UN Press Releases

PEACE INEXTRICABLY LINKED WITH EQUALITY BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN SAYS SECURITY COUNCIL, IN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY STATEMENT

8 March - The following statement on the occasion of International Women’s Day was issued today by the President of the Security Council, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (Bangladesh), on behalf of the Council:

As the first International Women’s Day of the new millennium is observed throughout the world, members of the Security Council recognize that peace is inextricably linked with equality between women and men. They affirm that the equal access and full participation of women in power structures and their full involvement in all efforts for the prevention and resolution of conflicts are essential for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security. In this context, members welcome the review of the Fourth World Conference on Women as an essential element in achieving this goal.

Members of the Council also recognize that while entire communities suffer the consequences of armed conflict, women and girls are particularly affected. The impact of violence against women and violation of the human rights of women in conflict situations is experienced by women of all ages. Women also constitute the majority of the world's refugees and internally displaced persons.

Members of the Council note that although women have begun to play an important role in conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peace-building, they are still under-represented in decision-making in regard to conflict. If women are to play an equal part in security and maintaining peace, they must be empowered politically and economically, and represented adequately at all levels of decision- making, both at the pre-conflict stage and during hostilities, as well as at the point of peacekeeping, peace-building, reconciliation and reconstruction.

Members of the Council also note that during times of armed conflict and the collapse of communities, the role of women is crucial in preserving social order, and as peace educators both in their families and in their societies, thereby playing an important role in fostering a culture of peace in strife-torn communities and societies.

Members of the Council call upon all concerned to refrain from human rights abuses in conflict situations, often in gender-specific ways, respect international humanitarian law and to promote non-violent forms of conflict resolution and a culture of peace. Members of the Council recall the obligation to prosecute those responsible for grave breaches of international humanitarian law, while welcoming the inclusion as a war crime, in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), of all forms of sexual violence and noting the role the Court could play to ending impunity for perpetrators of such crimes.

Members of the Council stress that efforts should be strengthened to provide protection, assistance and training to refugee women, other displaced women in need of international protection and internally displaced women in conflict situations.

Members of the Council underscore the importance of promoting an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes while addressing armed or other conflicts.

NEW PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS SUPPORT BY UN POPULATION FUND FOR GOALS OF BEIJING WOMEN’S CONFERENCE

NEW YORK, 8 March (UNFPA) --The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is actively backing efforts to carry out the agenda of the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference, a new UNFPA publication shows.

"Working to Empower Women: UNFPA's Experience in Implementing the Beijing Platform for Action" outlines the Fund's support to developing country governments and civil society in each of the 12 "critical areas", identified by the Fourth World Conference on Women as essential to achieving gender equality and sustainable development.

The progress report is part of an international review that will culminate in a special "Beijing + 5" session of the United Nations General Assembly from 5 to 9 June.

Along with the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, the Beijing Conference revolutionized international standards for the rights and health of the world's women. Both meetings stressed that equality between women and men is a human rights concern, and recommended actions to ensure that policies and programmes at all levels incorporate a gender perspective and address women's needs.

Priorities include: taking a life-cycle approach to women's health; providing quality services; ensuring male involvement and responsibility in reproductive health; attending to adolescent reproductive health needs; preventing and treating HIV/AIDS; and eliminating all forms of violence against women, including damaging cultural practices, such as female genital mutilation.

As the lead United Nations agency for implementing the ICPD Programme of Action, the UNFPA also plays a critical role in carrying out the overlapping mandate of Beijing. The Fund helps developing countries to improve and increase access to reproductive health and family-planning services on the basis of individual choice, and to formulate population policies that will support sustainable economic development.

As "Working to Empower Women" points out, the UNFPA allocates 60 per cent of its support in the area of reproductive and sexual health. A number of programmes link health services and information with micro-financing activities for women. The Fund is also fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic, focusing on women's and girls' vulnerability to this disease, and helping provide information and services to youth.

The UNFPA is a strong advocate for breaking the silence about the widespread violence against women. Various UNFPA-supported activities advocate the elimination of female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional practices, the new publication points out. The Fund also provides reproductive and sexual health services to people in emergency situations. And the UNFPA has supported steps by both governments and non-governmental groups to increase women's participation at all decision-making levels.

"Working to Empower Women" is the latest in UNFPA's advocacy booklet series on key elements of the ICPD and Beijing consensus. It is available on the worldwide Web in English, French, Spanish and Arabic. Two other publications in the series have also been added to the UNFPA Web site this month: "Violence against Girls and Women: A Public Health Priority" and "A Time Between: Health, Sexuality and Reproductive Rights of Young People".

SPECIAL EVENT ON ‘WOMEN UNITING FOR PEACE’ HELD AT HEADQUARTERS ON OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

8 March - Through education and tradition, from generation to generation, women had passed on the culture of peace, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a special event at Headquarters this morning entitled “Women Uniting for Peace”, which was held on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

Women, who knew the price of war so well, were often better equipped to resolve or prevent it, he said. When society collapsed, women played a critical role in ensuring that life went on. When ethnic tensions caused conflict, women tended to build bridges rather than walls. When considering the implications of war and peace, women thought first of their children and their children’s future before themselves.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said that women’s participation in all levels of government must become an “unremarkable” feature of public life. It was especially important to recognize women’s central role in conflict resolution. Indeed, such negotiations must involve women, and take into account their needs at the beginning of post-conflict reconstruction, not years after the event. In that respect, she said “we have to do much better”.

The Security Council was becoming more aware of the need to take a more proactive role to protect women and harness their potential as peace builders, this month’s Council President, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (Bangladesh) said. For the first time, the Council was considering issuing a press statement on the occasion of Women’s Day, in order to send a strong, united message on the subject of women and peace. Women and girls were particularly affected by conflicts and constituted the majority of the world’s refugees and displaced persons. At the same time, they were often the first to build peace. The Council should encourage women’s participation in drafting peace agreements and consider convening a special meeting on women in armed conflict.

Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kensaku Hogen presided over the event, which was prompted by a call from women worldwide for a stronger voice and role in peace negotiations and peace-building strategies. He said the meeting should underscore the need to include, at the negotiating table, women and their initiatives and visions for peace.

Following those statements, representatives of non-governmental organizations from around the world engaged in a discussion, which took the form of a town hall meeting and was moderated by two prominent television journalists: Daljit Dhaliwal (London); and Carol Jenkins (New York). Comments focused on the appointment of women as heads of peacekeeping missions and special representatives and envoys of the Secretary-General in conflict areas. Conversely, the commission of violence against women, by peacekeepers worldwide, was also highlighted.

The following representative of non-governmental organizations also spoke: Women in Black (Yugoslavia); The Women’s Media Collective (Sri Lanka); Children’s Peace Movement (Colombia); International Alert (United Kingdom); and Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Programme.

Statements were also made by: Swanee Hunt, of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (United States); and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa). Zohreh Tabatabi, Focal Point for Women in the Secretariat, made a statement on behalf of Angela King, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women.

Women’s Day Observance

A special event entitled “Women Uniting for Peace” will be held this morning at Headquarters on the occasion of International Women’s Day. A call from women around the world for a stronger voice and role in peace negotiations and peace- building strategies will be the focus of the special event, which will take the form of a town hall meeting moderated by Daljit Dhaliwal, television anchor at ITN in London, and Carol Jenkins, New York news anchor and talk show host.

Secretary General Kofi Annan is expected to open the event. Statements will also be made by Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (Bangladesh), in his capacity as current President of the Security Council, and Kensaku Hogen, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.

Statements

KENSAKU HOGEN, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, said that today’s meeting would showcase the innovative strategies that women had initiated to help bring peace to the world. There were representatives here from many groups, as well as individuals who were actively involved in the international women’s movement. All were welcome. The purpose of the town hall meeting had been to bring to the attention of the international community the need to include, at the negotiating table, women and their initiatives and visions for peace.

Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that the first International Women's Day of the twenty-first century was devoted to the theme of “Women Uniting for Peace”. That theme brought together the two vital parts of the United Nations mission -- to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to protect the equal rights of men and women. "We must live up to both challenges", he said "or we shall fail at both".

The century that had just closed had seen the age of large, inter-State wars reach its apex and wane, only to be replaced by an age of ethnic conflict, he continued. All too often, conflict happened in the societies that could least afford it, took a toll on those who least deserved it and hit hardest those least equipped to defend themselves. Civilians had become the main targets of warfare and women bore more than their fair share of the burden.

He went on to say that women, who knew the price of war so well, might often be better equipped to resolve or prevent it than men. "When society collapses". he said, "women play a critical role in ensuring that life goes on". When ethnic tensions caused conflict, women tended to build bridges rather than walls. Women put the welfare of their children and their children’s futures before even themselves when considering the impact and implications of war and peace.

He said that in an age where change was the only constant, the strength of women was as old as humanity itself. Through education and tradition, from generation to generation, women had passed on the culture of peace. In the Caucasus region, according to an ancient tradition, when a woman threw her headscarf between two warring parties, the fighting must stop. He said that in Africa, his own country, it was usually the mother, aunt and grandmother who instilled in the very young the basic human skills and values that were essential for peaceful coexistence.

In some societies wracked by conflict, women had acted as intermediaries between warring parties, exploring ways to find common ground. They had often gone into refugee camps to support displaced women and children. Women had also braved the contempt and conquered the distrust of male combatants until finally their demand for peace had won through.

"We at the United Nations know at first hand the invaluable support women provide to our peacekeepers", he said, "organizing committees, women's associations, NGOs and church groups to ease tensions and persuading their menfolk to accept peace". Partly for that reason, the United Nations had made special efforts to recruit women for peacekeeping missions and to make all the Organization's operations more aware of gender issues. Several missions, including those in Afghanistan, Kosovo and East Timor now included civilian gender affairs units. The United Nations was also doubling its efforts to recruit more qualified women in peace operations, both in the field and at Headquarters. He appealed to Member States to include qualified women in the contingents they sent to the United Nations, and to nominate qualified women candidates for United Nations posts at all levels.

