*************************************************************************** The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Secretariat. *************************************************************************** AS WRITTEN Statement by Somali Women's Trust to the Fourth World Conference on Women Beijing, China, 12 September 1995 ladies and gentlemen I would like to convey to you briefly the situation of the war torn Somalia in general and the impact of Civil war on the Somali Women in particular. Somali today is a shattered society, the infrastructure has collapsed, the government institutions are destroyed, the social fabric is torn apart and the traditional values are shaken. Nevertheless it is worth noting that the political socio-economic retardation of Somalia today is far from been accidental. It is much to do with the evolution of the Global politics and the economic apparatus greatly influenced by Somalia's geopolitical importance. when policies do go wrong between states and with in astate arms could be raised and women are at the receiving end of the problems created by men. In this turbulent times Somali women ostensibly faced new responsibilities. While they perform the traditional role of looking after the family, many women turned up to be also the bread winners. As a result the number of female heads of households tremendously increased. Having experienced the catastrophic of the civil war the women s endeavour was predominantly to promote peace. In all regions Somali women demanded for peace. They demonstrated for peace and have been successful in certain regions. It is a hard fact that with out peace there cannot be development nor can civic society be achieved. Therefore the most critical area of concern for Somalia today is Peace. It is true that there hasn’t been war ladies in Somalia. Thus it is vital to enable women to participate peace processes and to take part in the nation state building. TO give women access to education , promote women s literacy on legal issues. Enhance women’s security in war times as well as other times. Women should have access to social services and equality with equity should be exercised in the enhancement of women's rights. To achieve the above mentioned goals , we would very much like your support . We would like to call for the world not to forget Somalia when the cameras are of and when it is not in the news headlines. It is a hard fact that the outside world contributed to the general disarray of Somalia intentionally or unintentionally. IT is obvious that Somalia is never short of weaponry and that she does not have arms factors nor is the country rich enough to acquire such armaments. We the Somali women therefore pledge for the international community not to sell arms and not to give them in the form of aid to the warring factions. We would not like to be a grave yard for foreign aid nor would we like funds to be raised in our name only to be recycled to the donors making us in the rain shadow of such aid. Somalia has a lot of potentialities it is one of the most ancient spots in the world. What we need is to facilitate for us to come out of the civil war but not to try to fix problems that even surprise us some times. I conclude by saying even though the Somali country is destroyed the Somali people remain defiant and the Somali women are the back bone for the cohesion of the Somali nation.