****************************************************************************** This document has been posted online by the Division for the Advancement of Women, DESA. Reproduction and dissemination of the document - in electronic and/or printed format - is encouraged, provided acknowledgement is made of the role of the United Nations in making it available. ****************************************************************************** Statement by Ms. Angela E. V. King Assistant Secretary-General Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women Eighteenth session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 19 January 1998 Madam Chairperson, distinguished experts, ladies and gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this eighteenth session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. 1998 has started very auspiciouly for the United Nations and for women with the announcement, last week by the Secretary-General of the appointment of Ms. Louise Frechette as Deputy-Secretary-General. As you know, 1998 is also the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and we also celebrate the seventeenth year since the entry into force of the Convention. Ratification and accession is continuing at a steady pace. One hundred and sixty one States now party to the Convention, with Myanmar the latest addition to the list of States parties. You are all aware that both the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth Conference on Women in 1995 established the year 2000 as the goal for universal ratification of the Convention, and it is very clear that this objective is still achievable. Although we have grounds for celebration, we have no cause for complacency. The Convention remains plagued by a large number of reservations; ratification has not necessarily meant policy and legal change in some States parties; while in others, even though laws and policies to implement the Convention have been introduced, de facto implementation is still impeded by entrenched attitudes which run counter to the principles of the Convention. It is in bridging the gap between ratification and implementation that the Committee's work is crucial and the success of the Convention will be determined. By your scrutiny, your expert, impartial and careful questioning, and through your suggestions and recommendations, transmitted in your concluding comments, international understanding of the obligations established by the Convention can be deepened, and national efforts strengthened. As the pattern of two annual sessions of the Committee continues, its visibility, and that of the Convention, is heightened, its capacity to outline the meaning of the Convention's obligations strengthened, and the possibilities for full implementation enhanced. At the same time, the potential of the Committee has created enormous expectations and requires greater and greater commitment from Committee members, both during sessions and intersessionally. We realize the burdens that this can create on Committee members who serve as experts because of their high calibre. Indeed, the capacities of Members are often such as to take them away from the Committee. Ms. Tallawy is unable to be with us this session because her duties as a Minister in the Government of the Republic of Egypt have prevented her attendance. Ms. Tendai Bare will also not be with us, as she has been appointed to head the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation which is located in London. We congratulate both Members, while at the same time recognizing the Committee's loss in this context in terms of their dedication and high quality inputs. Madam Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, The tenth meeting of the States parties to the Convention will take place on 17 February 1998. Part of the order of business of the meeting will be the election of 12 Members of the Committee. In light of the approval by the General Assembly of the second annual session of the Committee, these experts will take up their duties on 1 January 1999 for a four year term. Experts who are currently serving will continue as Committee members until 31 December 1998. Madam Chairperson, distinguished members of the Committee, Allow me now to proceed with some of the issues on this session's agenda. On a number of occasions, the Committee has underlined the need for a closer cooperation between itself and the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, whose mandate was extended for three more years by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1997/44. The Special Rapporteur had agreed to attend the eighteenth session of CEDAW however, a family emergency has prevented her being with us. I am pleased to announce, however, that the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Mr Amor, will address the Committee on 28 January 1998. I am also delighted to tell you that the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Robinson will meet with the Committee on the 4 February 1998. The Division's relationship with Mrs. Robinson and her Office is a warm and cooperative one, and I am extremely pleased that she will begin dialogue with the Committee in this important year. It is my hope that your meeting will provide an opportunity for you to discuss closer ties between the Committee and the Office of the High Commissioner, as well as the contribution of the Committee to the commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Madam Chairperson, distinguished experts, Although its has only been a little over five months since the closing of the Committee's last session, there have been a number of important developments and events in the UN, DAW and in my work as Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women. The Secretary-General's reform proposals have been largely accepted by Member States are now being implemented. I already mentioned the position of Deputy-Secretary General, Ms. Louise Frechette. It is less well known that DAW is now part of a new Department within the UN, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the mandate of which to monitor research and normative work, to analyse and assess economic and social policies and trends from