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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.
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AS WRITTEN


Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality,
Development and Peace

Statement of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
delivered by Mr. Gerald Walzer, Deputy High Commissioner

(Beijing, 5 September 1995)


Madam Chairperson,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The word "refugee" has no gender. Yet, more than half of the world's 
refugee population is female. Out of a total of over 27 million 
refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons falling under the 
responsibility of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the 
vast majority are women and girls. 

It is therefore a great honor for me to address the Fourth World 
Conference on Women on behalf of the United Nations High Commissioner 
for Refugees. Mrs. Sadako Ogata, the High Commissioner, regrets that she 
cannot be present here today. At the request of the U.N. Secretary 
General, she has had to travel urgently to the Great Lakes region of 
Africa to seek a humanitarian solution which would allow some two 
million refugee women, children and men to return home voluntarily in 
safety and dignity. 

The objectives of the Fourth World Conference on Women are of 
fundamental importance to the mandate of UNHCR to protect and assist 
refugees and find solutions to their problem. In 118 countries around 
the world, our colleagues are grappling right now with issues central to 
this Conference: protecting women from violence and the trauma of war; 
enabling them to return home without fear or coercion; ensuring their 
equal access to basic assistance; and helping them to become self-
supporting. In countries as far apart as Rwanda or Russia, Burundi or 
Bosnia, Liberia or Somalia, the proliferation of vicious internal 
conflicts in recent years have uprooted millions of people, and 
inflicted untold suffering, especially on women and children. At the 
same time, opportunities for refugees to return home, to countries such 
as Mozambique, Afghanistan and Angola, Cambodia and Tajikistan have 
highlighted the positive role of women in rebuilding war-torn societies. 

UNHCR is convinced that if solutions are to be found to refugee 
problems, if more displacement is to be avoided, then the refugee and 
displaced women must be made equal partners in the strategy to protect 
and assist them, and to prevent and resolve refugee problems. Whether in 
Tuzla and Goma, Chiapas and Peshawar, refugee and displaced women 
provide a core of stability and strength to protect and assist them, and 
to prevent and resolve refugee problems. Whether in Tuzla and Goma, 
Chiapas and Peshawar, refugee and displaced women provide a core of 
stability and strength in societies shattered by conflict. Through their 
efforts, family life if gradually rebuilt and normalcy restored. Whether 
in the context of emergencies or voluntary repatriation, women are not 
only victims. They are essential resources for their own development and 
that of their communities. 

Spurred by the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of 
Women in 1985, UNHCR adopted a policy of integrating gender concerns in 
all its programmes. A primary objective is to protect the human rights 
of refugee and displaced women, and ensure their equal access to 
humanitarian assistance. A fundamental tenet is to ensure the 
participation of refugee women in the planning and implementation of 
projects. 

While much has been achieved, UNHCR would be the first to admit that 
much still remains to be done. Let me briefly outline what has been 
achieved, the concerns and constraints which remain, and what more must 
be done to overcome them. 

The horrific incidents of rape and assault in the former Yugoslavia and 
Rwanda highlight the deliberate victimization of women and girls in 
modern conflicts, where often the very objective is to uproot civilians 
through terror. UNHCR has publicly condemned the use of deliberate 
violence against women as a tool of war. In this context, UNHCR welcomes 
the establishment of the International Tribunals to punish the 
perpetrators. UNHCR also strongly urges Governments to grant asylum to 
women who face sexual violence for reasons of race, religion, 
nationality, political opinion or membership of a social group, or who 
fear persecution for having transgressed social mores or prescribed 
national policy. 

Unfortunately, however, asylum does not always provide the desired 
protection. Refugee women and girls continue to be attacked, exploited 
and abused, particularly in camps located in areas where security is 
fragile. 

The protection of refugee women is a major priority for UNHCR. It 
involves not only monitoring human rights legal standards which is 
critical. It also involves concrete, pragmatic action by UNHCR staff, 
partners in the field and women themselves to ensure the safety and 
welfare of uprooted populations. Measures to improve security have 
included better camp design, training and support of national police and 
camp security authorities, as well as setting up and supporting women's 
groups and strengthening social services. A UNHCR pilot project for the 
protection of Somali refugee women in northern Kenya has demonstrated 
that violence can be reduced by a combination of security and social 
measures which are designed by and involve the women themselves. 