United Nations agencies worked every day to assist the most vulnerable women, care for refugees and set legal norms for women's rights in armed conflict, he continued. The Organization also sent special missions to countries affected by war to provide health care and post-trauma assistance. "They work with women in war-torn countries after the guns fall silent", he said, "helping them and their menfolk to rebuild their State and society". It was true that there could be no enduring peace without development, and it was also true that there could be no development unless women played their full part. That meant removing the barriers to women's involvement in decision-making, as well as protecting their security and that of their families. It also meant ensuring that they enjoyed full human and political rights. The United Nations was working with its partners in the government and in civil society to achieve those objectives.

He said that five years ago, many of those goals had been adopted by governments at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, and that this June the General Assembly would hold a special session to review the progress in implementing them. The Beijing Platform called for women's rights to be protected in conflict situations. It also called for women to play a larger role in making decisions which would resolve conflict, and for more conflicts to be resolved in non-violent ways. "In short," he said, "it is a summons to us all to pave the way for a culture of peace".

He said he believed that the time had come for the culture of peace to take hold, because in today’s world what affected one nation affected all nations. “What defines us as human beings is not race, creed or geography”, he said. “What gives our lives purpose and content is the hope that our children and grandchildren will be able to live a decent life, free from fear and free from want.”

"Let us unite all our efforts to bring these pledges to life", he said. "Let us build on the work of women everywhere to achieve peace for succeeding generations. Let us harness the power of women uniting for peace."

ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh), President of the Security Council, said that too often it was overlooked that the decisions of the Council affected women all over the world. Women and girls were particularly affected by conflicts, were the worst victims and constituted the majority of the world’s refugees and displaced persons. Their human rights were often trampled on. That was further aggravated by the changing nature of conflicts today. Efforts must be intensified to protect the innocent victims. The challenge facing the Council was to shake off its traditional inhibitions and engage more effectively and do its part.

He said that in the past, the Council had condemned atrocities against women and stressed their plight in armed conflict, as well as urged all parties to take special measures to protect women and girls from rape and other forms of gender- based violence. However, the issue had yet to take prominence in the Council’s activities. One issue that should be addressed was women’s role in peace and peace-building. Often women were the first to build peace and foster a culture of peace. It was women who brought creative strategies to the peace table. In Bangladesh, it had taken a woman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to end the 23-year discord in the country.

The Council was becoming somewhat aware of the need to take a more pro-active role to protect women and to harness their potential as peace builders, he continued. For the first time, the Council was considering issuing a press statement on the occasion of International Women’s Day. By doing so, it would be sending a strong, united message addressing women and peace.

That should only be the first step and the Council must look to other areas where women could contribute, he said. One such area was peacekeeping missions, which the Council should reflect further on. Another area was promoting an active and visible policy of gender mainstreaming in all programmes in addressing armed and other conflicts. The Council should consider two recommendations -- the first on encouraging women’s participation in peace agreements and the second on convening a special meeting of the Council on women in armed conflict.

MARY ROBINSON, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said since the inception of Women’s Day, there had been a tension about whether it was a day for celebration or a day for protest and action. It should be all of those things: a time to reflect upon the progress achieved in claiming women’s rights, the sacrifices made to force that progress and the need to protest inequality and the denial of rights; and a day of action to build on existing strategies and develop new ones. It should also be a day of celebration of what women working together were capable of achieving.

Peace was not the absence of war, she said. Rather, it was built on the interrelation of social and cultural norms regulated by the principles set out in the international human rights instruments and which should be given effect through the domestic and legal system. If any States, in real life, had achieved that, then the celebration of Women’s Day would be pre-eminent. Instead, the spectre of violence against women in all its manifestations, the lack of access to economic rights, economic power, equal participation in public life and education, and the lack of access to health care, particularly in relation to reproductive rights, as well as women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS -– all still impeded the attainment of peace.

She said that the statements made by governments in relation to the “Beijing + 5” review had been encouraging, particularly the attention given to issues of violence, but there had not yet been an articulation of a rights-based approach to dealing with those and other issues. Concerning the effects of globalization, governments had been responsible for establishing policies that actively promoted women’s participation in economic life. To some degree, governments had assumed their responsibilities in that regard, but there was a long way to go, and that should be recognized on International Women’s Day.

Some progress had been made in combatting violence against women, although women had continued to be victimized, both in public and private, she said. In all of its manifestations -– psychological and physical -– that violence continued throughout the life cycle. In terms of sexual violence in armed conflict, there had been recognition under international law that it constituted a crime against humanity, and that rape could be prosecuted as genocide. The commitment of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to ensure effective prosecution of such violence had been commendable. In addition, rape had been recognized as torture under the European Convention.

Recognition, and the legal removal of impunity, however, had not been enough, she said. States must take responsibility for delivering alleged war criminals and all States must ensure the training and monitoring, discipline and punishment of their own troops in relation to acts of violence against women, and indeed against all non-combatants. Tribute should be paid to the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice, which had overcome intense opposition at the International Criminal Court negotiations, and had managed to ensure that rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and other forms of gender-based and sexual violence were included in the Statute of the Court.

Progress at the international level and in relation to conflict would only be made real by a change of attitude towards violence against women, she continued. The statements of governments had been encouraging, but evidence of their respect for and protection of human rights was needed. Until the police and judiciary had been sensitized about the nature and effect of gender-based violence, she would not be content that the hard work of the non-governmental organizations could be claimed by governments as evidence of their own commitment in combating violence against women.

Indeed, governments had their responsibilities, she said. The aim was to find practical and sustainable solutions. Good cooperative examples at the field level had begun to be built. States must be encouraged to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which had set up a mechanism by which individual women could air their complaints. States should also reconsider and remove all reservations to the women’s Convention and give it concrete effect. One of the most important rights embodied in the Convention had been the right to participate in public life. Women’s participation in all levels of govermment was crucial and must become an “unremarkable” feature of public life.

She said that the world would know when gender equality had been achieved once women were as free to make mistakes as men -- when they could be as wrong as men and not have it blamed on their gender. There was a long way to go. Meanwhile, temporary special measures should be encouraged, and it was especially important to recognize women’s central role in the resolution of conflicts. Such negotiations must involve women, as representatives of the State and civil society. Their needs should be taken into account in those negotiations, by ensuring that a gender analysis was made at the beginning of post-conflict reconstruction, and not years after the event. Actors could learn from the experiences of Bosnia, and others, with the understanding that “we have to do much better”.

Ending the marginalization of women in decision-making and public life would directly affect the response of governments to the critical areas of concern identified at Beijing. Clearly, no one group or agency or approach could effectively ensure peaceful existence based on respect for human rights. Building coalitions and ensuring cooperation, communication and exchanges of ideas could achieve much. The critical areas of concern were the basis, not just for the equality for women, but also for the protection and assertion of their rights, which were a precondition for peace.

She said everyone here should be encouraged to devise strategies for future cooperation, to find ways of encouraging States to comply with their obligations, and to demand a space for women to work in solidarity towards sustainable peace- building. The achievements should be celebrated, and an achievable programme should be set out. The aim of States, civil society representatives and United Nations agencies should be to ensure the development of national action plans which incorporated the 12 critical areas of concern contained in the Beijing Platform for Action.

In that respect, she said that representatives of civil society should have ready access to national governments, in order to ensure the effective implementation and monitoring of those actions plans. The States parties, together with international financial institutions, should give immediate consideration to the impact of their policies on women and ensure that full effect was given to the Beijing Platform.

Discussion Segment

CAROL JENKINS, New York news anchor and talk show host, one of the moderators of the town meeting, said that today's discussion would provide an excellent opportunity to examine the groundbreaking and innovative strategies that women had been focusing on in the global struggle for peace. "The challenge is to find a way to put the past, bloody century behind us, and find a way to work together so the voices of women can be heard", she said.

She said that while the contributions of women had been largely ignored in the area of peace negotiations, they were hard at work and very active at the grass-roots level. But could the world community continue to afford to ignore women's voices when perhaps women’s views were the answer the world was looking for? she asked. Since women represented roughly half the world's population, perhaps their ideas and voices could provide half of the solution.

A representative of Women in Black, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, said that the women of her group dressed in black in protest against war, militarism, ethnic cleansing and rape of their sisters in the region. Their black attire was an expression of non-violence and the right to be different. They believed in resistance to any and all military regimes.

She said that Women in Black were "disloyal" to the language of hate and bloodthirsty language of politics; they opposed the mass killings and ethnic cleansing in their regions and considered their own activities to be politically responsible behaviour. She went on to say that her group denounced rape, particularly marital rape or rape within the home. Her group also understood the need for greater democracy in the area of women's issues in the region and actively supported men who refused to go to war. "Deserters are our allies", she said. Their motto was: "Take care of others while the patriots take care of themselves".

Over the past nine years, Women in Black had published 11 books and held many conferences to address the situation of women in their region and around the globe. They had also published leaflets promoting non-violent conflict resolution and the increased involvement of women in peace negotiations. She said that they had done much work, but they had not been able to stop war. More work and attention from the international community was encouraged.

She called on everyone present to remember the women and children in the refugee camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina and called for a moment of silence for Serbian refugees in prison camps and all prisoners of war.

ZOHREH TABATABI, Focal Point for Women in the United Nations Secretariat, speaking on behalf of Angela King, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said that women were indeed serving in missions, but not in numbers that were representative of their possible contributions. There were no special envoys or heads of peacekeeping missions that were women. There was always a request, however, particularly for short-term missions, to include women in the contingent.

