UNEVEN SUCCESS ACHIEVING GENDER PARITY SIGNALS NEED FOR STRENGTHENED COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS CONCERNING WOMEN’S RIGHTS, THIRD COMMITTEE TOLD
Discussion on Advancement of Women Continues;
Texts on Social Development, Criminal Justice Introduced
Uneven success among States in achieving gender parity signaled a need for stricter compliance with international agreements dealing with women’s rights, said speakers in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as they continued their discussion on the advancement of women.
In their discussion, delegations referred to various international accords of practical consequence to women, ranging from a Security Council resolution banning the use of rape in times of war to mutual agreements to create gender-responsive national budgets. Ultimately, such agreements were intended to protect a woman’s fundamental rights and freedoms, and to allow women the enjoyment of their rights on par with men.
But, a closer look at conditions in the various spheres of society -- whether in the workplace, government or private life ‑‑ showed that gaps between men and women continued to persist, said many speakers.
In terms of the economy, as a representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO) pointed out, labour markets throughout the world had not substantially narrowed gender gaps in the workplace, indicating a need for more proactive measures to achieve gender equality in the world of work. Data collected by the ILO and published in its report, “Global Employment Trend for Women”, showed that more women than ever were stuck in low-productivity jobs and, currently, at least 60 per cent of the world’s working poor were female.
Even so, some policies to enhance women’s chances of participating equally in labour markets were starting to pay off, she said. The share of women working without pay in the family business and “own-account” employment had decreased compared to ten years ago. Moving away from such vulnerable forms of employment, and into wage and salaried work, could be a major step towards economic freedom and self-determination.
While some speakers suggested that it would be possible to improve the status of women by tweaking already existing laws, others argued that -- in the case of the world’s poorest countries -- women were unable to fully enjoy their rights simply because those countries were poor.
For instance, obstetric fistula -- ruptures in the birth canal during childbirth -- was preventable and virtually unseen in industrialized nations, according to Hedia Belhadj, Executive Coordinator of Global Health, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), who introduced the Secretary-General’s report on the topic. Yet, more than 2 million women in Africa, Asia and the Arab world were living with obstetric fistula, causing them to leak urine or feces, or both. Victims were typically poor and illiterate women and girls living in remote areas.
Ms. Belhadj said the continued existence ofobstetric fistula was “a signal that health systems were failing to meet the needs of women”.
A representative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union observed that women could not change the functioning of their social and political institutions by working alone. In countries with representative democracies, for instance, partnerships with men were crucial to success, since men often formed the majority of members in parliaments and dominated the leadership positions within political parties. On that issue, the representative of Kazakhstan underscored the importance of raising awareness on gender issues among boys and men, and combating sexual stereotypes in general, as her national plan had done.
In discussing pro-women strategies adopted by their individual countries, the representative of New Zealand, who spoke on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum, expressed a sentiment common to many speakers, in calling for better indicators to shed light on the nature and extent of problems unique to women. Using the issue of maternal health as an example, she said the “blunt instrument” used to assess the progress of the Pacific Islands on maternal health -- the maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 births -- was often inadequate in the region, due to the very small size of some of the Pacific Islands populations.
Also speaking today were the representatives of Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, India, Morocco, Singapore, Ghana, Malta, the Niger, San Marino, Thailand, Burkina Faso, Malawi, the Congo, Lebanon, Fiji, Syria, El Salvador, Kenya, Swaziland, Iceland, Nepal, Yemen, Indonesia, Venezuela, the Ukraine, Nicaragua, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Tunisia, Nigeria, Iran, Afghanistan, the Republic of Korea, Mauritania, Eritrea and Bolivia.
Representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration also spoke.
Speaking in exercise of the right of reply were the representatives of Japan and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Also today, the Committee heard the introduction of draft resolutions on social development, volunteerism, ageing, literacy, disabled persons, trafficking in persons and the African Institute on the Prevention of Crime. The representatives of Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Mongolia, the Philippines and Uganda introduced the drafts.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m ., Wednesday, 15 October, to conclude its discussion on the advancement of women and to take up issues relating to the rights of children.
Background
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met today to continue its discussion on the advancement of women (documents before the Committee on that topic are summarized in Press Release GA/SHC/3918).
In addition, the Committee had before it the draft text of seven proposed resolutions, including: implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly (document A/C.3/63/L.5); follow-up to the implementation of the International Year of Volunteers (document A/C.3/63/L.6); follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing (document A/C.3/63/L.4); United Nations Literacy Decade: education for all (document A/C.3/63/L.7); and implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons: realizing the Millennium Development Goals for persons with disabilities (document A/C.3/63/L.3).
