Commission on the Status of Women
Forty-eighth Session
by
Ms. Angela E.V. King
Assistant Secretary-General
Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
Advancement of Women
New York, 1-12 March 2004
Madam President,
Madam Chairperson,
Excellencies,
Distinguished
Delegates,
Representatives of UN entities and of the
Non-governmental Community,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It
is a pleasure for me to warmly welcome the distinguished members and observers
of the Commission to this 48th session. I am also delighted to greet in this forum H.E. Ms. Marjatta
Rasi, Permanent Representative of Finland and first woman ever to be elected
President of the Economic and Social Council and Mr. José Antonio Ocampo,
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs who joins us for the
first time since his appointment.
I
am sure that delegations are fully aware of the session’s critical importance
for our future work as we start a count-down to the 2005 comprehensive review
and appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and of the
outcome of the special session of the General Assembly on “Women 2000: gender
equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century.” I expect that our discussions will not only
lay the foundation for the review but will also begin to shape the agenda in
the field of the advancement of women for the next five to ten years.
Allow me to express my
sincere appreciation and deep gratitude to the Chairperson and members of the
Bureau of the Commission for their dedication and many hours spent in guiding
our work during the inter-sessional period.
This Commission is fortunate to count on their wealth of knowledge of
gender and diplomacy and strong commitment to the advancement of women.
May
I also welcome the Ministers and Heads of national machineries coming from
capital, and numerous representatives of NGOs attending this session. Your participation and drive were
fundamental to the successes of Beijing and Beijing+5 and we expect no less for
Beijing+10.
During
the twelve months since we last met there have been significant events where
Governments, international organizations and civil society reached consensus on
the importance of gender equality and the empowerment of women in the
continuing struggle for equality, poverty reduction, peace, security,
democracy, human rights and development.
Among these events was the World Summit on the Information Society held in December 2003 in Geneva, when world leaders committed themselves in the Declaration of Principles to “ensuring that the Information Society enables women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society and in all decision-making processes.” A second was the focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS on women leading to the launching of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS in early February 2004, in London and a third, the discussion on the report of the Secretary-General on “Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration” (A/58/323), during which the General Assembly recognized gender equality not only as a Goal in itself but also as a path towards achieving all other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These and other events and intergovernmental processes signaled that progress has been made.
Nowhere
else are these signs so visible as in women’s enjoyment of their human
rights. Since the Beijing Conference,
24 States Parties ratified or acceded to the CEDAW Convention bringing the
total number of States Parties to 175. The ratifications last year by
Afghanistan, San Marino, Syrian Arab Republic, Timor-Leste and Sao Tomé and
Principé are extremely encouraging.
More needs to be done to facilitate the preparation of more timely
initial and periodic reports and to increase the number of ratifications to the
Optional Protocol to the Convention, now at 60, so that more women in all parts
of the world will have the possibility of seeking redress at the international
level for alleged violations of their rights, once all national remedies have
been exhausted.
The
trend for Member States to promote and protect the human rights of women and
girls by enacting or amending legislation to achieve
gender equality or by prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sex, continues. Constitutional amendments relating to gender equality or prohibiting discrimination
on the grounds of sex have been adopted for example, in Fiji, Kenya, Nigeria
and New Zealand. Barbados, Sri Lanka
and Trinidad and Tobago reviewed and strengthened legislation outlawing
violence against women. Uganda
introduced affirmative action laws. A
number of countries, among them Algeria, revised their family codes. Morocco adopted a landmark Family Law
supporting gender equality, including granting women new rights in marriage and
divorce and possibilities for custody of their children. Many countries established family courts,
revised law regulating women’s rights to family property, to inherit land,
citizenship laws and revised labour legislation, including equal pay for equal
work and social security coverage.
And
yet the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Millennium
Declaration stresses that virtually nowhere are women’s rights given the
priority they deserve. And, despite
increased global awareness, in many countries the rights of women are still
under threat. Intensified efforts from
all of us are needed to promote women’s rights at the country level and develop
effective mechanisms to fully implement and monitor them.