She said that the Secretary-General always included women's issues on his agenda and was aware of the need to promote a gender perspective in all the workings of the United Nations and its related agencies and bodies. The United Nations Secretariat was aware that an enabling attitude towards gender sensitivity was important.

A representative of International Alert, a conflict-prevention organization from the United Kingdom, said that time and time again women were portrayed as the passive victims of war. That overshadowed their true role as peace builders, as examples from South Africa, Mali and Northern Ireland had shown. It was the mothers of the disappeared in Argentina that had ultimately brought down a cruel regime. Women were working for peace and their work made a difference. They brought with them the concerns of whole communities but were excluded from participating at the peace table.

Today, she was proud to launch the Women Building Peace Initiative, which sought to put women at the heart of the global peace agenda. It was creating a partnership with governments and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to ensure that in every conflict region, women’s concerns were brought to the forefront. The UNIFEM was providing an opportunity to bring the voices of the women on the ground to the United Nations. The two-year campaign sought to ensure that women made up 50 per cent of peace builders and peace missions, and that women’s organizations were given the resources they needed to carry out their work. She called on the Security Council to convene a special meeting to address women and armed conflict. The time had come for the international community to implement all the pledges it had made to women.

SWANEE HUNT, Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, said that she was recently in Vienna meeting with a group of women survivors from Srebrenica, as they were planning a commemoration for the men and boys that they had lost. She had asked them if they could invite the Serb women who had also lost their sons, and their response was “we are all mothers”. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there had been over 40 women’s groups that had organized themselves in the region. Those who had not been organized were the policy makers, who had to respond to women’s concerns. At Harvard, an initiative known as Women Waging Peace had been created to bring together women, who were actively working to stop wars in conflict areas and to exchange strategies. They could be reached on the Internet

. PUMLA GOBODO-MADIKIZELA, former member of the Human Rights Violations Committee at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, said that when human beings hurt each other, they crossed a line. When that boundary broke down, the expected result was a repeat of the cycle of vengeance. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission demonstrated that that did not have to be the case.

The Commission had been established to break the cycles of violence in a country ravaged by years of violence, she continued. Women had played a crucial role in that process. Women were able to reach out to their perpetrators in a most amazing way and offer forgiveness. There had been no precedent for that, where first generation victims had been able to forgive their perpetrators. She had seen many mothers who looked perpetrators in the eye and said, “you could have been my child and I forgive you”. There had been some who had invited the perpetrators to work together to build communities.

The Commission had been an important model for all who worked in peace- building to follow, she added. What was it about victims that enabled them to forgive their perpetrators? What was it about perpetrators that enabled them to see their victims as fellow human beings? The Commission had created a forum for that humanness to return to both victims and perpetrators. The process of formal justice was not known to build peace or bridges of humanity. But forums, such as the Commission, could do it and did it. While the Commission was a first step, much remained to be done in the country concerning violence, particularly rape.

A representative of the Women’s Media Collective from Sri Lanka said it was an important goal of her organization to ensure that women in the margins could be seen and heard. Her organization had also played an important role in promoting the respect of women’s human rights as well as advocating a feminist perspective in Sri Lanka’s policy-making. The Collective also ensured the democratic treatment of women in political, economic and social areas.

She said that the Collective had worked to bring about peace and had demanded a cessation of hostilities in the region. The Collective was also very active in settlement negotiation and in increasing the number and involvement of women in the country’s human rights movement. The Collective had also called on women in border areas of the country to come to the capital to demand peace and to participate actively in the peace process.

In response to a question from the floor about what important lessons could be learned from the horrors of the past -– slavery, the holocaust and apartheid –- to help the international community end all forms of discrimination of women, Ms. GOBODO-MADIKIZELA said that crossing the line between peace and violence and choosing peace was a reminder of what was possible. The next few years would teach the international community that it should hold on to what had been accomplished while moving forward to achieve new goals.

The challenges were still immense, she continued. There needed to be more focus from the international community on that issue because in many countries, the end of political conflict was not the end of violence. Rape was also an issue that needed to be addressed by the international community.

Ms. Tabatabi agreed with a comment from the floor that it was time for the Secretary-General to issue a report on violence against women and to appoint a special rapporteur on the issue.

ADIATU TERSA DEIGH, of the Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Organization, spoke about the youth caught in the continuing conflicts in that country. She said that 700,000 lives had been lost, 1-2 million people had been displaced and hundreds of schools had been closed. “How can we be expected to cope?” she said.

She went on to say that her organization was active in promoting sensitivity to the effects of conflict on the youth of her nation, as well as around the globe. They were also attempting to reinstate the government that had been overthrown when war had broken out. Healing and reconciliation were the key.

There would always be more that could be done, she continued. In that regard, she recommended support for an international trust fund for war victims, as well as technical support for youth policies and the creation of an information clearing house that would promote activities and rehabilitation. All those things could lead to the empowerment of youth caught in conflict and to helping build a better world.

MAYERLY LOPEZ, a 15-year-old representative of the Children’s Peace Movement of Colombia, said that through women’s hands a better world could be built. Colombia was a country of 40 million men, women and children, who had experienced war for the past 40 years. The children had grown up in the midst of a war that was not theirs. The Movement had been started to show adults that children also needed an opportunity to have their voices heard.

The truth of Colombia was still painful, she said. There were still many women and children who were victims of violence. Sixty-five per cent of the 835,000 displaced persons were boys and girls. The children in the Movement had organized themselves as a force for peace in their schools and communities. Through the Movement, girls were creating spaces to make their voices heard. With it, they had the possibility of building a different country, where all people were equal. As a child, she hoped that one day Colombia could experience a peace where girls and women were no longer victims of war, violence and sexual abuse.

Asked why girls should participate in peace movements and what their contribution could be, Ms. LOPEZ replied that participation meant that girls no longer remained anonymous. Women were capable of giving their lives for their children and friends. They would work from the heart.

Another question raised was what measures could be used in the Beijing +5 process to advance the role of women in peacekeeping efforts. The issue of violence against women committed by peacekeepers was also raised.

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES NEED TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO WOMEN'S INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION-MAKING

2 March - Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan's message for the United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace, which will be observed 8 March:

This first International Women's Day of the twenty-first century is devoted to the theme of women uniting for peace. It is a theme that brings together two vital parts of the United Nations' mission. The Charter tells us that our Organization was created to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. It also proclaims the equal rights of men and women. We must live up to both challenges, or we shall fail in both.

The century that has just closed saw the age of large inter-State wars reach its apex and wane, only to be replaced by the age of ethnic conflict. Today's small wars are no less murderous than yesterday's big ones. Small arms may kill people one at a time, but they are still lethal. All too often, conflict happens in the societies that can least afford it, takes its toll on those who least deserve it, and hits hardest those least equipped to defend themselves. Civilians have become the main targets of warfare. And women bear more than their fair share of the burden.

But women, who know the price of conflict so well, are also often better equipped than men to prevent or resolve it. When society collapses, women play a critical role in ensuring that life goes on. When ethnic tensions cause or exacerbate conflict, women tend to build bridges rather than walls. When considering the impact and implications of war and peace, women think first of their children and their future, before themselves.

We in the United Nations know at first hand the invaluable support women provide to our peacekeepers -- organizing committees, women’s associations, non- governmental organizations and church groups to ease tensions, and persuading their menfolk to accept peace. Partly for that reason, we are making special efforts to recruit more women for our own peacekeeping and peacemaking missions, and to make all our operations more aware of gender issues. Several missions -- including those in Afghanistan, Kosovo and East Timor -- now include civilian gender affairs units. We are redoubling our efforts to recruit more qualified women in peace operations, both in the field and at Headquarters. Once more, I appeal to Member States to include qualified women in the contingents they send us, and to nominate qualified women candidates for United Nations posts at all levels.

United Nations agencies work every day to assist the most vulnerable women, caring for refugees and setting legal norms for women’s rights in armed conflict. They send special missions in countries affected by war. They provide health care and post-trauma assistance. They work with women in war- torn countries after the guns fall silent, helping them and their menfolk to rebuild their State and society.

We know there can be no enduring peace without development. We also know there can be no development unless women play their full part. This means removing the barriers to women's involvement in decision-making and giving them access to land. It means protecting their security and that of their families. It means ensuring that they enjoy full human and political rights. The United Nations is working with its partners in government and in civil society –- locally and internationally -– to achieve these objectives.

Five years ago, many of these goals were adopted by governments at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. This June, the General Assembly will hold a special session to review progress in implementing them. The Beijing Platform called for women and their human rights to be protected in conflict situations. It called for women to play a bigger part in the decisions which resolve conflict, and for more conflicts to be resolved in non-violent ways. In short, it summons us all to pave the way for a culture of peace. Let us unite all our efforts to bring these pledges to life. Let us build on the work of women everywhere to achieve peace for succeeding generations. Let us harness the power of women uniting for peace.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT, IN MESSAGE, SAYS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY SYMBOLIC ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF WOMEN’S VAST CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIETY

7 March - Following is the message of the President of the General Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia), on the occasion of International Women’s Day, observed 8 March:

Every day of every year is women’s day, for what would our world be without over half of humankind? The fact that we observe 8 March as International Women’s Day is merely a symbolic acknowledgement of the vast contributions that women make daily in society as mothers, nurturers, caregivers, educators, and as active participants in every endeavour known to humankind.

International Women’s Day is an occasion to review how far women have come in their struggle for liberation, peace, equality and development. It is also an opportunity for both sexes to unite, network and mobilize for meaningful change, as we take up the challenge of making this the age of women's full participation in leadership and decision-making.

What distinguished this year’s observance is that it is the first International Women’s Day of the new millennium and of the twenty-first century. This will provide a platform for women around the world, who are demanding a stronger voice and a role in peace negotiations and peace-building strategies. “Women Uniting for Peace” is this year’s theme, and focuses on the role of women as peacemakers. International Women’s Day 2000 will stress the important role women must play in negotiating for peace at the local and international levels.