The two remaining draft texts are on: improving the coordination of efforts against trafficking in persons (document A/C.3/63/L.9); and the United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (document A/C.3/63/L.11).
Introduction of Report
HEDIA BELHADJ, Executive Coordinator of Global Health, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), introduced the Secretary-General’s report on supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula (A/63/222), saying victims of preventable childbirth injury were typically poor, illiterate women and girls living in remote areas. Unable to reach a health-care facility, they suffered a prolonged labour, and in most cases, delivered stillborn babies. Statistics showed that health-related Millennium Development Goals were relatively slow in progress, and there was evidence that more than half a million women continued to die in the process of giving birth each year. For each woman that died at childbirth, at least 20 more were left injured or disabled.
She said that obstetric fistula, which was a hole in the birth canal that left women incontinent, could lead to frequent infection, kidney disease and even death. Along with physical disability, many women with obstetric fistula faced profound social isolation, leaking urine or faeces, or both. The injury left women with few opportunities to earn a living.
She said the condition had been virtually eliminated in industrialized nations, yet more than 2 million women in Africa, Asia and the Arab region were living with obstetric fistula. Between 50,000 to 100,000 new cases developed each year. Its continued existence was “a signal that health systems were failing to meet the needs of women”. The absence of preventive care, including emergency obstetric care, violated the human rights of women and girls.
She said the challenge to end obstetric fistula required intensified efforts at the national, regional and international levels. The UNFPA launched a global campaign to end fistula in 2003. In partnership with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, it was working with Governments to promote maternal and newborn health. The UNFPA strategy for safe motherhood emphasized family planning services to prevent unintended pregnancies, supply skilled birth attendance for women during pregnancy and delivery, and promote emergency care for those who developed complications. UNFPA also supported the training of doctors, nurses and midwives, and worked with community leaders to increase awareness on the need to mobilize support for pregnant women.
Statements
NURBEK JEENBAEV ( Kyrgyzstan) said Kyrgyzstan had recently held parliamentary hearings to ensure that men and women in the country shared equal rights and opportunities in politics. That initiative had been launched and implemented with the support of numerous partnerships between national and international organizations, and with civil society. The gender provisions within the national constitution already guaranteed a number of protections for women, such as social and legal protections against family violence and ensuring basic and equal rights for women. The Parliament had also recently decided to conduct studies of all draft laws to ensure that they were gender sensitive and equal.
However, a number of issues still required further action, he said. For example, national unemployment was 8 per cent higher among women than among men, and women were often paid less and forced to work in more menial jobs. Women also suffered more frequently from violence. It was evident, therefore, that the Government still needed to strengthen its efforts to support and protect women in the country. At the end of the first half of 2008, women made up 48 per cent of the higher apparatus within national institutions, an increase of 10 per cent over similar figures from 2007. The progress that had been achieved was clear. Yet, that did not mean the country had fully overcome its gender imbalance. Kyrgyzstan was in the midst of a gender policy transformation, and it did not intend to stop now.
MARIE YVETTE BANZON-ABALOS (Philippines), aligning herself with the statement made by the “Group of 77” developing countries and China yesterday, said the role of women in nation-building was recognized and provided for in the Philippine Constitution and, as such, the State would ensure the fundamental equality of men and women before the law. Five per cent of the budget for line agencies was devoted to gender and development programmes and the formulation of a 25-year Philippine Plan for Gender Responsiveness Development. The Philippines had been among the first to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and gender mainstreaming was active throughout the national judicial system.
Referring to the global food crisis, she noted that the rise in food prices had forced women to compromise their own nutrition as they struggled to manage meagre resources. With an estimated 7 out of 10 of the world’s hungry being women and children to begin with, the food crisis would only serve to heighten the problems they faced in overcoming their food insecurity. With simultaneous crises taking place with regard to energy and to the international financial situation, the international community must abandon its attitude of business-as-usual and actively prevent a backsliding in its targets for women.
As for the work of the United Nations, she said gender was “missing” from the reports and other documents, as well as from discussions and debates on issues such as climate change. What was needed was real, critical gender assessments and fewer platitudes. For its part, the Philippines was facilitating discussions on a draft resolution on trafficking in women and girls. There was a tendency to view the problem from a crime and criminal justice perspective, when, in fact, a gender-based approach was required, based on respect for the human rights of women.