A
recent joint initiative of OSAGI/DAW and the Inter-Parliamentary Union to
produce a Handbook for MPs on the CEDAW Convention and its Optional Protocol,
gave parliamentarians a very practical tool for understanding how to use the
parliamentary process for enhancing women’s rights.
Significant
steps have been taken to redress various forms of violence against women,
including through its designation as a priority area in national crime
prevention; criminalization of specific forms of violence, support of services
for victims of violence, improving reporting, sensitizing men, training
judicial and law enforcement officers and preventing trafficking. Canada, for
example, set up a domestic violence courts system and Barbados established a
network of centres for battered women.
Despite these efforts, violent acts
against women continue unabated. The World Health Organization’s 2003 World
Report on Violence and Health, indicates that depending on the country and
the environment, between 10 and 69 per cent women around the world reported
being subjected to some form of violence in their lives.
An
in-depth study on all forms and manifestations of violence against women will
be conducted by the Secretariat and made available to the General Assembly at
the sixtieth session. Violence goes
hand in hand with trafficking in women and children, which is one of the
fastest-growing types of organized crime.
It is estimated that more than 700,000 people are trafficked for sexual
exploitation with the numbers growing yearly.
Determined efforts are needed to
reduce and eliminate poverty among women and girls. Roughly a fifth of the world's population - most of them women and
girls - lives on less than one dollar a day.
The ILO study
entitled, A Fair Globalization, released last week shows the highest
recorded number of unemployed ever, 185 million. It also points out that women's traditional livelihoods as
subsistence farmers or small producers have been undermined by foreign subsidized
agriculture or foreign imports. This
situation impedes development. In
sub-Saharan Africa, for example, if women’s access to agricultural inputs was
on a par with men’s, total agricultural outputs could increase by 6-20 per
cent, (2003 World Bank report, Gender Equality and the MDGs).
On a more
positive note, when presenting
the annual World Economic Situation and Prospects for 2004,
Mr. Ocampo emphasized that the world economy is gaining momentum and that the
recovery being driven primarily by China, India and the United States will
continue to stimulate world economic growth.
It is expected that the world economy will expand overall as much as 3.5
per cent in 2004 thus creating realistic conditions for the achievement of the
2015 goals. Economically empowering
women is an essential precondition for making this projected growth a reality.
The vast number of those below the poverty
line are women which affects disproportionately their access to health services
and medicine. A frightening pattern is emerging as women are increasingly
bearing the brunt of the lethal HIV/AIDS epidemic with more women and girls
than men and boys being infected.
UNICEF reports that there are striking differences even among girls
affected. Young African brides, for
example, are shown to have a higher incidence of AIDS than sexually active
unmarried girls--a seeming paradox. We
expect to hear new insights into these and other issues such as dealing with
stigma, at the Opening Event of this year’s International Women’s Day, 8 March,
when the topic will be “Women and HIV/AIDS.
A
number of governments, Brazil, Cambodia, Romania, Senegal, Thailand, Uganda and
Zambia, for example, have proven by containing or reversing the pandemic, that
the goal of reversing its spread is achievable.
Another serious health issue is the rate
of maternal mortality one of the MDGs. Recent World Health Organization data
show that the gap between developed and developing countries is widest in the
matter of maternal mortality. Every day complications related to pregnancy or
childbirth result in 1,600 deaths, – some 600,000 annually and 99 per cent of
these deaths, most of them preventable, occur in developing countries.
If we are to meet the related MDGs
of reversing HIV/AIDS and reducing the rate of maternal mortality by three
quarters by 2015, concerted action is needed to fully finance women’s health
programmes, incorporate a gender perspective into health care and ensure
quality of care in childbirth.
Equally challenging is the growing violence against women and girls in armed
conflict. In today’s conflicts, they
are not only the victims of hardship, displacement and warfare, they are
directly targeted with rape, forced pregnancies and assault as
deliberate instruments of war.
Security Council resolution 1325
continues to energize women and men all over the world, and political support
for its implementation by Member States, international organizations and civil
society is growing every day. Progress
has been made in six broad areas: awareness of the importance of gender
perspectives in peace support work, development of gender action work plans in
disarmament and humanitarian affairs, training in gender sensitivity,
deployment of gender advisers, prevention and response to violence against
women; work on codes of conduct, including sexual harassment; and support to
greater participation of women in post-conflict reconstruction, post-conflict
elections and governance.