To this day, the strategies that have been applied to peace negotiations have at least one thing in common: they have almost entirely ignored women’s visions for peace and contributions for social change. But women’s virtual exclusion from the negotiating table should not be mistaken for a lack of involvement in the search for peace. On the contrary, women throughout the centuries have worked hard for peace by actively keeping their families, communities and countries intact. Just last week, during the forty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) launched a publication entitled “Women at the Peace Table: Making a Difference”, at which women who are making a difference in resolving conflicts in many regions of the world told their stories.

While political negotiations on peace and security remain an almost entirely male domain, women in all regions of the world are challenging their exclusion and lobbying for an equal place at the peace table. When women participate in peace talks, they bring new perspectives and make substantial contributions to the process. We must ask ourselves if we, as a world community, can afford to ignore women’s voices when representatives of warring factions meet at the negotiating table. Could it be that the solutions women are proposing are the solutions the world is looking for, to build bridges between warring communities? Can we afford not to give women’s visions a chance?

Women know intimately the horrific warfare and bloodshed that they face daily in conflict zones, but they also know the conditions that need to be met to ensure that the peace in their countries is sustainable, equitable and just. Women and children are the first victims of conflicts. Is it any wonder, then, that women are uniting to end the conflicts that destroy the lives of their loved ones, as well as of their communities? Women are half of every community. Are they, therefore, not also half of every solution?

Women can and do make a difference. It is in that light that I endorse the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) media initiative -- “8 March: Women Make the News” -– which calls on the international media to ensure that progressive women journalists have editorial charge of the news on International Women’s Day. Similar initiatives should be undertaken to enable women to showcase their abilities as the equals of men.

In celebration of the contributions of women, the General Assembly will hold a special session, from 5 to 9 June, entitled “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century”. The Special Session will undertake the five-year review of the progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform of Action adopted in 1995. It will focus on examples of good practices, positive actions, lessons learned, obstacles and key challenges remaining in further advancing the status of women everywhere, and will also consider further initiatives for achieving gender equality in this new millennium.

The General Assembly will hold another special session, this one on the World Summit for Social Development, from 26 to 30 June in Geneva, where Member States will review the progress made in implementing the outcome of the 1995 Social Summit, and recommend further initiatives to advance the social development agenda. The Programme of Action adopted five years ago called for greater efforts to eradicate poverty, promote employment possibilities and to promote social integration, all of which are most relevant to women.

On this International Women’s Day 2000, I salute women the world over, and pay proud tribute to the contributions that they have made and continue to make every day to protect and secure humankind.

'NO TURNING BACK' FROM MILESTONE OF 1995 BEIJING WOMEN'S CONFERENCE DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS PREPARATORY COMMITTEE

3 March - Following are the remarks of Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette at the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the General Assembly Special Session entitled "Women 2000 : Gender, Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century":

C'est un plaisir pour moi de me joindre à vous aujourd'hui, et un honneur de prendre la parole à cette troisième session de votre comité préparatoire. Laissez-moi vous dire d'emblée combien j'attache d'importance aux travaux que vous allez conduire au cours des deux semaines à venir, ainsi qu'à l'ensemble du processus de suivi de la Quatrième Conférence mondiale sur les femmes.

J'ai eu l'occasion, ces derniers mois, de m'entretenir avec différentes délégations au sujet des préparatifs de la session extraordinaire qui se tiendra en juin prochain. Plusieurs m'ont fait part de leurs préoccupations face aux progrès relativement limités accomplis dans la mise en œuvre du Programme d'Action. Je comprends et partage ces préoccupations. Tous et toutes, nous aurions voulu que les choses changent plus vite, et plus en profondeur. C'est précisément la raison d'être de la session extraordinaire : elle devrait nous aider à déterminer comment aller plus avant sur la voie que nous nous sommes tracée, celle qui doit mener à une égalité véritable entre les hommes et les femmes dans les sociétés du monde entier.

La détermination et la volonté politique avec lesquelles les gouvernements abordent le suivi de la Conférence de Beijing sont encourageantes. Sous les auspices des commissions régionales, les cinq régions ont tenu des réunions préparatoires pour évaluer les progrès accomplis par les Etats Membres et formuler de nouvelles propositions dans les domaines prioritaires. Chaque région a pu ainsi se pencher de nouveau sur les obstacles particuliers qu'il lui faut surmonter, et réaffirmer la validité des objectifs du Programme d'Action.

These meetings also allowed for remarkable participation by the non- governmental organizations and civil society groups, which were such an invaluable source of inspiration and energy in Beijing. Today, they are playing a vital part in the follow-up process, at many different levels.

I was, therefore, happy to learn that Member States were able to devise a formula allowing new non-governmental organizations that have come into being since Beijing to be included in the Beijing +5 process. I understand you will take action on this issue today. I wish to assure you that the Secretariat and other United Nations organizations will do their utmost to make this participation as fruitful as possible for all involved.

The challenge ahead of this committee is twofold. First, you are entrusted with reiterating and strengthening the commitments made in Beijing, and looking into ways of moving forward in the implementation of the Platform for Action. Beijing was a milestone, and there can be no turning back. There is a lot more we can and must do to successfully address all the concerns raised at the Conference, as well as new ones that have appeared since 1995.

Your second challenge is to ensure that Beijing +5 is not a watertight process, but one that permeates other areas of discussion and action. Gender is perhaps the most quintessentially cross-cutting issue. Indeed, all our actions affect both women and men, and they usually affect them differently.

The intergovernmental calendar for 2000 includes another five-year review: that of the Copenhagen World Summit on Social Development. Is also includes the Tenth United Nations Congress on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders. At its July session, the Economic and Social Council will assess the integrated and coordinated follow-up to all major United Nations conferences and summits. Preparations for the Millennium Assembly are under way. Through its preparatory work for Beijing +5, this Committee must be an advocate for gender equality issues in all these processes.

As you embark on the task of preparing the document that the special session will ultimately adopt, there is one more element you must constantly keep in mind: the achievement of equality between women and men is the responsibility of all of us, whether we represent governments, non-govermental organizations or the United Nations system. All of us here share the responsibility for change and progress. Whether it is the elimination of discriminatory domestic legislation, the strengthening of provisions that protect women against sexual violence, the adoption of measures to increase women's participation in public life and decision-making or the establishment of programmes that support women in achieving sustainable livelihoods and economic independence for themselves and their families, we have to initiate such change and see it through to a successful completion.

The task will not always be easy. It will require political will, commitment and, on occasion, pragmatic compromise. Above all, it will require a strong sense of what our ultimate goal is. This goal is to make a real difference in the lives of women and girls everywhere; to finally overcome the discrimination and disadvantages they continue to face in all societies, so they can enjoy the dignity and equality they deserve.

Let me assure you once again of my personal support for your work in the next two weeks. I am confident that on 17 March, you will be able to close this session with a sense of satisfaction: the satisfaction of having taken yet another step forward in our common task, which is to bring about true equality between men and women.

TACKLING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN MUST BE TOP PRIORITY, HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TELLS ‘BEIJING + 5’ PREPARATORY COMMITTEE

6 March - Women's rights were everyone's responsibility, and tackling violence against them must be a top priority, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, this morning told the Commission on the Status of Women acting as the third and final Preparatory Committee for the “Beijing + 5” review in June.

Mrs. Robinson said that women worldwide had repeatedly raised the problem of violence against them. Women leaders, indigenous women, migrant women, trafficked women, business women and women working for peace had all raised the issue. Concerns raised related to domestic violence, violence against women in conflict, discrimination and exploitation of vulnerable women.

Following the statement by the High Commissioner, a panel discussion entitled "Outlook on gender equality, development and peace beyond the year 2000" was held. One of four expert panellists, Yoriko Meguro, Sociology Professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, said that enactment of a gender equality law was one thing; its enforcement was quite another. Equal participation tended to be more nominal than substantial. In most societies, women were still trapped in gender-specific activities.

Economist and researcher at the Center for Women’s Studies in Santiago, Chile, Rosalba Todaro said that the globalization process had prevented governments from truly promoting women's advancement. The economic restructuring process under way in many countries had made crucial certain changes, such as the implementation of compensatory policies aimed at preventing the extremely adverse effects of restructuring. At the same time, governments must take advantage of the positive effects of globalization and promote a culture of equality, enabling people everywhere to develop their potential.

Panellist Krisztina Morvai, Assistant Professor of Law at Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary, said that, in order to assess progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action, it should first be made clear exactly who should implement it. To combat violence against women, for example, the Platform had targeted several responsible parties, including law enforcement and medical personnel, yet most probably had not even known about that important paper. Governments usually had well-established channels for the dissemination of international documents, but in the case of women's rights, those channels had not been developed, particularly in countries still learning the ways and means of democratic decision-making.

The fourth panellist, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator a.i. and Acting Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Carolyn McAskie, highlighted the dramatic change in the nature of armed conflict, in which more civilians and relief workers were targeted. While both men and women had been affected, war had not been "gender neutral": 80 per cent of refugees and internally displaced peoples had been women and children. Caught in the midst of conflict, women had been severely marginalized.

Responding to the experts' opening remarks, the representative of Guinea said that some developing countries, such as his own, had been surrounded by war. As host to some 800,000 refugees over the past 10 years, it had been impossible to implement the Beijing objectives. Tasks such as restructuring its defences and covering the needs of the refugees in the areas of health and education had preoccupied the national agenda. Moreover, the persistent conflict at its border and the armed incursions across borders had caused unthinkable tragedies for women and children.

The representative of Ghana said she had been struck by the situation of girls who had been raped and become pregnant during armed conflicts. The special Assembly session should develop specific, concrete recommendations in that regard, especially for States which had restrictive rules about terminating unwanted pregnancies. In such countries, the girls suffered the double burden of having been raped and then bringing unwanted babies into the world.