ALESSANDRO MOTTER, Inter-Parliamentary Union, said that the question of ensuring women’s effective participation within parliaments had received little attention over recent decades. An Inter-Parliamentary Union report on the subject of women’s participation had shown that women parliamentarians changed the way politics were conducted and brought different priority issues to the fore. As well, women parliamentarians were the most ardent supporters of women’s issues, and they had been responsible for putting women’s concerns on parliamentary agendas. However, the report also showed that women parliamentarians faced serious constraints, as well. For example, the small number of women in parliament often limited their lobbying strength and their availability to participate in all committee work. As such, they often had to take on additional work or several committee assignments, and that resulted in them shouldering a far heavier workload than their male counterparts.
It was, therefore, necessary to look more closely at the level of gender sensitivity within parliamentary institutions, hesaid. Within those institutions, gender was beginning to be mainstreamed, although with varying levels of success. Women could not change the functioning of those institutions on their own. Partnerships with men and within political parties were crucial to success. Since men often formed the majority of members in parliaments and dominated the leadership positions within political parties, they were important partners in helping to mobilize support and implement change. Political parties were the key arenas for policy development and debate, and were, thus, one of the key institutions through which gender equality concerns could be promoted. The attainment of gender equality and the full participation of women in decision-making processes were key indicators of democracy, and the inclusion of women in political decision-making would help countries to better determine political and development priorities.
DOMINIQUE BUFF, speaking on behalf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said one of the most frequent and greatest traumas women and girls in armed conflict suffered was sexual violence –- a brutal violation of their person, as well as a violation of the law. It not only had disastrous effects on the physical and mental well-being of the individual victims, but on their families and communities as well. The ICRC encouraged States to adopt legislation and other measures to implement humanitarian law at the national level, particularly steps to criminalize sexual violence in all its forms. All parties to conflict must also remember that weapon bearers -- be they members of Government armed forces, organized non-State armed groups, or peacekeeping forces -- must receive suitable training and strict orders to refrain from, and prevent crimes of, sexual violence. It was also necessary to ensure that the perpetrators of sexual violence did not go unpunished, because every single rape committed in connection with armed conflict constituted a war crime and should be prosecuted as such.
The ICRC also urged States and humanitarian actors to help potential victims avoid exposure to risk, he said. Women in conflict areas were often exposed to risk, as they struggled to meet the daily needs of their families. Public authorities and humanitarian actors should involve women in the assessment of assistance and protection needs, and in programme implementation and monitoring. Communities should also know about the existing risks, and of the importance of not rejecting and stigmatizing women and girl victims. The community’s coping and self-protection mechanisms should be identified and assessed to strengthen them or, conversely, to heighten awareness of the risks they might entail, he said.
ANKE STRAUSS, representative of the International Organization for Migration, said the feminization of international migration was a contemporary feature of international mobility. Currently, nearly 50 per cent of the world’s migrants were women, many of whom had migrated independently of their families, in response to a wide range of labour demands and occupation opportunities. While the general empowerment of women through migration was welcome news, migration also had a darker side. Women were often recruited for jobs in the most unregulated sectors and were vulnerable to exploitation, or fell prey to human traffickers, due to low levels of education, limited socio-economic independence, and inadequate resources and support networks. While national responses to fight trafficking in persons were crucial, no State could address that global phenomenon alone. Bilateral and regional responses in support of national efforts were vital.
Increasing technical cooperation and capacity development in partnership with Governments and civil society constituted another useful “weapon” in the fight against human trafficking, shecontinued. Methodologies and achievements in the field of counter-trafficking activities needed to be evaluated and analysed, in order to ensure continual improvement. Trafficking in persons also required a principled approach to address assistance issues for victims, and much still needed to be done to fill the implementation gap that had hampered a comprehensive and rights-based response. As trafficking patterns often followed broader migratory patterns, it could become increasingly difficult to distinguish trafficked migrants from other types of migrants who might have similar protection or humanitarian needs. Distinguishing between different migrant categories would have important implications in terms of criminal prosecution, she said. But, she asked the Committee if those categories should have similar implications in terms of protection, or whether it might be better to base assistance responses for migrants on the degree of need instead.
JANE STEWART, Special Representative to the United Nations and Director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Office for the United Nations, said the practical implementation of the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, which was adopted in June, required continuous attention. Evidence for the need for more proactive measures to achieve gender equality in the world of work could be found in the ILO’s report, “Global Employment Trend for Women”, which showed that improvements in the status of women in labour markets throughout the world had not substantially narrowed gender gaps in the workplace. The share of women in vulnerable employment, either unpaid contributing family workers or own-account workers, rather than wage and salaried work, had decreased from 56.1 per cent to 51.7 per cent since 1997. For many women, moving away from vulnerable employment into wage and salaried work could be a major step towards economic freedom and self-determination.