Based on its field experience and that of NGOs, UNHCR recently published 
guidelines for field workers on preventing and responding to sexual 
violence against refugees, and is working to ensure their application in 
its activities. To involve and empower the women themselves, UNHCR is 
preparing a major initiative in early 1996 to increase human rights 
awareness among refugee women. 

The risk of sexual exploitation of women is increased when assistance is 
distributed through maledominated refugee committees. Therefore, 
ensuring the equal participation of women in camp management and 
distribution systems for food, education, health, including reproductive 
health, and other basic services is another major priority for UNHCR. We 
have undertaken extensive training of our staff and that of our 
implementing partners on a gender-sensitive approach to programming. In 
order to communicate better with refugee and displaced women, understand 
their problems and involve them, UNHCR has launched aggressive 
affirmative action, at the instigation of the High Commissioner, to 
increase the proportion of female professional staff in the 
organization, which currently stands at 32 percent. 

Because education is a key to empowerment, UNHCR has sought, with 
UNICEF's help, to promote educational opportunities even in the 
emergency stage in a number of refugee situations. However, among the 
600,000 refugee children who receive primary education funded by UNHCR 
worldwide, the number of refugee girls is still far too low. This is 
because economic constraints and cultural and societal norms continue to 
prevent many of them from going to school. 

Although uprootedness is a human tragedy, women, who are often the key 
components of economic and family life, have a particularly important 
role to play when it comes to rebuilding and rehabilitating families, 
communities and societies devastated by war. The experience of 
Guatemalan refugees demonstrates the valuable role of women in the 
search for peace. The voices of the women must be heard in the process 
of national reconciliation and reconstruction. Lasting solutions to 
refugee problems cannot be found unless peace and development involve 
all, regardless of race, religion, political opinion or gender. Thus, 
UNHCR focusses its skills training, its income-generation projects in 
the refugee camps, and its community-based quick impact projects to 
reintegrate refugees when they return home, on improving the status of 
women, particularly single women and women-headed households. These 
initiatives often enable women to crucially contribute to the 
rehabilitation and development of their societies. 

We have come a long way since Nairobi, but unfortunately, we are still 
far from achieving our goals. UNHCR is convinced that if further 
progress is to be made, action must be taken on three fronts: 

Firstly, as a field oriented organization, UNHCR is committed to pursue 
all necessary steps to ensure consistent and effective application of 
its policy and guidelines on refugee women. We are reinforcing measures 
to improve programme delivery and are strengthening our own staff. We 
are further enhancing our cooperation with sister agencies, as we have 
done recently with UNFPA on the issue of reproductive health, and with 
NGOs, who are not only the strongest advocates of refugee women, but 
also our most valuable partners. 

Secondly, we call upon Governments to stop the erosion of the most 
fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and refugee 
protection. How can violence against women be reduced if arms flow 
freely into areas where refugees are residing, or if refugees and 
displaced persons are forcibly pushed back into danger? The right to 
seek asylum and the responsibility of the Governments to ensure the 
safety of refugees, returnees and displaced persons must be upheld. As 
the UN agency mandated to provide international protection, UNHCR 
reaffirms its commitment to assist and support Governments to meet these 
obligations. 

Thirdly, the problems of refugee and displaced women must be seen and 
addressed as a major human rights and development issue. Many of the 
constraints in empowering refugee and displaced women go to the heart of 
cultural, social and legal norms of the host and home countries 
concerned, and cannot be resolved in isolation from those faced by women 
in general. UNHCR welcomes the opportunity offered by this Conference to 
address the specific problems of refugee and displaced women within the 
wider context of the global improvement of the status of women, of 
enhancing their capacity and improving the opportunities open to them. 
UNHCR fully supports the Draft Global Platform of Action, and is ready 
to play its part in developing clear implementation strategies and 
follow-up mechanisms. 

In the final analysis, Madam Chairperson, refugee problems are a symptom 
of deeper political, economic, and social ills which plague the world. 
The situation of refugee and displaced women cannot be improved without 
political commitment and concrete action to prevent conflicts and to 
overcome poverty, inequity and the denial of human rights. The tide must 
be turned decisively away from ignorance, intolerance, violence, strife 
and discrimination. The Draft Global Platform of Action rightly 
emphasizes the crucial role of women in promoting peace, democracy and 
development. Investing in women's capabilities, ensuring their 
protection against violence and empowering them to exercise their rights 
not only furthers the welfare of women themselves, it is the surest way 
to promote democracy and development, peace and justice in the world. 

Thank you, Madam Chairperson.