On the subject of violence against women, the representative of Zambia said that advocacy was not the answer to the "invisible" violence -- sexual and psychological -– affecting them. In developing countries, advocacy had done its part -- it was not more education that was needed, but new alternatives. Many women knew about gender-based violence and could diagnose it; what they lacked was the economic power and alternatives to change their lives. Unless the forthcoming Assembly review considered the challenges posed by globalization, that process would defeat any further gains made by developing countries.

Statements were also made by the representatives of Yemen, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Poland, Republic of Korea, Malawi, Cuba, Bangladesh, China, Dominican Republic, Israel, Croatia, and Sri Lanka.

The following non-governmental organizations also participated in the dialogue: Women and Armed Conflict, on behalf of Women and Peace; International Counsel of Women; Center for Women’s Global Union; and Soroptomists International.

The Preparatory Committee will begin informal consultations this afternoon, including negotiations on the draft outcome document. It is scheduled to meet again on Friday, 17 March, to finalize preparations.

Committee Work Programme

The Commission on the Status of Women, acting as the third and final Preparatory Committee for the General Assembly special session in June on Women 2000, met this morning to convene a panel discussion on "Outlook on gender equality, development and peace beyond the year 2000".

It was also expected to hear a statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Experts selected for the panel were chosen from the fields of study being discussed, taking into account equitable geographical representation and gender distribution. The experts are, as follows: Yoriko Meguro, Professor of Sociology, Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; Rosalba Todaro, economist and researcher at the Center for Women’s Studies in Santiago, Chile; Carolyn McAskie, Emergency Relief Coordinator a.i., United Nations; and Krisztina Morvai, Assistant Law Professor at Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary.

Statement by High Commissioner MARY ROBINSON, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the “Beijing + 5” review process coincided with the start of a new century, and was a timely moment to assess what had been done and what remained to be done in the movement to advance women's rights. Important steps had been taken towards the recognition of women's rights and those who had fought so hard to achieve their recognition should be saluted. AS High Commissioner for Human Rights, she had listened to the voices of women in many countries.

Particularly striking, she said, had been that all of the women -- women leaders, indigenous women, migrant women, women who had been trafficked, women working for peace or community development, or business women -- had raised the continuing problem of violence against women. Their concerns had ranged from domestic violence to violence against women in conflict, to discrimination and exploitation of vulnerable women. Women had also been concerned over the continuing stereotyping that had constituted discrimination against them, and about new stereotypes that had resulted in increased violence. Tackling the issue had to be the top of the review's agenda.

Despite a broad agenda, the rights of millions of women had continued to be denied, she said. While the fundamental right to equality had been repeatedly affirmed in conferences and other public forums, the laws in various countries had perpetuated discrimination in the areas of personal status, economic status, marital status and recourse against violence. Fundamental violations of the human right to equality had continued in a number of ways: unequal opportunity to education and employment; denial of property rights, inheritance and land rights; the exclusion of women from political representation; deprivation of sexual and reproductive rights; and the use of social forces and physical violence to intimidate and subordinate women.

Governments and societies must respect women's human rights in all of the diverse aspects of their lives, she said. Failure to respect the economic and social rights of women had caused profound inequality in terms of economic independence and health, as well as on the ability to assert other rights. Globalization had posed new challenges to women's economic and social rights, and inequality in that respect had made women vulnerable to abuse, particularly violent abuse, which had exacerbated the barriers to public and political participation. Indeed, all rights were integral, interdependent and indivisible. The historic division created between them had served women badly -- it must now be ensured that all rights were championed and defended.

She said the series of world conferences, including the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights and the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, had had profound implications for women, but it had been the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing that had most clearly elaborated the crucial links between the advancement of women and social progress worldwide. Indeed, the Beijing Conference had been a landmark event in the fight for women's rights. The Platform for Action had highlighted the global nature of human rights issues concerning women and signalled a strong commitment on the part of governments to international norms in gender equality.

The international community at Beijing had pledged to devise forward- looking strategies to integrate a gender perspective into policies and programmes and to bring about the full participation of women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life. The 12 critical areas of concern had covered issues ranging from the right to education, health and reproductive rights to the right to life free of violence and poverty. To build on those achievement was the challenge faced by this meeting and the high-level plenary review in June. The agenda must be moved in practical ways. That had meant setting clear targets, benchmarks and monitoring mechanisms which would allow for a rigorous assessment of whether governments had lived up to their promises of five years ago. The pace of ratification of relevant international conventions and treaties and international measures to advance women and remove discrimination must also be assessed, she said. Moving the agenda in practical ways had also meant evaluating the implementation of steps taken to tackle violence against women and poverty among them. Promoting the agenda in practical ways had also meant looking for new ways to change entrenched sexist attitudes, ensuring gender equality in the workplace, combating the evil of trafficking and the plight of women in conflict, and producing better health care for women. There should be no dilution of the Beijing commitment on sex rights, land rights and inheritance rights. Last but not least, budgets must be reconsidered by governments to cover the commitments made at Beijing.

The Beijing + 5 review presented an opportunity to reflect on how to implement a human rights-based approach to women's issues, a process which required the active participation of women themselves, she said. It was an opportunity to strengthen the language and thinking around the various treaty bodies and their role in monitoring the implementation of women's human rights. It was also a chance to underscore, within the international community, the importance of developing and implementing systematic performance standards to measure the extent to which States had met their obligations for the protection and promotion of women's rights.

She said the world had only begun to understand that true freedom was made up of a complex tapestry of rights, all of which must be equally addressed and protected. The international community gathered here today should spread the message that women's rights were everyone's responsibility. It should also reaffirm its commitment to moving the agenda forward with the aim of promoting and protecting the human rights enshrined in all 12 critical areas of the Beijing Platform.

Statements by Non-governmental Organizations

A representative of the International Counsel of Women said that the word “rights” had been woven through discussions of empowerment for women like a golden thread for the last quarter century. “And again, we are here discussing rights”, she said. It was, therefore, important to recognize that women had achieved many rights, and, in fact, the United Nations system had played an important role in this area. But it was crucial to note within any discussion about rights and achievements that the highest numbers for global illiteracy, poverty and human trafficking could all, sadly, be attributed to women.

“Will we continue to talk about women’s human rights for another quarter century”, she asked, “or will we take the opportunity to act now?” The framework for action in achieving gender equality was at hand -– the Beijing Platform for Action. The United Nations had a dual role to play to ensure that the commitments of the Platform were implemented. First, it must be the conductor of the multifaceted orchestra of change. That was to say that it must be the coordinator of the work being done by the international community, civil society and world governments in the area of women’s rights. Second, the United Nations must be the chief monitor for change; it must ensure that commitments and policies that emerged from world conferences were carried out in a way that was most beneficial for achieving global gender equality at all levels.

She went on to say that the international community must make the future a better and safer place for the world’s children and grandchildren. Education was the key. Formal and informal education should be education for human rights. Boys, girls, men and women were not the same; they had different needs, but they must all learn that they had the same human rights. In that regard it was most important to involve youth in the planning and development stages of achieving progress in the area of gender equality.

A representative of the Center for Women’s Global Union, speaking on behalf of the Human Rights Caucus, said that fundamental human rights for women and girls were inalienable. The Platform was a comprehensive instrument to reaffirm the commitment of the international community to ensure these rights. The current review process must also reaffirm that commitment. It was also important to note that socio-economic rights were interrelated with civil rights. “Women should have access to all rights”, she said.

The main goal was to accelerate implementation of the Platform and measure progress, she said. Setting specific targets was most important in that regard. The Platform, despite the overall breadth of its focus, had very few specific targets. Setting such targets could enhance accountability for implementation, and she urged governments to move forward in that area. Targets must also be set in order for the international community to move toward universal ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and to bring national laws in line with its commitments. Setting specific targets would also aid in adequate resource allocation and gender mainstreaming.

Effective and ongoing accountability was key, she said. In that regard, future global moments, such as planning other conferences and forums which would meet, set new goals and put pressure on the international community, were most important. It was hoped that the Committee would use this occasion to reaffirm quality of life, development and peace on behalf of human rights for men, women and girls.

Panel Discussion

YORIKO MEGURO, Professor, Department of Sociology, Sophia University, Tokyo, reviewed the progress of global endeavours to achieve gender equality through the past quarter century. She said that one of the outstanding landmarks had been the adoption of “empowerment of women” as a strategy concept for the advancement of women since the Third Word Conference of Women held in Nairobi. That concept was ideological in that it was based on the assumption that achieving gender equality was correct as a goal and a process of development. It was also an analytical concept in that empowering women in relation to men meant not only that women gained more power, but that the power relationship changed fundamentally, thus creating a new social system which inevitably challenged existing social structures and cultural values.

“While we recognize that there have been achievements, even when a gender equality law is enacted, its enforcement is often another story”, she said. Equal participation tended to be more nominal than substantial. In most societies, women were trapped in gender-specified activities, since the gender division of labour was believed to be connected with women’s biological characteristics. Such a situation hindered women’s access to resources for empowerment.

She then turned briefly to focus on population and fertility. Ageing, she said, was an undeniable global trend. Demographic changes demanded a restructuring of social systems, which meant that existing relationships also changed. It was, therefore, historically a good opportunity for engendering social systems. Women, in most societies, outlived men, and the problem of the aged was a problem for women under the existing engendered system. The introduction of the concept of reproductive health and rights had been a critical call for shifting the emphasis in demographic analysis from a macro to a micro approach in order to mainstream a gender perspective in population policies. What was needed was to connect the two approaches, since independent decision-making individuals lived in a demographic context.

