenders. The new President, son of the late former President Corazon Aquino, had already appointed four women to key ministerial-level posts in his Cabinet, he said.

GERT ROSENTHAL ( Guatemala) stressed that the current session on gender equality and the empowerment of women provided a holistic perspective to all the Goals and emphasized the links between them. “Taking charge of our own responsibility in achieving these objectives also gives us moral authority to demand a friendlier international environment to pursue these goals,” he said.

Applauding the establishment of the new composite United Nations gender entity, he said it was a concrete and important step to introduce greater coherence into the Organization’s system. Guatemala valued the Council as an intergovernmental organ, yet recognized that it was still a long way from reaching its full potential. Therefore, Guatemala was committed to working towards the realization of that objective.

AMY MUEDIN, International Organization for Migration, said migration could be an important variable in implementing the international framework for gender equality and development. The Beijing Declaration took stock of the impact of international migration on women, since poverty or gender-violence could leave them no choice but to migrate, in many cases. It also called for action to prevent and address trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation.

Although the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women lacked specific provisions on migration, he said, the recent adoption of recommendations dedicated to migration, such as the ILO General Recommendation 26 on Women Migrant Workers, was a strong indicator of the attention paid to the dual discrimination faced by migrant women. Migration was not formally included in the 2000 Millennium Declaration, but it could have important ramifications for the realization of all the Millennium Development Goals.

For example, while the migration of health professionals was detrimental to access by women and girls to health care, especially reproductive health, the money remitted by migrants helped millions of families pay for food, health and education, she said. It provided daily needs such as food, health and education, which helped alleviate poverty, promote education and reduce child mortality. Research in different parts of the world showed that remittances could substantially improve girls’ schooling opportunities. For some of the 105 million migrant women, the migration experience could, when occurring in a legal and safe fashion, provide women with employment opportunities unavailable at home, thus helping them achieve financial autonomy and decision-making power.

UFUK GOKCEN, Permanent Observer for the Organization of the Islamic Conference, noted that women remained deprived of their fundamental rights. The international community should strengthen coordinated efforts and take an active role in overcoming various challenges faced. Violence against women constituted a “shameful crime” which must be addressed in all societies through appropriate laws and regulations. The philosopher Aristotle’s suggestion that women were imperfect men had helped create the view of them as secondary beings, he noted.

“A women is a part of a whole, a part that renders the other half useful and meaningful […] when that unity doesn’t exist, humanity does not exist,” he stressed. Islam, as a religion of peace and equality, advocated the emancipation of women and called for their equal rights as equal partners. Furthermore, the Organization of the Islamic Conference had worked in cooperation with the international community to develop a 10-year programme of action which called upon the Organization’s member States to revise their laws in order to promote the enhancement of women in Muslim societies.

MARWAN JILANI, Permanent Observer for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said food insecurity, disasters, overlapping climatic extremes, poverty and rapid urbanization were today’s major humanitarian challenges, as witnessed in Haiti. The ICRC’s annual World Disaster Report, to be launched later this year, was focusing on the urbanization of disasters as a twenty-first century challenge. It stated that climate change was likely to increase the links between urban poverty and disaster risk. The ICRC was working with city leaders and civil society worldwide to address urban challenges by aiming at root causes.

The ICRC had included in its plans for Haiti the prioritization of women’s access to health services, including reproductive health; the role of women in agriculture and food security; equal participation by women in camp management committees; addressing gender in shelter design; land and house tenure; including women in water and sanitation management committees; equal employment opportunities and equal pay for women in operations; and prioritizing single female and parent-headed households during relief distribution.

He said the ICRC’s work on gender-based violence and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse was highlighted by the appointment of a delegate for gender-based violence in Haiti, and by the integration of those important aspects into an overall plan of action. Funding for humanitarian aid was failing to keep pace with growing humanitarian need, he said, noting that only a fraction of the money was spent on preparedness and risk reduction, and on attempts to reduce vulnerabilities. He stressed that reducing disaster risk and increasing resilience to natural hazards in different development sectors could have a multiplier effect and expedite realization of the Millennium Goals.

ANITA L. DEFRANTZ, Chair of the Women and Sport Commission of the International Olympic Committee, said the issue of women in sport was directly related to human and social rights. The Olympic Charter stated that every human being must be allowed to practise sport in accordance with his or her needs. Noting that the Beijing Platform for Action referred to sport and psychical education as a mechanism to achieve education and promote women’s health, she expressed hope that the contribution of sport and physical activity would again be recognized and included in the outcome document of the high-level segment.

KILONTSI MPOTOGOMYI, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), expressed great concern that the participation of women in politics and governance was far from what it should be. Despite recent progress, it still fell far short of the 30 per cent target set in Beijing 15 years ago. Urgent action was needed, particularly in view of the current context of crises, in which women were vulnerable and developmentally challenged.

This year, the IPU had concluded a study on women’s advances and setbacks in Parliament, he said, adding that it had also produced, in cooperation with the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, a new edition of the World Map of Women in Politics. The conclusions emerging from both publications revealed that the world average of women in Parliament stood at 19 per cent, up from 11.3 per cent in 1995. Some progress had been made, but it had been slow thus far, he said, cautioning that, at the current annual growth rate of 0.5 points, the 30 per cent target would only be reached by 2025.

Much remained to be done to eliminate discrimination against women, he said, noting that there was considerable scope for stepping up efforts, including quotas and other temporary special measures; amending systems of political party selection and recruitment; taking action to eliminate gender stereotypes and violence against women; and waging systematic, far-reaching awareness campaigns worldwide. The IPU was working with Parliaments to end violence against women, and urged them to allocate adequate resources to that end, while monitoring implementation.