Access to labour markets and to decent and productive employment was crucial in the process of creating greater equality between men and women, and policies to enhance women’s chances of participating equally in labour markets were starting to pay off, she said. However, most regions still had a long way to go to ensure the full economic integration of women, whose untapped potential to contribute to economic development had yet to be realized. To support constituents in their preparation for the ILO Conference in 2009, the organization had launched a campaign aimed: at increasing general awareness and understanding of gender equality issues in the world of work; highlighting the specific linkages between gender equality and securing decent work for all women and men; promoting the ratification and application of key ILO gender equality labour standards; and advocating the importance of overcoming existing barriers to gender equality as beneficial for all.
ARJUN CHARAN SETHI ( India), Member of Parliament, noted that, despite numerous discussions at the international level on the advancement of women, gender gaps remained considerable in most countries. Major hindrances included the resource crunch at the international level and “lack of sincere efforts” at the domestic level. Studies on gender distribution at the United Nations revealed “a dismal state of affairs”. He added: “If one has difficulties in implementing a relatively simple objective of equal representation of women in a cosmopolitan set up like the United Nations, it is not surprising that States with their own social and cultural compulsions might take much longer to achieve this objective.”
He said India had been taking all steps possible to realize gender equality, and the Government had begun considering the empowerment of women as a cross-cutting theme in the Five-Year Plan 2007-2012. A landmark achievement for the empowerment of women at the political level in India was the reservation of one-third of urban and local self-government seats for women, thereby giving more than one million women the possibility of participating in grass-roots politics. In the economic sphere, a plethora of capacity-building programmes and support services were being provided to women, ranging from access to credit to day-care for children. India also had an act on social security for workers, including women workers in the unorganized sector. The Government was beginning to collect the appropriate data to facilitate gender budgeting. Among the other pro-women policies being promoted by the Government were various education policies to support the enrolment of girls, as well as those on human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and the protection of women from domestic violence.
CHARIF CHERKAOUI ( Morocco) said women continued to be the main victims of violence due to armed conflicts, despite all efforts to the contrary. In those situations, they became victims of all sorts of violence, particularly rape and sexual slavery. To fully integrate women into the development process, it was necessary to strengthen the rule of law and respect for human rights, and to guarantee equal access and opportunities for women in the economic and social spheres. The role of the United Nations was crucial for the achievement of those goals. Nationally, tangible progress had been achieved in recent years in regards to maternal health. However, though women were increasingly able to access prenatal and postnatal services, they still confronted numerous obstacles to health development, such as infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS. To that end, he called for a greater mobilization of resources to improve national health systems and the capacity of those systems to meet the many challenges faced.
It was also important for countries to seek the support of civil society in their efforts towards the advancement of women, he continued. It was high time for countries to capitalize on the active role that women could play in society, in terms of building peace and security, democracy and engendering greater respect for human rights. Since its independence, Morocco had developed the role of women in political, economic and social life, and the results of such efforts were clear. Indeed, it was now a given in Morocco that no economic or social development effort would ever achieve its full potential without the active and equal participation of women. He added that a number of penal code reforms and legislative reforms had recently been launched to help protect and promote Moroccan women. The success Morocco had achieved on a national level had shown the value of an integrated approach to development efforts, one which prioritized the active participation of women.
MARY WONG ( Singapore), aligning herself with the Group of 77 and China, said the percentage of female students who secured places at university and polytechnics had increased from 42 per cent in the 1990s to the current 50 per cent. Government schools charged $15 a month for its school fees and admitted students on merit. The Government invested heavily to nurture each individual, resulting in over 1,000 undergraduate scholarships given out in 2006, out of which 47 per cent were female. In light of that, it was no wonder that women made up an increasing number in the workforce in Singapore. Further, the Government had ratified a key ILO Convention on equal remuneration, requiring employers and unions to incorporate an equal remuneration clause in their contracts and agreements. In addition, the Minister of Manpower, together with the National Trade Union Congress, developed a set of guidelines on fair employment practices, to ensure that employers recruited, selected and rewarded employees based on merit.