She said that there was good evidence in the area of population and fertility to extract possible strategies for empowerment of women. One of the strategies that she was attempting to develop was the unintended outcome, or “by-product analysis”. The purpose of this strategy was to identify unexpected gender-related outcomes that had occurred during attempts to find ways to achieve gender equality. Another strategy was identifying women’s bargaining power. Women needed to negotiate with those in power to change the existing gender-discriminatory system. Therefore, the purpose of this strategy was to identify the power that women had and utilize it as a resource for bargaining to gain more power.

Finally, she said that both those strategies had become clear when existing micro-data were re-examined from a gender perspective. Macro- demographic statistical data were not sufficient for gender analysis since related variables differed from society to society. Country-based and community-based studies were essential for identifying key variables in specific settings. Most importantly, the strength of those strategies was that they raised awareness of situations as they currently were so that existing resources could be used to make further advances.

ROSALBA TODARO, economist and researcher at the Center for Women’s Studies in Santiago, Chile, said that the globalization process had prevented governments from fully promoting women's advancement. The conditions resulting from the economic restructuring process under way in many countries had made certain changes crucial. For example, compensatory policies had to be implemented in order to prevent the extremely adverse effects of restructuring. There should also be policies restructuring the women's agenda in keeping with the evolving changes in the world economic system. Gender equity should guide national policies in order to diminish the risk of further extending poverty, to which women were most vulnerable.

At the same time, she said, governments must take advantage of the positive effects of globalization and promote a culture of equality, in order to be able to grant opportunities enabling all people everywhere to develop their potential, decide the course of their lives, and have an impact on all aspects of society, thus making possible the benefits of diversity. Towards that goal, a synergy must be devised between women's movements, civil society, anti- discrimination policies, and international conferences and conventions.

CAROLYN McASKIE, Emergency Relief Coordinator a.i., Acting Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that her Office’s mandate to coordinate United Nations assistance in humanitarian crises went beyond the capacity and mandate of any single humanitarian agency. Most of today’s humanitarian emergencies were multidimensional and required the simultaneous response of a range of actors, including governments, non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies. The role of an Emergency Relief Coordinator was to facilitate a coordinated response among those actors in order to ensure that there was a coherent framework and strategy for collective response.

She then turned to the affects of conflict on gender equality. The nature of conflict had changed dramatically, she said. Where in the past only a few civilians had been affected by war, now more civilians were not only involved, but also in many cases actually targeted. It was sad to note that humanitarian aid workers were also targeted. While both men and women were affected by conflict, crisis situations had a differentiated impact on them. Conflict and war were not gender neutral. Eighty per cent of refugees and internally displaced peoples were women and children. The fact that many women were in flight, adapting to life in camps or caught in the midst of conflict had an enormous effect on gender roles as they struggled to keep their families together under such difficult circumstances. There could also be a loss of identity for women in more traditional societies, where women alone had little protection and few identified human rights.

Civil rights and political rights, such as the right to life, and physical integrity were also at risk for both men and women during times of crisis, she continued. Conflict, however, particularly increased women’s vulnerability to sexual violence and rape. Rape also increased the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS, and unwanted pregnancies. In addition, it might also result in the victim’s rejection by and marginalization from the community, thus, requiring many specialized programmes of integration.

She said rape was not always a crime that occurred just once -- in some cases, women and girls had been taken and raped repeatedly for months at a time. That issue needed more attention from the international community. In that regard, Bosnia now defined rape as a war crime. She said that one of her goals was to publicize the issue of rape more dramatically. The international recognition of rape as a crime against humanity would acknowledge the gravity of such actions in conflict situations.

Other basic economic and social rights, such as access to health, food and education, were also affected in times of war, she said. For women, access to health care at such times was critical, particularly for their sexual and reproductive roles. In addition, nutritional needs of women and their babies or unborn children, as well as lactating mothers, were also affected as a result of discrimination in the allocation of resources.

Field practice had shown that gender-sensitive humanitarian assistance could mitigate the negative effects of emergencies on both men and women. In order to accomplish this, it was essential that relief personnel consult with men and women to get information on their particular needs. In addition, if the process of reconciliation was to be inclusive, it was imperative that both men and women have an equal voice in initiatives for peace and political reconciliation.

Moreover, she said, international involvement in crisis and post-crisis situations could be an opportunity to promote positive social change. The work of humanitarian agencies in the field could prompt positive change in the situation of men and women by adopting gender-sensitive measures. Some of these were: monitoring all forms of violence against women and recommending measures to counter them; consulting with both men and women in the programming and planning of camps for refugees and internally displaced persons and securing safe access to fuel and water supplies; registering men and women separately in order to help refugees and displaced persons deal with specific problems; and ensuring vocational training, income-generating skills and access to educational institutions in refugee camps. Increasing advocacy at local and international levels in order to raise awareness about gender issues was also important.

She said that humanitarian assistance was much more than distributing food and blankets -- it must include a gender sensitive component. In that regard, it was important to ensure the training and sensitization of United Nations humanitarian staff on gender issues. “Women should not be seen as helpless victims in need of assistance”, she said. In that context, she mentioned the Gender Training Modules for participants in Peace Support Operations currently being developed. The central objective of those modules was to focus attention on strategies to enhance peace operations by using a gender perspective.

KRISZTINA MORVAI, Assistant Professor of Law at Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary, said she had been asked to speak about gender and human rights in the context of democratic transition, such as that under way in her own region. In order to analyse progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform, it should first be made clear who exactly should implement it. According to the Beijing Declaration, the main "addressees" had been governments, civil societies and the international community. The actions to be taken under the Action Platform had contained a more detailed list of addressees.

Under the Beijing Platform, she continued, combating violence against women called upon the following addressees: governments and their specialized agencies and bodies, such as relevant prosecution services; law enforcement officials; police; medical personnel; and social workers. It had further indicated that those responsible for implementing those policies had been NGOs, and the public and private sectors. Her question, therefore, concerned how all of those addressees or target groups even knew about the existence of the Platform and its meaning. In her experience, most addressees on a national level had simply not known about the existence of that important international document, among others, in the field of women's human rights.

In the case of domestic violence, she asked, did the individual police officers or prosecutors know about their obligation under the Beijing outcome to act to protect women? Most international documents had been relegated to the foreign affairs departments of governments. Again, she wondered how information about the Platform, and its meaning had been disseminated among the different branches of government. It was extremely important that all branches of government, including local governments, be effectively informed about such documents and obligations. The process had been automatic in such areas as international security and the economy, but in an emerging field such as women's rights it had not.

Governments had well-established channels for the dissemination of international documents, but in the case of women's rights those channels had not yet been established, she said. Indeed, countries in her region were still learning the ways and means of democratic decision-making. Likely, several of the governmental bodies named as "addressees" in the Beijing Platform had not even known about it. Governments should be called upon to ensure effective communication about the existence and meaning of such documents. Implementation of the Platform had required multi-agency efforts by governments, and it should, therefore, be ensured that all responsible branches were informed about their specific responsibilities. Governments should also coordinate multi-agency efforts and monitor implementation.

She said that effective implementation of the Platform also required a contextual knowledge on the part of governments about women's rights. Even with effective dissemination within governments, effective implementation would not be possible without first understanding the spirit, meaning, and aims of those international instruments. Emerging democracies and societies had been very special in that regard, but in all regions more effective implementation required an exploration of the context.

In Western societies, gender equality had been motivated by grass-roots movements, she said. In the societies of her region, it had worked from the top to the bottom. The "women question", as it was called, was still considered a legacy of the communist past and an issue associated with State socialism. Indeed, during communism, it had been an alien ideology. Today, it was the international community promoting such norms. The societies in her region had usually had a love/hate relationship with human rights bodies, which had been alien and unwanted. At the same time, those societies would have no other choice in the future, but to join the international community and accept its norms.

Question-and-Answer Session

The representative of Yemen said there was a link between education and the promotion of women's reproductive health. The high fertility rate in her country had been especially prevalent among illiterate and poor women, and 70 per cent of the poor in Yemen were women, and 60 per cent of the illiterate population were women. There was also a link between poverty and fertility, and early marriages often occurred in rural areas. Significant effort should be made to promote education for women, in order to enhance the possibility for gender equality. On the subject of violence against women, what measures should be taken by the international community to combat it, and how could the scourge of rape against women be suppressed?

The representative of Ghana said she had been struck by comments about girls who had been raped in armed conflicts and who had become pregnant as a result. The situation of those women, in particular, must be considered. Hopefully, the special session would develop specific, concrete recommendations in that regard, especially for States which had very restrictive rules about terminating unwanted pregnancies. In such countries, those girls had suffered the double burden of having been raped and mentally tortured, and then bringing into the world unwanted babies. Often, those babies were not accepted into the fold of the families.

The representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said the peace question had most attracted her attention. Despite the end of the cold war, peace had not yet been firmly entrenched, particularly in Africa where the victims were most often civilians. Moreover, the wars in Africa had not been met with the sustained attention of the European community. Recently, in the eastern part of her country, troops had not hesitated to use injections containing the HIV virus as a weapons of war. Those troops had also recently buried alive 15 women. Hopefully, the international community would increase efforts to punish the perpetrators. Above all, local peace movements and civil society should promote a culture of peace, human rights and tolerance. The representative of Jordan said the major challenges to implementation of the Beijing Platform had been the negative impact of globalization. Indeed, globalization and its impact on some countries had deprived governments of valuable assets, which could be used to promote its social and economic programmes. Hopefully, the recommendations adopted at Beijing and Cairo would not be forgotten. Allocation of the necessary resources had also been necessary. Poverty had been one of the reasons for a high fertility rate among women. Deleting the debt burden of some developing countries would help remove the obstructions governments had faced in implementing health programmes, including those related to HIV/AIDS.

Women in the Asian and Pacific region had been adversely affected by the economic crisis, the representative of Malaysia said. Globalization and the financial crisis had compounded discriminatory practices against women, including the dehumanization of and violence against women, and the feminization of poverty. That, in turn, had facilitated the expansion of illegal industries. She was also deeply concerned about the trafficking of women and children. Migrant workers, in particular, were tricked and forced into prostitution by unscrupulous agents.

