I thank UNV, Division for the Advancement of Women, Division of Public Information for facilitating my participation to this special event to commemorate International Women's Day. East Timor is celebrating their second IWD. This year is also important for international volunteers like UNVs and for those who volunteer their time locally as this year we are commemorating the International Year of Volunteers. I believe this is a year which most of you in the room can also associate, as most are you, like myself must be volunteers.

The theme Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflict could not have been more appropriate because I am coming from East Timor, a country which has just come out of conflict, having been forcefully occupied by Indonesia for 25 years and the violence which followed after the 1999 vote.

Working in a Gender Affairs Unit in a country which is just coming out of conflict, the Security Council resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security" has validated the work we have been doing in East Timor. When we started there was only the ECOSOC resolution and CEDAW which we relied on. The Security Council resolution provided impetus to our work.

The bulk of the work in mainstreaming gender especially at District level is being shouldered by UNVs. Out of the 13 District Gender Focal Points working in East Timor, eight of them are UNVs.

My association with UNV started in 1999 through the UNDP Country Office in Zambia. The UNV Headquarters in Bonn called for CVs of individuals who had been involved in monitoring Elections. I was then working as a Program Officer of a Women's Human Rights network. At the same time I was Chairperson of the National Women's Lobby Group, an activist Organization committed to increasing the number of women in political decision making positions. I had done some past election work and civic

Education in Zambia and in South Africa during the first all race elections held in April 1994.

UNVs has been playing a key role in the history of East Timor. In 1999 during the period running up to the elections, they conducted a UN referendum on whether or not the people of East Timor who had been under Indonesian rule for the past 24 years wanted to become an autonomous region within Indonesia or an independent country.

After the elections, the country was completely destroyed with nothing left such as human resources. In that situation, UNVs were the first civilians to come in East Timor for humanitarian assistance.

The challenge the Gender Affairs Bureau is facing now is how to ensure equal rights of women. Both men and women has been the target of violence during the occupation and right after independence. But violence against women has a different impact. Women who are victims of rape have been giving birth to babies. They are ostracized and not accepted back to the community.

Also, although women participated in the resistance movement for independence, there has been of raise of domestic violence. Many men are unemployed with little job prospective, which is leading to frustration.

Women are the target of gender based violence. Women are also being left out of the decision making table. We cannot leave the women behind. Therefore, the challenge that we face is to ensure women's rights to be secured and maintained. And women are not just sitting idly. Women groups have been lobbying against women's rights and gender based violence. Recently, UNTAET's SRSG (the Special Representative of the Secretary General and Transtional Administrator) Sergio Vieira De Mello, had pledged that UNTAET will not tolerate against violence against women.

The Gender Affairs Unit has been working very closely with the women of East Timor through the East Timorese Women's Network. The Unit is proud to have facilitated the holding of the first ever Timorese Women's Congress when over 500 women from all over the country met in Dili to analyze their situation and devise policy strategies for their empowerment Among the priorities the women identified were; participation in decision making, Legal System and Justice, Compensation and reparations (Justice for women victims of violence during the 24 years), Violence Against women, Education and Literacy and health.

The National Congress which was held in August last year endorsed the Platform for the advancement of women. Notable was the inclusion of a 30 percent quota in the filling up of positions. The current National Council has 13 women representing 30 percent of the total. Given the cultural context (Patriarchal) this is no mean achievement. The women are now pushing for a 30 percent quota for the Constituent Assembly for which the elections are due to is held in August. This is in an effort to overcome discrimination against women in East Timor.

What is needed now is solidarity and support from everyone.