Much
nevertheless, remains to be done. The Mano River Women’s Peace Network, despite
their Human Rights award, Femmes Africa Solidarite and the Liberian Women’s
Movement for Peace continue to report that women are still ignored or excluded
from negotiations and elections. Two
recent expert group meetings, organized on women in peace processes and
agreements (Ottawa, November 2003) and on women’s participation in electoral
processes in post-conflict countries (Glen Cove, January 2004) contain
innovative and proven strategies for increasing women’s political
participation. The latter offers options
in elections through open lists, proportional representation and quotas, among
others. In view of the situation in
many African countries, in Afghanistan and Iraq, these reports are very
instructive.
The
Fifth Joint Workshop of the Interagency Network on Women and Gender Equality
and OECD/DAC GENDERNET (Paris, July 2003) took as its theme “Gender and
Post-conflict Reconstruction: Lessons from Afghanistan.” The
Final Communiqué made proposals for strengthening international support for
Afghan women, including gender mainstreaming in the work of the Ministry of
Women’s Affairs and other line ministries.
The need for a long-term involvement
in the advancement of Afghan women is the theme of the Secretary-General’s
report (E/CN.6/2004/5). It shows that despite
many obstacles, Afghan women are playing a crucial role in rebuilding the
country both economically and politically. In the elections held in December
2003, of a total of 506 seats in the Constitutional Loya Jirga, women occupy
100 - 20 per cent. Afghan women have
participated in the consultative process in drafting the new constitution. Women returned to the workforce although in
more modest numbers than we would wish, gain access to education and health services.
Yet, factional fighting and the
ensuing lack of security, gross violations of women’s rights, and all forms of
gender violence, particularly, outside Kabul, continue to plague Afghan women’s
lives. The international community must continue to be engaged into the
reconstruction of Afghanistan and increase its political and financial support
for gender-related projects and capacity building for women.
That
women make a difference when in decision- and policy-making positions, is no
longer in dispute. Yet progress in many
countries remains perhaps, the most fragile of our gains. Nevertheless, statistics of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union show that from 1999 to 2003 the world average for
women’s representation in parliaments increased from 13.0 per cent to 15.1 per
cent. In elections held in 2002 in 50 countries, the most significant changes
were in the Nordic and Arab-speaking countries. In Rwanda, women are over 48 per cent in parliament while in
Sweden, they are 45.3 per cent.
Pakistan saw a 19 per cent increase to 21.1 per cent; in Algeria, women
MPs doubled from 12 per cent to 24 per cent; and there are encouraging signs in
Eastern European countries, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovakia. Some 60 countries have established various
types of quotas and other types of assistance to women.
In
this context, I am sure, that we are all delighted that the General Assembly
unanimously confirmed the Secretary-General’s nominee, Justice Louise Arbour of
Canada’s Supreme Court, as the new High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her appointment brings the number of women
at the level of Under-Secretary-General to the all-time high of six out of 32 -
over 20 per cent.
This
Commission has rightly placed the role of men and boys in achieving gender
equality on its agenda. Their
involvement in promoting gender equality is critical to reaching gender balance
in sharing work/family responsibilities caring for family members stricken with
HIV/AIDS, in eliminating violence
against women, both at the domestic level and in armed conflict and in the workplace. Real change will come only when
stereotypical attitudes which inhibit women’s advancement and impede our
efforts for gender equality are once and for all removed. Resolute and
determined measures to educate both boys and girls should become priorities of
Governments and civil society, in cooperation with the media, and are needed to
eradicate these vestiges of the past.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
The tasks we are facing are
monumental. Consistent work is required to ensure that women’s concerns and
interests are fully mainstreamed into all the activities at national level and
into the wider work of the United Nations.
To achieve this, we must use the opportunity offered by the review and
appraisal of Beijing+10 and the forthcoming in 2005 World Conference on the
Millennium Declaration.