She said women in Singapore occupied major leadership positions in both the public and private sectors, and were officers on the governing bodies of intergovernmental organizations. They were also actively urged to run for public office. Singapore’s “stakeholder approach” to policy formulation meant that the Government took into account the impact of policies on women, and that was reflected in gender-specific formulations of policies with regard to ageing and helping women cope with the work-life balance. The Government had recently increased the period of paid maternity leave to 16 weeks, and a $20 million fund had been set up to help companies defray the costs of investing in family-friendly work arrangements. Within the public sector, there were provisions for males to take paid childcare leave to care for sick children, with the Ministry of Education, in particular, offering the possibility of applying for flexi-work schemes to husbands. Singapore was also committed to protecting women through its Constitution, the penal code and its “Women’s Charter”.
DIVINA ADJOA SEANEDZU ( Ghana), aligning herself with the Group of 77 and China, said Ghana was taking several steps to promote the advancement of women and ensure the protection of their human rights, in conformity with the Beijing Platform of Action and the outcome document of the twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly. Steps were also being taken to provide an enabling environment for women’s participation in decision-making at all levels of society, and the Government had just launched, on 10 October, a “National Women in Decision-Making” directory to fulfil its affirmative action commitments. In addition, cultural practices that were seen to impede the development of women -- ritual servitude, harmful widowhood rites, female genital mutilation, early marriages, violence and sexual exploitation and abuse, discriminatory food allocations, and taboos relating to health and well-being –- were prohibited by law.
On the protection of women, she said the Government had passed a domestic violence act, leading to the creation of domestic violence and victim support units within the Ghana Police Service. A domestic violence secretariat had been set up to implement that national policy, and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice monitored and educated the public on human rights, while enhancing women’s awareness of existing laws. In addition, Ghana passed a Human Trafficking Act, which provided for the establishment of a trafficking fund to enable the provision of basic material support, skills training, family tracing and other matters connected with the rehabilitation and reintegration of victims. Lack of resources was often an obstacle to effective implementation; as such, she said she looked forward to the follow-up conference on financing for development as an opportunity for exploring the gender implications of financing.
SAVIOUR F. BORG ( Malta) expressed his delegation’s reservations over the language used when discussing sexual and reproductive health and the rights of women, specifically terms such as “reproductive rights”, “reproductive services” and “control of fertility”. Malta did not recognize abortion as a measure of family planning and considered the termination of pregnancy through induced abortion illegal. The report on efforts to end obstetric fistula, currently before the Committee, and the United Nations Development Fund for Women Biennial Global Report 2008/2009, both contained a number of references to “sexual and reproductive rights” and “reproductive health services”, and Malta found those terms difficult to accept. Any recommendations made regarding the empowerment of women and gender equality should not, in any way, create an obligation to consider abortion as a legitimate form of reproductive health rights, services or commodities. Such a position should be taken into account when preparing similar reports in the future.
Turning to the national efforts to improve gender equality, he noted that the Government of Malta had recently adopted a number of legislative measures that brought harsher punishments for trafficking in women and girls and prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex. As well, Malta encouraged and supported specific initiatives aimed at improving female entrepreneurship and provided information and communications technology training courses for women. In addition to those measures, the Government continued to promote the advancement of women and gender equality in all levels of society, by raising awareness of gender equality among the public and integrating a gender perspective in all Government policies, laws, and projects.
ABDOU RAZAC AMINA MAHAMADOU BARADE ( Niger) said her Government was trying to ensure that women benefited from economic progress as much as men, by closing disparities between men and women in all areas. For example, women were a particular focus in national poverty reduction strategies. Working with development partners, the Niger had successfully raised the enrolment of girls in school from about 33 per cent in 2002 to about 47 per cent in 2007. In terms of health, the Government was providing free treatment and tests for breast cancer and the removal of fibroids, among other programmes. There had also been a decline in infant and maternal mortality due to vaccination programmes and prevention activities in the area of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
She also touched briefly on eliminating violence against women, increasing their political participation, and promoting women’s participation in the economy. On political participation, she said quotas were in place to ensure that women held some Government posts. As a result, the representation of women in the public sector increased to 25 per cent in recent years. Regarding women’s participation in the economy, she said access to credit for women through the savings and loan system had led to over 2 billion francs granted to women in the dairy industry, and around several hundred francs to women working in grain harvesting operations. The Government had also set up a bank for women. In terms of health care, it had established centres to treat women suffering from obstetric fistula. The country also planned to adopt a national gender policy soon.
ILARIA SALICIONI ( San Marino) said the path towards gender equality had been relatively easy for women in her country. One of two Chiefs of State and Captains Regent and two ministers of cabinet were women. The percentage of working women in the last few decades had risen considerably, accounting for about 42 per cent of the entire employed workforce. The number of women holding medium- and high-ranking positions was “significant”.