The gender differentiated effects of globalization must be well understood, she said. Groups of people, such as illegal immigrants and refugees, had not had access to education, legal resources, or health and social benefits. Their well-being should be ensured by appropriate measures. Economic assistance by financial institutions, enabling the creation of jobs, was critical. The progress should not be eroded; a social safety net for women, among other measures, must be created.

A representative of the Women and Armed Conflict Caucus, speaking also on behalf of Women and Peace, said war had posed the greatest obstacle to implementation of each of the objectives of the Beijing Platform, yet that critical concern to women was usually ignored in international platforms or merged into others areas, such as violence against women. In all regions worldwide, women were making peace in the face of conflict.

She urged governments to undertake the following recommendations: convert military resources into peaceful development purposes, by setting concrete targets for the reduction of military expenditures; ensure women's equal participation in all decision-making processes of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction, by insisting upon their equal participation in all peace negotiations; ensure an equitable provision of material, physical safety and security to all refugees and internally displaced women and girls; ensure an end to impunity for crimes committed against women in armed conflict; and give women and women's organizations the necessary support and resources.

Clear time tables and effective monitoring mechanisms were crucial for those urgent changes, she said. It would not be possible to promote women's advancement as long as the world was beset by war.

Responding to the comment about the link between education and fertility, Ms. MEGURO said the importance of re-examining existing data was to determine the relationship among the various factors. Fertility might not be a direct consequence of education; she was not sure. In the differing contexts of each society, many factors had influenced the education/fertility equation. The entrenched patriarchal norm in rural societies, for example, had perhaps contributed to the higher rate of fertility and poverty among rural women.

Ms. Todaro addressed comments on restructuring and its effects on women. The steps taken to restructure the economy and mitigate the 1997 financial crisis had ignored the relationship between various policies. Overall policies that took into account the relationship between economic and gender policies were needed, yet in many countries those policies had remained separate. Long- term national policies accompanied by international regulations were also required.

Ms. Morvai reiterated the need to specify the addressees of the Platform and other international human rights documents, as well as those who were responsible for their implementation. It should also be ensured that the channels of information were working, and that those who had responsibilities under the Platform were aware of their duties.

Ms. Mcaskie said that the protection of women in armed conflict and from other forms of violence against them must be seen as a two-step approach: measures must be found to more broadly protect civilians during conflict; and the number of conflicts themselves must be reduced. That had been a multi- faceted task, and advocacy had been among the first tools. Combating the problem of rape must start with awareness and education. From the earliest stages, children should learn to respect male and female differences. The Security Council was presently discussing a whole series of recommendations concerned with the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

She said the functioning of the International Criminal Court would be a step in the right direction. One of the ways to fight crimes of conflict situations would be to make it clear that people could no longer get away with them. Another aspect involved the training of humanitarian workers. Fighting the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war must also be stopped.

In response to a statement made by Ms. Todaro, the representative of Mali said that restoring macroeconomic balance was certainly important, but at the microeconomic level families, and women in particular, were getting poorer. It was the responsibility of the international community to develop a strategy to help women experience fewer adverse effects to the restructuring of traditional societies in the wake of globalization and new technological advances.

The representative of Poland said that much larger parts of society could hardly make ends meet under current market-oriented models. Participation by women was important in that regard, but there was often a major discrepancy in employment opportunities. Women were, therefore, often paid lower wages, and were often unable to contribute significantly to their own development. The fact that few women sought employment in the economic and political fields was most likely due to the strains of the family and home life. Reinforced cultural practices and stereotypical attitudes also contributed to this, as well. It would be the goal of the international community to integrate women and a gender perspective into all areas of society. In response to Ms. Todaro’s suggestion about policies which might help counteract the negative aspect of globalization, the representative of the Republic of Korea said that it had been her country’s experience that such policies could only be created and enacted when gender mainstreaming already existed within the Government. In the past, her country’s governmental bodies charged with addressing the issue of globalization, only had male-centred tools and policies with which to work. Gender mainstreaming should permeate all areas of the Government.

She said that there also needed to be more protective measures for women who worked part-time or temporary jobs. Policies that would help restructure gender order, labour, and child care should also be included in national financial structures.

The representative of Malawi suggested that in order to improve the lives of women and children in developing countries, multilateral corporations operating in those countries should contribute to their socio-economic structures beyond providing employment. To that end, he called on the United Nations system and the international community to lobby those corporations and involve the participation of NGOs in raising awareness on that issue.

The representative of Cuba said she joined other delegations in recognizing and understanding the structural readjustment policies and their particular adverse affects on women. It was, therefore, vital that the Platform continue to be a challenge to world governments for the advancement of women in all areas.

In response to statements made by Ms. McAskie, the representative of Bangladesh said that women were most adversely affected by armed conflict. In that regard, it was important to monitor all forms of violence against women and recommend appropriate means to address such actions. She said that violence against women should be recognized internationally as a war crime.

The representative of China said that while progress had been made in the area of gender equality, old obstacles like poverty, violence against women and foreign intervention still existed. She went on to say that science, technology and globalization did not automatically benefit women. In that regard, she suggested that the international community should further strengthen international cooperation between governments, United Nations agencies and NGOs, and, most importantly, governments should reaffirm their commitments to the Platform in order to accelerate its implementation.

The representative of the Dominican Republic said that there must be a way to measure the value of unpaid domestic work in order that it might be included in the national accounting structures of all countries.

A representative of Soroptomist International said that trafficking in women and girls was a major concern. She called on the international community to condemn it as a violation of human rights and work with NGOs to eliminate the conditions that contributed to trafficking. There should also be increased cooperation between world governments in order to raise awareness, promote gender training and support. It was imperative that all States address this at the national, regional and local levels. If rights were to be protected, she continued, a concentrated effort must be made to identify traffickers and punish them and also to assist victims to regain their dignity and attain their rightful place in society.

Responding to comments from the floor, Ms. MEGURO said that the international community had not yet been able to identify a solution to the issue of globalization and its overall affects on gender equality. That would be a challenge for the future.

Ms. Todaro said it was instructive that there had been many comments and questions from delegates about globalization’s effect on women. That showed that there was obviously a need to study the specificity of situations -- how each country dealt with the issue, the various measures taken, and how and when women would come into the process were extremely different.

She said that no policy for gender equality should be dealt with separately from other national initiatives and policies. There must be equality in education and health. Stereotypes were also an issue that had not been sufficiently dealt with.

She said that it was difficult to discuss the establishment of norms. While, on one hand, the practice was good at the international level, some of the least developed countries might feel that norms would be used as a new form of protectionism.

Finally, she said that there must be participation of all sectors, particularly NGOs.

In response to comments made by the representative of Bangladesh, Ms. McAskie reiterated that she fully endorsed severe punishment for perpetrators of war crimes, particularly rape. Bosnia had been a step forward, but the international community should see similar policies applied and brought before the various Tribunals or the International Criminal Court in other cases as necessary.

The representative of Guinea said the panel had not emphasized the "very negative" impact of globalization on developing countries, particularly on the lives of women. In those countries, women often had not had access to credit. Moreover, some of those countries, such as his own, had been surrounded by war. Guinea had been host to some 800,000 refugees over the past 10 years. The population of Guinea was comprised of 52 per cent women; the refugees were made up of 60 per cent women. The prolonged existence of refugees had made it impossible to implement the Beijing Platform.

He said his country had had to restructure its defences in order to protect itself and cover the needs of the refugees, specifically in the areas of health and education. Women and children had been kidnapped and endured unthinkable atrocities owing to the persistence of conflict on its borders and the persistence of armed incursions across its borders. One thing that women could do was to become better informed about neighbouring conflicts, and shape national policy. The representative of Israel agreed with the vital need for governments to see what was happening on the ground. Government officials should be taken to shelters and refugees, made to listen to hotlines and visit with victims of human rights abuses. Today, in many countries, the murder of women by their spouses was reaching epidemic proportions. Since Beijing, many more States had begun to address the problem, including her own where legislation punishing sexual harassment in the workplace and schools, as well as laws to prevent violence, had been adopted.

She said the European Union had adopted a community action programme in support of NGOs working to alleviate the plight of such women. Legislation continued to be important, but related programmes required adequate budgets. Gender-based violence was indeed the most obvious manifestation of traditional discriminatory attitudes. The time had come for governments and educational institutions to launch educational programmes for children geared towards gender equality and self-esteem for girls. Recognizing the first signs of the violent personality in a male partner had to be taught.

Since Beijing, she said that many countries had taken action against gender-based violence through treatment, legislation, and so forth. Perhaps the time had come to take the next step: a concerted effort to educate schoolchildren about gender equality for all.

The representative of Zambia said the globalization process would continue, not reverse itself. In view of its effects thus far, it would be far to say that the process would defeat any future gains of developing countries. International financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, had not really addressed the issue of improving the quality of life for women in those countries. Structural adjustment programmes that were retrogressive, and not progressive, should be defeated. Unless the Beijing + 5 Review considered such challenges, things would be worse five years from now.

Advocacy was not the answer to "invisible" violence -- sexual and psychological -- against women, she said. In developing countries, advocacy had done its part -- it was not more education that was needed, but new alternatives. Many women knew about gender-based violence and could diagnose it; what they lacked was the economic power and alternatives to change their lives. Programmes such as those of the World bank and the IMF had been making it worse for women. The present forum should broker peace in the emerging conflict between government and civil society.

The representative of Croatia commended the comments made by Ms. Morvai emphasizing the need to identify the addressees of the Action Platform. A more fundamental concern, in her region of central and eastern Europe, was the steep decline in the number of women participants in governments in transition. There had been some recent rays of hope, but the goals of the Platform were far from being met.