ANTONIO MARZANO, President of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions, underscored the social and economic hardships suffered by millions of men and women in the wake of several global crises, and called for vigorous action to ensure that gender equality objectives were met. Equality had many facets and, therefore, called for a global approach, he said.

Both developed and developing countries had a role to play, while social partners and civil society could contribute to the promotion of equality through social dialogue and collective bargaining, he said. In industrialized countries, the issues of reconciling professional and family life, and addressing the salary gap went hand in hand with women’s empowerment in the workforce, in institutions and in society, he said, stressing in that regard the need for a cross-sectoral approach to improve the integration of gender equality issues into development policies.

LILA RATSIFANDRIHAMANANA, Director of the Liaison Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to the United Nations, said women constituted more than half of the world’s chronically hungry people, produced half its food and made up the majority of agricultural workers in some regions. Agriculture employed more than 80 per cent of women in sub-Saharan Africa and almost 70 per cent in East Asia and the Pacific, excluding China, she said, noting that for many years, the design of development policies and projects incorrectly assumed that farmers and rural workers were mainly men. Women were also active as food producers for their families, traders, processors, labourers and entrepreneurs, she continued.

However, they faced considerable constraints and vulnerabilities compared to men, she said, pointing out that women routinely faced discrimination and were denied equal access to key productive assets and services such as land, water, credit and technology. That situation was no longer tolerable, she said, emphasizing that more attention must be paid to rural women. FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) were focused on enhancing women’s access to income-earning opportunities and productive assets by removing the constraints facing rural women in agriculture and improving access to productive resources, basic services and infrastructure.

She said that those agencies were also strengthening women producers’ organizations by building their capacities and supporting their participation in community, national and international decision-making processes. She called for concrete action to increase investment in food security, agriculture and rural development; promote productive and social safety nets; implement food security and poverty-reduction strategies that would ensure equal opportunities for rural men and women; improve agriculture, food security nutrition policies, taking into account rural peoples’ needs; and improve gender-disaggregated statistics.

ELENA GASTALDO, International Labour Organization (ILO), highlighted the International Labour Conference resolution on gender equality at the heart of decent work as the agency’s most comprehensive contribution to the empowerment of women and gender equality. Adopted in 2009, it called on the ILO to promote women’s equality as a cross-cutting issue in the areas of employment, social protection, principles and rights at work, and social dialogue. In addition, it highlighted the roles that Governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations had to play for the realization of equal opportunities for women.

She went on to note that both the resolution and a Global Jobs Pact, also adopted in 2009, recognized the need for recovery packages to mitigate the differing impacts of the economic crisis on men and women. New international labour standards to address the vulnerability of women and girls to verbal, physical and sexual violence would add power to Government efforts, she said, emphasizing that achieving gender equality in the workplace would help realize the other Millennium Goals.

IRINI SARLIS, International Alliance of Women, said peace was inextricably linked to women’s development, she said, adding that recognizing their knowledge, skills and experience had already been identified as a requirement for peace. Denying women the right to participate in social, economic and cultural life was discriminatory, she said, emphasizing that the advancement of women could not take place amid civil unrest or where women’s rights were not respected.

She urged Governments and intergovernmental organizations to develop national rosters of potential women candidates, and to ensure that women were fully informed about, and worked in, senior management posts in post-conflict recovery programmes. It was necessary to implement Government policies and protection in terms of the voluntary return, resettlement and repatriation of refugees in a situation of safety and dignity. It was also important to provide health care for women in post-conflict situations in order to guarantee that the reconciliation process protected women’s rights. Also necessary was the establishment of accessible and transparent early warning systems, and the financing and empowerment of women’s organizations to help build sustainable peace.

JUDY LEAR, HelpAge International, emphasizing that global demographics had changed profoundly, said policies across all sectors were needed in response to those changes. “Ageing is really a women’s issue because we are the majority of people who are older, or take care of those who are older,” she said. Appealing to the Council, the international community and other non-governmental organizations on behalf of mothers and grandmothers worldwide, she called for the use of the phrase “girls and women of all ages” in reports, statements, and speeches, adding: “What you do here, now, will have an impact on your daughters.”

SUDHANGSHI KARMAKAR, International Committee for Arab-Israeli Reconciliation, said too many girls in many parts of the world either did not attend schools or dropped out, and stressed the importance of family planning in preventing that. Greater resources were needed to educate girls about the dangers of multiple sex partners, and they should also be taught that sexual abuse was a crime. All girls should learn a trade and be adequately compensated for their work, she said, adding that women should be able to share family responsibilities with men. Calling on all countries to file annual Millennium Development Goal progress reports with the United Nations, she said such reports could be verified by third parties. That was the best way to make substantial progress, she said, adding that country reports should be available to ensure transparency in the Millennium Development Goals process.

MAYUMI SAKOH, World Society for the Protection of Animals, highlighted the link between animal welfare and the welfare of women in rural areas, saying that in developing countries, women were often the caregivers for farm animals. The nutrition that those animals provided for families could be the difference between life and death, she said, adding that food derived from animals — such as eggs, milk and meat — was a major source of income for most rural women.

Animals, therefore, gave women the power to sell at market, thereby earning income, as well as participating in society, she said, noting that animals were considered an investment as they were used for transportation and acted as a society safety net. Emphasizing that a focus on improving animal welfare would have a direct and positive impact on the lives of rural women, she urged the international community to recognize the importance of animal welfare for realizing the Millennium Goals.