Regarding protection of women from violence, she said the San Marino Permanent Mission had organized an event last June with the theme “Stop violence against women –- campaigning through regional cooperation”, in solidarity with the United Nations Secretary-General, who was running a campaign to end violence against women. As part of San Marino’s own national campaign on violence against women, the Parliament had adopted a law on the prevention and repression of violence against women and gender-based violence.
CHONVIPAT CHANGTRAKUL ( Thailand) said her Government had made significant efforts over the years to address the issue of gender inequality. It had put in place a medium-term plan of action, which aimed to promote opportunities for women to fully participate in the development process at all levels, as well as protect the rights of women. Her Government also believed that basic rights and necessities for women –- especially rural women –- must be met. At the midterm review of the Millennium Development Goals, Member States should examine whether all of the targets regarding gender had been met. For its part, Thailand had already achieved the elimination of the disparity among boys and girls in primary and secondary education, and had done its utmost to ensure that impoverished mothers in rural areas had access to universal health care and regular check-ups.
Gender equality and the empowerment of women could not be achieved if violence against women still persisted, she said. In that regard, legal measures for the elimination of all forms of violence against women, including sexual violence, had been established and strengthened in Thailand. Her Government had also learned that gender mainstreaming -- particularly the creation of a Government unit to oversee the rights and the advancement of women -- could be an effective tool in the efforts to achieve gender equality and the elimination of violence against women. Her Government had made much progress in gender mainstreaming, from grass-roots to policymaking levels. It was necessary to empower women, because they had important roles to play in shaping future generations and were a crucial factor for economic development, she concluded.
MARCELINE TIENDREBEOGO ( Burkina Faso) said partnerships among civil society and technical and financial partners had allowed her Government to implement a national plan of action in support of women. That plan, which was launched in 2006, had already resulted in significant improvements for women in the social and judicial spheres. Burkina Faso had also created a national framework for the protection and the promotion of the rights of women, along with a follow-up mechanism to ensure proper implementation. In addition, Burkina Faso was one of ten pilot countries chosen by the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) to help build national capacity to end violence against women. Already, an initial study had been conducted as part of that programme to examine the types of violence committed against women in the country and the regions in which that violence most often occurred.
Illiteracy rates among women in her country remained too high, she said. Eighty-three per cent of women were illiterate, and the Government had recently launched a number of initiatives to help reduce that percentage to 40 per cent by 2010. The Government had also implemented a number of measures to help reinforce the capacities of women in business. Regionally, equal efforts had been made, and, already, encouraging results were emerging from those efforts. There remained, however, many obstacles to further progress, specifically in terms of the lack of human, financial, material and institutional resources in many developing countries. In spite of those challenges, her Government was optimistic about the political will and engagement on the part all actors to help promote and empower women across the globe.
JANE ASANI-NDELEMANI ( Malawi) said the majority of women in Malawi lived in rural areas, and those women carried out 70 per cent of the agricultural work and produced 80 per cent of the food consumed by families at home. The empowerment of women was, therefore, a major element of Malawi’s poverty reduction strategies. National efforts to improve the welfare of women, particularly in the agricultural sector, had been recognized at international levels. However, greater support for those efforts would help the Government “go the extra mile” for gender equality and women empowerment across all levels of political and social life. Already, it had demonstrated its commitment to strengthening credit mechanisms for women and improving their access to land and farm inputs.
Gender-based violence was a persistent problem for women and girls in Malawi, she said. Such violence reinforced the subordination of women, and often resulted in sexual abuse that led to HIV/AIDS infection or unwanted pregnancies. Malawi was fully committed to ending violence against women, and it had implemented a number of strategies, laws and programmes to end all forms of violence against women. In particular, it had enacted a national law on the prevention of domestic violence, and had adopted a “National Response to Gender-Based Violence”. Finally, she noted that the representation of women in national politics and corporate business remained low, and that high-levels of poverty among women and girls continued to be a major obstacle to gender equality. In order to address the problem of representation, Malawi was committed to achieving 50 per cent representation for women in parliament by 2009. Overall, she added that Malawi was committed to all efforts to empower women and improve their status.
CORNELIE ADOU NGAPI (Congo), aligning herself with the Group of 77 and China, voiced support for more in-depth dialogue at the international level on the advancement of women, adding that no country could design strategies without taking account of international trends. For its part, the Congo was party to the Women’s Anti-Discrimination Convention and had adopted a national gender policy in early 2008. As part of that framework, the country aimed to mobilize human and financial resources to fight the feminization of poverty, to end violence against women, and to strengthen women’s participation in decision-making.