a global, as well as from a gender perspective, and to use technical cooperation in support of this mandate. Reorganization of the Department has brought with it some changes to the DAW, which we hope will allow us to strengthen our support to the work of the Committee and the promotion of the Convention. Madam Chairperson, As part of the preparations for the forty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women which will take up those areas of the Platform for Action which are most closely concerned with human rights, and the Committee's work, the Division convened three Expert Group Meetings in the latter part of 1997. The expert group meeting on: "Adolescent Girls and their Rights" was held at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 13-17 October, 1997; on "Gender-based Persecution" at York University, Toronto, Canada, from 9-12 November 1997" and "Women's Enjoyment of Economic and Social Rights", at the Abo Akadmi, Turku, Finland, from 1-4 December 1997. The Division also co-hosted a fourth Expert Group Meeting on "Caregiving for Older Persons - Gender Dimensions", which took place in Valletta, Malta, from 30 November-2 December 1997. Reports of these meeting which are available have been distributed to Members of the Committee and you will see that a number of recommendations directed to the Committee were agreed by three of the expert group meetings. Madam Chairperson, In my capacity as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, I engaged in a number of activities which touch on the work of the Committee. From 4-6 October 1997, I participated in a roundtable on Crimes of Sexual Violence, held for both tribunals in Arusha. The Committee will be aware that sexual violence is increasingly a part of civil strife and armed conflict and, in some cases, a central strategy of war. It has been gratifying to see the prominent condemnation of sexual violence as a war crime and its reflection in indictments relating to the Former Yugoslavia. Although indictments for acts of sexual violence have been uncommon in the case of the Rwanda Tribunal, recent developments suggest that they will become a routine feature of most future indictments as the central role of rape and other sexual assaults in the genocide is acknowledged. Madam Chairperson, The women of the world have watched the work of the ad hoc Tribunals and their scrutiny will continue. Women have spent the last few years documenting, raising awareness and conceptualizing violence against women as an abuse of fundamental human rights and when perpetrated in times of war, as a war crime. Women are demanding sensitive and empowering gender justice and accountability of perpetrators for their atrocities. There has been much progress, but much remains to be done before their expectations with regard to the tribunals are realized. In this connection, you may wish to note the General Assembly's resolution 52/12B on Renewing the United Nations: a programme for reform, looks forward to the conference of plenipotentiaries which will be held during June and July this year in Rome where the Statute to establish the International Criminal Court will be finalized. Madam Chairperson, Members of the Committee will be aware of the situation of women in Afghanistan. As you know, although not a State party, Afghanistan is a signatory to the Convention and thereby obliged to do nothing which contravenes its terms. From 12 to 24 November 1997, I led a United Nations Gender Mission to Afghanistan. Representatives from, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA,WFP, UNDP, ESCWA and of Norway for the donor/NGO sectors constituted the Mission, the main objectives of which were to reach agreement of a concrete set of field-oriented guidelines to addressing gender concerns in programme implementation to be observed by all the United Nations Agencies, and the donor and NGO Community working in Afghanistan. The Mission also assessed the gender situation in Afghanistan. I will be happy to brief you on the Mission and the situation of women in Afghanistan later in the session should you so desire. Of course women in Afghanistan are not alone in suffering violations of human rights. Women all over the world, including in Rwanda, Burundi and Algeria are at risk. It is the Committee's role, supported by the Division, to devise strategies to assist these women who are in desperate need of aid, and who have not yet been touched by the Convention. I am confident that the dedication of Committee members and their capacity for hard work, will allow the Committee to formulate imaginative proposals in this regard. Madam Chairperson, Members of the Committee, and colleagues, I would like to congratulate the members of this year's pre-session working group for their hard work and excellent results in preparing questions on second and subsequent periodic reports of four States parties. Many of you will have heard that for the first time, the pre-session met with representatives of specialized agencies to hear information relating to the countries under review. The working group also took advantage of the presence of representatives of national level NGOs who are attending the IWRAW (Asia/Pacific)/UNIFEM training session concerning the Convention and heard information relating to those countries from them. I was able to spend some time at the meeting between the working group and the specialized agencies and was excited by the opportunities that this exchange provided for the pre-session group and for the agencies. I am confident that the Committee will endorse the pre-session's initiative and the Division will work to ensure that the best possible conditions exist for its replication during the next pre-session. Madam Chairperson, Distinguished Members of the Committee, With my staff at the Division for the Advancement of Women, I am constantly looking for ways to strengthen our support to the Committee. As always, we are at your disposal to make this session of the Committee a successful one. I look forward to meeting with you all again during this three-week period both during the session and informally. I wish you all well in your deliberations and a pleasant stay in New York. THANK YOU. * * * * *