Opening Statement
by
Angela E.V. King
Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of
Women
at the
Distinguished Experts and Observers,
Colleagues and Friends,
I would like to express my special gratitude
to our partners who worked with us on this event. They are the United Nations
Department of Political Affairs, and particularly, Ms. Carina Perelli and her
team, UNDP, UNIFEM and others. My
special thanks go to the Member States who form the Group of Friends of 1325
for their political support and unfailing cooperation, and particularly to
their representatives from Canada, Norway, Republic of Korea, Tanzania, United
Kingdom and the United States attending this meeting. I would also like to
especially thank for conceptual and technical guidance, the team from the
International IDEA – the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance – and
representatives from the OSCE, the National Democratic Institute for
International Affairs, the Carter Center, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and
Women Without Borders, and welcome their contribution.
Since its early days, the United Nations has
been playing a pivotal role in assisting Member States in democracy-building
and holding elections. In the late 1980s, with a renewed focus on securing
stable and legitimate democratic government in divided or post-conflict
societies, the Organization has been increasingly called upon to provide
assistance in holding inclusive, credible and legitimate democratic elections
in accordance with internationally recognized criteria established in universal
and regional human rights instruments.
Today, it is a given that the nature of
modern conflict has changed fundamentally. Whereas most violent conflicts over
the course of the twentieth century have been between states, the 1990s have
witnessed the emergence of a new type of conflict – intrastate conflicts.
Between 1989 and 1996, for example, 95 out of the 101 armed conflicts were such
internal disputes. The new types of
conflicts no longer aim at defeating the opponent’s armies but at inflicting
pain and humiliation on civilians by destroying their identity, dignity and
sense of community. For the first time in human history approximately 80 to 90
per cent of all war casualties, most of them women and girls, have become
primary targets. The new conflicts erode institutions that provide a basis for
the sustainability of societies and undermine societal values replacing them
with institutionalized violence. Rape, forced pregnancies, sexual slavery and
assault, which directly target women, have become deliberate instruments of war
that destroy the bonds which hold communities together.
Thus, durable solutions to these conflicts must
flow from post-conflict societies themselves and must have a strong focus on
reviewing and strengthening institutions necessary to ensure peace, security,
human rights and justice for all, women as well as men, while the international
community and the United Nations play a supportive role which is adapted to the
specific political circumstances of each country.
Lasting peace will only be possible with the
establishment of fair, all-inclusive democratic rules for handling the issues
that divide a society and the creation or strengthening of working relationships
between the groups involved. Only when Governments are democratic and inclusive
of all groups, including women, and social groups no longer need to resort to
violence to advance their interests, can violent conflicts be prevented.
It is, therefore, vital that any attempt at
building peace in the wake of a violent conflict must focus strongly on
rebuilding democracy and bringing women into all stages of conflict prevention, management and post-conflict
reconstruction, including through electoral processes, as contributors and
active participants.
Elections in Bosnia, Cambodia, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Kosovo, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan,
Timor-Leste and other former conflict areas were crucial to post-conflict
management processes by legitimizing power-sharing arrangements reached
earlier, thus creating foundations for sustainable peace and gender equality.
I was fortunate indeed to observe this direct
link between peace, democracy and gender equality when I served as Chief of the
United Nations Observation Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA) from 1992-1994. The
mission ended 46 years of conflict and division in South African society
(1948-1994) over a hard-line policy of formal racial separatism: apartheid,
through a long negotiation process culminating in the first free, non-racial,
democratic elections in 1994. This approach which embraced all ethnic and
religious groups, women and youth was a resounding success resulting in active
participation of women in the 1994 elections as voters and candidates and in
building multi-ethnic coalitions.
Ultimately, the elections led to the creation of a solid foundation for
peace, democracy, effective governance and an active women’s role in South African
society.
In fact, it was one of the first recorded
occasions where, well before the elections, women of various political parties
and groups – there were 25 – banded together to demand one-third of the seats
in the constitutional negotiations and later, on party slates. While only the ANC fully adhered to this
agreement, approximately 30 per cent of the members of the first elected
Parliament were women.
Recognizing the critical role of elections
for peace and the advancement of women, both, the General Assembly and the
Security Council have emphasized the importance and potential impact of women’s
participation in elections and rebuilding societies following war. In the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action,
Member States were called to take measures to encourage political parties to
include women in elective and non-elective public positions in the same
proportion and at the same levels as men and to review the differential impact
of electoral systems on the political representation of women in elected bodies
and consider, where appropriate, the adjustment or reform of those systems.
Similarly, in resolution 1325 on women, peace
and security, the Security Council, in October 2000, called on Member States to
ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in
national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the
prevention, management, and resolution of conflict and ensure the protection of
and respect for human rights of women and girls, particularly as they relate to
the constitution, the electoral system, the police and the judiciary.
In light of these mandates, the purpose of this Expert Group Meeting is to review what has been done to support women in all aspects of the electoral process in post-conflict countries and to develop an agenda for action on how to strengthen support to the full participation of women in electoral processes in post-conflict countries. I wish you also to focus on the challenges and obstacles facing women, identify gaps, lessons learned and good practices in supporting women in electoral processes. Our discussion, based on excellent papers, should lead to practical comprehensive recommendations for a future action and provide concrete and effective tools for an enhanced women’s participation in electoral processes in post-conflict countries.
Your valuable insights and recommendations,
together with a report of an Expert Group
Meeting on "Peace agreements as a means for promoting gender
equality and ensuring participation of women – A framework of model
provisions," hosted by Canada in
November 2003, will be inputs to the Commission on the Status of Women
at its forty-eighth session to be held from 1 to 12 March 2004, when it
discusses its theme on women's equal participation in conflict prevention,
management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building. The Commission’s deliberations and its
comprehensive guidance will provide a further input to the 2005 review and
appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the
Outcome Document of Beijing+5 on women and peace and the forthcoming review of
the implementation of resolution 1325 by the Security Council in October 2004.
There is no short cut or simple solution to enhancing women’s role in
peace processes through elections. But experience from electoral processes in
Guatemala, Kosovo, Mozambique, Rwanda and Timor-Leste in post-conflict contexts
and a mix of post-conflict and non-conflict countries in the Middle East,
suggest that without involving women in elections and peace-building, there
cannot be a lasting peace. While fully
aware of the complexities of your task, I am confident that this Expert Group,
drawing on expertise and experience from around the world, will be able to come
up with practical and effective ideas and solutions to enable the governments,
the UN, international organizations, and civil society to design electoral
processes appropriate to a country-specific set of circumstances and support
women’s full participation in the elections.
What we recommend in the next few
days has immediate application. The
Security Council, UN policy-makers in post-conflict elections, Special
Representatives of the Secretary-General heading missions, representatives of
Governments, civil society, women’s groups and other international actors
working in Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Iraq are some of the target groups of users of the lessons learned and
recommendations made. This vast and influential group of clients awaits your
proposals.
I thank you and wish you a productive discussion. We, in the Office of the Special Adviser on
Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, the Division for the Advancement of
Women and the Department of Political Affairs secretariats stand ready to
support your work.
*******