The representative of Sri Lanka said that a national committee on women had conducted a forum discussion on women and children affected by the armed conflict in that country. It had found that all relief and rehabilitation measures should be engendered, and that there had been very little coordination of humanitarian relief. She asked Ms. McAskie to what degree such assistance had been effective at the delivery end.

Regarding government agencies, she said she had been appalled to learn that at least eight agencies of the Government had been doing much the same task, without coordination, and had thus misused the existing scant resources. She urged Ms. McAskie to ensure coordination at the delivery end.

Concluding Remarks by Panellists

In her concluding statement, Ms. Morvai called on the government and NGO representatives to take into account in their deliberations that while they might belong to a country where the level of awareness of women’s rights as human rights was high, there might be other countries where this was not the case. In that regard, the outcome document of the Committee should reflect the views of all levels of society.

There should also be an intense dialogue between all actors to see where they stood on the issue of violence against women and marital rape, she continued. She gave some examples of what the perceived attitudes were among some in the international community on women’s issues.

She said that once she had heard a representative say that women would appreciate a little more violence from their husbands. She also said that she had heard other comments that women would use policies that punished violence against women as a tool to throw their husbands out of the home when they got angry with them. Sadly, these were the attitudes that had to be dealt with and overcome. She asked all delegations to “exchange notes on where we stand now” on the issue of women’s rights. She also urged the Committee to take into account a minimum requirement standard with respect to gender equality, which would be applicable to all societies.

Ms. Todaro said that the representative of Zambia had made some striking comments. Political will could help in the area of gender equality, although that was often difficult to see. The international community must begin to take hope in the idea that political will could indeed counteract the negative forces of globalization.

In response to the comments of the representative of Zambia, Ms. Meguro said that economic development was needed, but not at the expense of women’s rights. That was to be avoided at all costs. The idea of economic development must not just be approached from a budgetary perspective, but from a gender perspective, as well.

INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION PRESENTS ‘POLITICS: WOMEN'S INSIGHT’ SURVEY AT HEADQUARTERS, 6 MARCH

6 March - Why do we need women in politics? What difference does their presence make to politics and society in general? The Inter-Parliamentary Union put these questions to 187 women politicians from 65 countries. The interviewees represented the widest possible range of ideological and personal backgrounds. Their replies, as well as the life stories of a few women from each of the world's major regions and cultures, are prominently featured in the survey "Politics: Women's Insight" being presented by the Union today, 6 March, at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The presentation coincides with the meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which is evaluating the follow-up to the 1995 World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, and preparing for the celebration of International Woman's Day.

The survey will be launched at an 11:15 a.m. Headquarters press conference with: Sheila Finestone, Senator from Canada, Chairperson of the Inter- Parliamentary Union Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians and member of the Union Executive Committee; Angela King, United Nations Assistant Secretary- General, Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women; and Anders B. Johnsson, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The survey is based on extensive written interviews in which women politicians from all over the world speak frankly of their personal experiences as party members, parliamentarians or members of government, as well as of their vision of society. It clearly demonstrates the world's growing awareness that it takes two to achieve democracy. The survey reminds us that, as a saying from the Comoros puts it, "you cannot clap with only one hand". The survey supplements the women's replies to the interview questionnaire with a review of the world situation in terms of the presence of women in parliament and in government today, and in history. It, thus, offers what amounts to the full story of women's qualitative impact on political and electoral processes and practices, as well as on the welfare of society as a whole. It shows that a slow revolution in politics -- a revolution more or less pronounced depending on the culture concerned -- is in progress.

Najma Heptulla, President of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Vice-President of the Rajya Sabha (Indian State Council), believes that "there is a greater participation of women today at all levels of decision-making and a greater commitment by governments to remove gender discrimination from the system. The feminist movement around the world has gathered momentum and it is encouraging to see that even men have come to accept women as equal partners in the progress of civilization".

Describing the participation by women in the decision-making process as "an international priority", Ms. King, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, said the June Special Session of the General Assembly, which will review and appraise the Beijing Platform of Action, will reinforce the need for sustained action to ensure the advancement of women in all areas. She said, "the demand for equal participation by women in leadership and decision-making positions is not just a demand for simple justice, but a necessary condition for women's issues to be taken into account. Anything less than equality for women in this area is a "deficit of democracy" and we must work to ensure that there is equal participation with men. We can no longer exclude those who represent the interests and concerns of over half of the world's population from the corridors of power where decisions are made".

For his part, Mr. Johnsson, Inter-Parliamentary Union Secretary-General, does not hesitate to affirm that wherever they are present in sufficient numbers to represent an embryonic political force, "women are beginning to initiate a change in the political environment and decision-making process and to influence the outcome of political activity". He nevertheless points out that "the political world, which is intrinsically conflictual, is still broadly unwelcoming to women. They have to fight hard for every inch of ground and their encounter with power politics, the constraints of party discipline and disparaging media coverage is often a bitter experience. Women have to learn the rules of the game and the language of politics while fully preserving their identity as women and avoiding the pitfall of demeaning imitation of their male counterparts. They are also engaged in a permanent 'balancing act', seeking to do political work without sacrificing their family life and incurring severe criticism for putting their political ambitions before the welfare of their children".

The clash between politics and sexual stereotyping is not yet a thing of the past. The women politicians interviewed say that, while gender equality is generally embodied in the law, the obstacles and difficulties faced by women in politics are clear evidence that the principles of parity and equality in a democracy continue to be thwarted by well-established sets of rules and practices which have been developed in the absence of women. These difficulties cannot, however, be solely blamed on men: "women, too, may act against women's interests through being blinded by selfish interests and ambitions or overwhelmed by the divisiveness of politics".

Because political life continues to be full of rivalries, the questionnaire responses were obtained and reproduced on the express condition that speaking freely would not create any difficulties for the persons concerned. This is why the authors of the survey chose to indicate only the region of origin and not the individual identity of the women interviewed. The data were analysed by: Marilyn Waring, formerly her country's youngest woman parliamentarian, now Associate Professor of Social Policy at Massey University, New Zealand; Gaye Greenwood, an expert in women's questions from the same country; and Christine Pintat, Assistant Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The authors would have preferred the "burden of proof" not to rest on women alone; it was quite clear to them that the same questions should be put to men. But the Inter-Parliamentary Union is aware that women are, in most cases, still expected to justify the need for and the efficacy of their participation in politics, and, in any case, the survey was devised to be debated by both men and women.

The survey focuses, in 10 chapters, on ways in which the new style and new insights introduced by women makes a difference in politics. Another interesting feature, in the authors' view, is that the survey opens "a window seldom opened -- and in any case never yet opened so wide -- on the day-to-day experience of women holding political posts, their views of society and of the impact of relations between men and women on the conduct of politics, their hopes, the moral and material limitations they encounter and how they reconcile their political commitment with the demands of their private lives and their emotional life".

The study was produced by the Union with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency.

The Union was founded in 1889 and has its headquarters in Geneva. Its membership includes 139 affiliated national parliaments and 5 associated regional parliamentary assemblies. It promotes partnership between men and women as one of the cornerstones of democracy. In 1994 it adopted a Plan of Action to remedy existing imbalances in the participation of men and women in political life. The Union has a Liaison Office at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Interviews may also be conducted: In New Delhi, Najma Akbarali Heptulla, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of India), President of the Inter- Parliamentary Council, tel.: (91 11) 301 7371/301 6391. In Geneva, Christine Pintat, Assistant Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Programme Officer of the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians and Programme for the Promotion of Partnership between Men and Women, tel.: (41 22) 919-41-23/50

Contact for information or interview requests: Luisa Ballin, Information Officer, Geneva, tel.: (41-22) 919-41-16 or 919-41-27, fax: (41-22) 919-41-60, e- mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cd@mail.ipu.org. New York: tel.: (212) 557-5880, fax: (212) 557-3954, e-mail: ny-office@mail.ipu.org.

Or contact Elisabeth Ruzicka-Dempsey, Development and Human Rights Section, United Nations Department of Public Information, tel.: (212) 963-1742, fax: (212) 963-1186 or e-mail: ruzicka-dempsey@un.org.

UN highlights women as peace-makers, journalists and inventors
1 March -- The role of women as peace-builders, newswriters and inventors is the focus of several new initiatives - a book, a worldwide campaign and an exhibition - launched by the United Nations in advance of the International Women's Day observed on 8 March.

One such project is a book launched today by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Entitled Women at the Peace Table: Making a Difference, the series of interviews with women leaders reveals that while political negotiations on peace and security remain an almost entirely male domain, women in all regions are challenging their exclusion and lobbying for an equal place in peace negotiations.

The book shows that over several decades in Northern Ireland, women have worked across communities to promote moderation and compromise. In Guatemala, women ensured that the peace agreement affirmed equal access to land, health care and education. Campaigning for disarmament and collecting guns in Liberia, women helped ensure that a cease-fire could finally hold.

Another UN initiative to help highlight the role of women is the "Women Make the News" operation launched by the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for this year's International Women's Day on March 8.

On 31 January, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura called on the media to "ensure that women journalists have editorial charge of the news on International Women's Day." Since then, print, audiovisual and web-based media organizations worldwide have announced they will take part in the venture.

Media outlets ranging from CBS News in the United States to Khalg Gazeti newspaper in Azerbaijan, from Le Soleil in Senegal to Nature in the United Kingdom have registered their participation in the operation. In Bolivia, it appears that all of the country's 800 media - 30 print media, 600 radio stations, 80 television broadcasters and all its electronic media - will participate in the event.

A third UN project calls attention to women inventors from all five continents, in the form of a "Women Invent" exhibition that opened today at UN Headquarters in New York. Organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the exhibition is a portrait gallery of girl and women inventors - most of them award-winners - who have made their mark either as pioneers of invention or as contemporary inventors.