Statement by
H.E. MR. HARRI HOLKERI
President of the General Assembly
On the occasion of
International Women's Day
"Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflict"
8 March 2001
The theme for this year's
celebration of International Women's Day is very timely: Women managing conflict.
The theme implies that women are not and should not be seen as mere victims
or deliberate targets of armed conflict. However, once they are victims or targets,
the perpetrators must be brought to justice. In this connection, I would like
to applaud the historic decision by the Hague tribunal last month, ruling that
rape is a crime against humanity. Successful prosecution of gender-based violence
sets standards and forces us to pay more attention to this problem in all its
aspects, and in all cases.
Women and girls continue to bear the greatest burden of armed conflicts, which
are in fact most widespread since the II World War. At the same time studies
have confirmed that the participation of women in conflict prevention, peace
keeping and peace building operations would improve the efficiency of these
operations and enhance the impact of the outcomes.
To better manage conflicts it is crucial that we implement fully the commitment,
made over five years ago in the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing,
to promote equal participation of women and equal opportunities for women to
participate in all forums and peace activities at all levels, particularly at
the decision-making level, and to integrate a gender perspective in the conflict
resolution.
We need to acknowledge that some progress has been made, for example in enhancing
training in gender issues and introducing gender Focal Points or units in some
of the UN peace operations. One of them in East Timor (UNTAET), which I visited
early this year and where I could see at first hand how important expertise
and analyses on a gender perspective is in a complex peace operation. Equality
and respect for human rights of women and girls and peace are intertwined, and
to achieve sustainable peace it is essential to have a full knowledge and understanding
of these issues in transition periods and in nation building.
I would like to pay special tribute to Ms. Angela King, the Special Adviser
of the Secretary General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, the Division
on Advancement of Women and UNIFEM as well as the numerous NGOs for their efforts
in promoting gender equality in this field. However, the overall picture, including
appointments of women to key positions in peace operations, remains far from
desired and much more needs to be done to fully utilize women's potential. Member
States and the UN will have an opportunity to discuss how to improve the de
facto situation, including the possibility of establishing a gender unit, when
they continue to consider the implementation of the Brahimi report.
The United Nations cannot any longer afford to ignore the role of women in conflict
management.