She went on to address the issue of sexual violence, saying it affected countries during both peaceful periods and wartime. Victims of sexual violence tended to be women, and victims of rape tended to be pre-adolescents or adolescents. Such violence posed a public health problem, even when not fatal, because the victims experienced mental health problems, chronic pain, depression, unwanted pregnancies and other difficulties that impeded their ability to contribute effectively to society. The Government was seeking to improve care for victims by strengthening legal measures and providing gender-sensitive training to the people responsible for applying the law. Men were also being sensitized to the negative effects posed by violence on the health and mental well-being of women and families. She added that the Congo had a road map to bring down maternal mortality and obstetric fistula.
She said the ideal means to secure advances on the issue of women’s rights was through a permanent dialogue framework within the United Nations system. The increased use of sex-aggregated data would also help in mainstreaming gender issues. Certain cultural traditions continued to obstruct progress in many countries and, for that reason, it would be important for the international community to keep holding dialogues and review conferences on women’s issues.
MAJDI RAMADAN ( Lebanon), aligning himself with the Group of 77 and China, noted that a majority of the poor were women. Poverty eradication policies should take that fact into account, since without reducing women’s poverty, overall poverty eradication would remain elusive. He reaffirmed his country’s view that gender equality should be a central goal within the United Nations, and noted the slow progress in improving the representation of women within the Organization, specifically those from developing countries. He added that international cooperation was essential to the achievement of internationally-agreed development goals of all kinds, including development assistance, debt relief and increased market access.
He voiced support for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and its management of the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, as well as support for increasing contributions to that Fund. Creating an enabling environment conducive to the advancement of women required special attention to women in conflict situations and under foreign occupation. In that regard, Israel, the occupying power of Arab lands, should be held accountable for its obligations under humanitarian law, human rights law and international law. For its part, Lebanon had established programmes to end domestic violence within the country and was creating an environment where women could speak openly about their experiences, in that regard. In addition, it was creating a committee to study the situation of immigrant domestic workers, and was working with civil society to train women to better participate in the economy. The Government was also providing funds for female-led enterprises in remote areas.
In terms of women, peace and security, he said the Government had set up a network of local women’s committees to spread awareness of human rights, in the wake of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon. The National Commission for Lebanese Women was also working to disseminate information about international law. Other issues of concern to the Government, and on which it was taking action, included protecting women from crimes of honour, combating trafficking in persons, and providing women with better health care. The remaining challenges included closing the gender gap in education.
ESALA NAYASI ( Fiji) said many considered the current times to be one of the most uncertain economic periods since the Great Depression. For that reason, it was more important than ever to gather strength through effective multilateralism and take positive actions to improve the capacities of women, ensure equal access to resources and opportunities, and minimize their vulnerabilities and exposure to violence and conflict. It was important to include a gender dimension to the current crises. At a national level, all national policies needed to be conscious of their social implications, particularly regarding those who were most vulnerable, including women. It was important to emphasize that economic growth and poverty eradication could not be pursued successfully unless there was sufficient emphasis on the situation of women.
Like most developing countries, Fiji recognized that, even though it had achieved considerable progress in building the capacities and capabilities of women through fair and sound policies over the years, there was still much to be done in ensuring gender equality in all areas of its economy. The Government had a policy on women contained in the “Women’s Plan of Action”, which provided for the implementation of gender mainstreaming in all processes of Government. However, it still found it challenging to implement the agenda for gender equality and the empowerment of women. Fiji needed assistance to effectively address those challenges, and he urged the United Nations, funding agencies and development partners for assistance in that regard.
WARIF HALABI ( Syria), aligning herself with the statement made on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, reiterated her country’s commitment to the Beijing Platform of Action and overall efforts to empower women and to increase their participation in all walks of life. Syria had recently released its second national report on the follow-up to that Platform, which had shown that initiatives to fully empower women politically, economically and socially were already achieving success. Among the priorities that still needed to be addressed were representation issues, especially regarding the number of women in national legislative councils, and the bridging of the gender gap in primary education. Her Government had implemented a number of successful measures to promote gender equality, particularly in terms of national budgeting for women’s activities and gender issues.
Syria had also implemented a number of programmes to assist women living in occupied territories, specifically the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, she said. Women who had been displaced from the Golan Heights to other parts of Syria were able to access Government assistance programmes through a national women’s union. They were also given the opportunity to receive training or other forms of education at Syrian universities and schools. For those women still living in the Golan Heights, Syria offered various forms of financial assistance. However, the international community should do more to respect and honour their commitments to women living in occupied territories in the Syrian Golan Heights and in Palestine. The limited resources that were available for those suffering under occupation were quickly diminishing. More efforts should be made to build a fair peace in those regions, to help reduce the suffering of all those living under occupation, and women, in particular.
