UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
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This document is being made available by the Population Information
Network (POPIN) Gopher of the United Nations Population Division, Department
for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, in collaboration
with the United Nations Population Fund Emergency Relief Operations.
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AS WRITTEN
Closing Statement by
Mrs. Sadako Ogata
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
to the
Inter-Agency Symposium on Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations
Geneva, 28-30 June 1995
Madam Chairperson, Madam Executive Director, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Among the more than 27 million refugees, returnees and internally
displaced persons falling under the responsibility of my Office,
half of them are women and girls. Significant progress has been
made in developing specific guidelines on refugee women in recent
years. Progress has however been piecemeal in incorporating these
basic principles into the day to day management of refugee
situations. Moreover, for too long refugee women have been
portrayed as particularly vulnerable. This depiction does not
however do justice to the pivotal social and economic roles women
play, as well as to their contributions to maintaining family and
community life and bringing about solutions to refugee situations.
In most refugee situations we have done reasonably well in meeting
the immediate protection and assistance needs of the refugees with
the excellent assistance of our partners. In the field of
reproductive health however we have still a long way to go. It is
not only an issue for refugee women but also relates to the rights
and responsibilities of men. I am therefore very pleased that we
were able to co-sponsor this inter-agency symposium on reproductive
health in refugee situations and draw upoo your extensive
expertise. I am impressed by the work achieved so far and let me
take this opportunity to thank all the agencies and participants
for their contributions.
Madam Chairperson,
ln September, the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing will
aim to adopt a "Global Platform of Action". The draft document pays
considerable attention to refugee women and, in particular, the
impact of war and violence upon them. It is important that we
approach the Beijing meeting with concrete results and an action
plan for the future. Therefore the outcome of this symposium is
indeed very timely.
I am not a specialist myself on reproductive health and will
therefore refrain from making expert statements. However, the conclusions we
have just adopted are very important ones and within this context I
would like to raise four issues.
The first issue relates to the pprotection concerns of refugee
women. The rape of women in northen Kenya, former Yugoslavia and
Rwanda has brought dramatically to the foreground the use of sexual
violence as a maw of persecution for reasons of race, ethnicity,
nationality or political opinion. UNHCR's Executive Committee has
condemned this practice which is not only a serious human rights
violation as well as a breach of humanitarian law in armed conflict
situations.
Protection of refugee women should include the granting of refugee
status as well as measures to safeguard their physical security,
material assistance, counselling and opportunities for solutions.
The Guidlines on Sexual Violence in addition to the planned manual
on reproductive health combined with more qualified female staff
arc important steps toward strengthening our protection ind
assistance role in the field. The second issue relates to
prevention. In refugee situations we focus primarily on preventive
health care which is based on a multi-sector-ai approach requiring
the timely ind adequate provision of shelter, sanitation, food,
water and health services. It is predominatly the task of women to
provide food, water and shelter for their family. Therefore,
women's health affects the refugee community as a whole. In too
many refugee situations, the problems of sexual violence, unwanted
pregnancies, family planning or AIDS have not been dealt with
because the need for them was not recognized. Appropriate
reproductive health services should therefore be an integral part
of any preventive health care strategy, involving women and men
equally.
As a third point, I would argue that any such strategy should aim
to be self-supportive and sustainable, Our focus should not be
limited to providing reproductive health care in refugee settings,
but should include measures which can continue to be utilized by
people once they have returned home. In this context, I would
stress the importance of adequately trained refugee health workers
who can benefit the community both in the country of origin and
asylum. In some instances, they can provide a "spring-board" for
the rehabilitation of the basic health sector of war-torn
societies.
Finally, let me stress the strengthening of partnerships among
agencies, governments, the refugees and host communities.
Reproductive health involves a wide variety of specialized issues
and, given the scale of the problem, io beyond the capacity of any
single agency. I am therefore pleased that from the outset of this
important initiative, we have established a partnership among
United Nations, governmental and non-governmental agencies. I look
forward to our continuing close collaboration and sharing of
technical advice and to developing concrete working relationships
as we have with UNFPA.
However, our most important partners are the refugees themselves.
Reproductive health touches upon the most basic norms, values, and
principles of society. To succeed we must make sure that the
refugees participate fully in the design, development,
implementation and evaluation of the programmes. Without their
commitment or cooperation. the programmes will not be sustainable.
It is important therefore that the culture, norms and practices of
the refugees and the host communities are fully respected.
To implement a preventive reproductive health strategy will pose
important challenges both in terms of financial and human
resources. I believe however that preventive measures an cheaper
than curative ones. Moreover. everyone working with refugees should
receive training to ensure that the principles an effectively
translated into policies and programmes.
In concluding, I would like to express once again my appreciation
for the excellent work accomplished and the commitment of my Office
to implement an effective reproductive health stratagy in refugee
situations. I hope that the results of this symposium will not be
an end in itself but will form the basis for further discussions
&nd actions geared toward concrete results. I count on your
commitment and expertise to assist us in this task. We owe it to
the millions of refugee women and their families to provide them
with the means to ensure their reproductive health.
Thank you.