The Commission on the Status of
Women at its 49th session in 2005 will conduct the global review and
appraisal. As you know, next year the
two themes are: “Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action
and the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General
Assembly” and “Current challenges and forward looking strategies for the
advancement of women and girls.”
The
review is meant to provide valuable insights into achievements and challenges
and indicate how best practices can be shared among all actors and specify
emerging challenges. The analysis will
be based on the implementation of national gender action plans, reports submitted
earlier by Governments. PRSPs, CEDAW reports,
millennium reports and the responses to the questionnaire (deadline: April
2004). I urge all Member States and NGOs to use the opportunity of Beijing+10
to review and update their national action plans and mobilize women at the
grassroots to participate in these activities.
A
strong regional perspective through a series of regional and thematic meetings,
expert group meetings and reviews will
be evident. ECLAC will hold a regional
conference in June 2004, ECA in November 2004 and ECE in December. ESCAP
plans a regional meeting in September. ESCWA will focus on women and poverty,
family and political participation. All regional commissions are already
working closely with national line ministries, regional and sub-regional
organizations and NGOs. These
activities covering all sectors will serve as inputs of the Commission’s global
review of Beijing and of the Millennium Development Goals. We call on all Member States international
organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector to be fully
involved in the process.
On
the inter-agency front, I am pleased to report that the work of the
Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality which concluded its four-day
meeting last week (23-26 February) has proven that progress in integrating a
gender perspective in the policy, programmatic and operational work of the
United Nations is proceeding in a robust and effective way. Our work will be an input to ECOSOC’s review
of implementation of agreed conclusions 1997/2 on gender mainstreaming this
summer. We are pleased to welcome INSTRAW, ably led by its Director, Ms. Carmen
Moreno, back to active participation in the Network.
Over
the last year, the three new task forces launched on gender and water, on
gender and the MDGs and on gender and trade and have been very active. A fourth
task force on the ten-year review of the Beijing Platform of Action is fully
functional. Achievements included: the
final report on gender budgeting, a successful workshop on gender dimensions of
MDGs, gender language incorporated in the WSIS Declaration of Principles, fact
sheets prepared and disseminated,
briefs prepared for Security Council missions, several websites launched
and on-line conferences held.
The
Network identified these issues for attention of the Commission: the situation of indigenous women, the role
of women in export services; and providing tools for measuring progress in
national reporting on gender issues on agreed development goals, including
MDGs. Two new task forces on indigenous women and
on the development of core qualitative and quantitative indicators and
benchmarks for monitoring and evaluating gender mainstreaming were formed.
My
Office has also jointly organized with ESCWA and ECE regional symposia on
gender mainstreaming for practitioners from government, civil society and
academia. We continue with the
Division for the Advancement of Women with various divisions and departments,
to produce briefing notes on gender mainstreaming in various sectors.
Madam Chairperson,
Considering how much inequality
between women and men still exists in most parts of the world, remarkable
progress has been achieved in a very short time. Without gender equality we cannot lift our societies from poverty,
conflict and underdevelopment. By
empowering women politically, economically and socially, societies as a whole
gain, and will have a greater likelihood of bridging the gap towards achieving
the 2015 goals.
Our vision is a world where girls
and boys have equal opportunities for education, where mothers and children
have equal access to better health care and medicines, where women and men
share decision-making and household chores equally, equally enjoy fundamental
human rights and strive equally to achieve peace, democracy, good governance,
and sustainable development for their families and nations.
This is the vision, which our
leaders signed on to in 2000. I think
that this Commission should be justifiably proud of its contribution to making
this vision a reality. But we should
not lose sight of this ultimate goal of gender equality and the empowerment of
women so that hard-won gains are not eroded.
The Platform with the outcome document is our blueprint. Beijing+10 must
become the turning point towards real implementation, where countries learn
valuable lessons from one another and determine the priorities for the next
five to ten years.
Madam
Chairperson, let me assure you of my personal commitment and support for the
work of this Commission. I also pledge the support of my Office, the Division
for the Advancement of Women and the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender
Equality. I am confident that in
partnership we will be able to finish on time and make this session another
major step towards our common goal – genuine equality between women and
men.
Thank
you.
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