JOSE MARIA MONTEREY SUAY ( El Salvador) said his Government had fully incorporated the gender perspective into its policies. As a result, there was a higher percentage of female students in educational institutions at the secondary and tertiary levels. Also, women were increasingly taking up positions in formerly male-dominated areas, such as management, services and the Government, possibly due to an increase in technical training offered to women. There was currently a goal to increase women’s political participation, so that they occupied at least 30 per cent of Government positions. It was hoped that such a strategy would improve opportunities for women to play a role in national development.
He said national programmes on the advancement of women -- including El Salvador’s “networks of solidarity” -- had focused on providing women with greater access to education, facilitating their entry into the labour market, protecting them from gender-based violence, caring for their health needs, as well as providing them with access to economic resources. Gender equity was seen as a means for empowering women, which was crucial to sustainable development and democracy-building. He stressed the link between compliance with international commitments and improvements to women’s living conditions, and praised the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) for having supported El Salvador in meeting its international obligations. He called on the Secretary-General to fill the top post at INSTRAW as quickly as possible.
ZACHARY D. MUBURI-MUITA (Kenya), aligning himself with the Group of 77 and China, said Kenya had made tremendous strides in achieving goals relating to education, health and the empowerment of women, including their involvement in high-level decision-making. But, the trafficking of persons, particularly of women, was “increasing exponentially” despite efforts to prevent it from happening. At the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, Member States had requested more information on trafficking in persons, particularly women, in order to better understand the magnitude of the problem and to formulate a better response. That information had shown that the phenomenon had been increasing exponentially. In response, African heads of State, at a July 2008 meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, took the lead and called for a global plan of action to address the multifaceted dimensions of that “heinous crime”. While the current Convention and other mechanisms provided the normative and legal framework for action, they did not provide a cohesive plan on how countries could work together, share best practices and combat trafficking in all its manifestations.
As a communication hub of eastern Africa, Kenya was both a source and transit point of trafficked women and girls, he said. The incessant conflict and biting poverty in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region only exacerbated the problem. Recent initiatives by regional leaders would not succeed without strong partnerships from all stakeholders. Strong partnerships and greater support were also necessary to help Africa achieve the Millennium Goals, especially those relating to maternal health and gender equality. Failure to achieve those goals would be a “serious indictment on all of us”, and, as such, it was necessary for Member States to do more to build national capacity and provide predictable resources to countries and institutions that were advancing the gender agenda.
JOEL M. NHLEKO ( Swaziland) said the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women was one of the prerequisites for the national achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. However, at the halfway point to 2015, statistics showed that there had been little progress on the fifth Millennium Goal regarding maternal health. More than half a million women died each year in childbirth and more than 2 million women were currently living with obstetric fistula. The persistence of obstetric fistula was a sign that health systems were failing to meet the needs of women and girls, and more efforts were needed at the national, regional and international levels to help strengthen those systems and achieve the fifth Millennium Goal.
Rural women played a vital role in society and could also play a vital role in development, he said. A number of national programmes had been designed to facilitate projects initiated by women, such as microcredit financing schemes. The main objective of those schemes was to address the obstacles that women faced in establishing their own small businesses, such as the lack of financial services provided by formal financial institutions and the lack business acumen. Touching briefly on the subject of violence against women, he underlined the severe and long-lasting consequences of such violence and the fact that only a small percentage of the perpetrators of those crimes were ever convicted. For those reasons, new legislation to address domestic and sexual violence would soon be passed by the national parliament. In closing, he reaffirmed his Government’s commitment to the advancement of women, saying that gender equality and the empowerment of women were critical for the achievement of sustainable development in all areas of society.
Introduction of draft resolutions
The representative of Antigua and Barbuda, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, introduced the draft resolution on the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly (document A/C.3/63/L.5), which focuses on further actions to strengthen the nexus between economic and social development, with a special emphasis on the three pillars of the World Summit: poverty eradication, productive employment and social integration.
The draft stresses the need for policies and programmes to contain specific social protection measures for marginalized socio-economic sectors and groups. It also addresses the challenges of youth employment and mainstreaming the concerns of persons with disabilities into the development agenda. The draft further addresses the ongoing global financial, energy and food crises, and stresses that fair international trading practices and sound financial systems were effective tools to create favourable conditions for development.
The representative of Brazil introduced the draft resolution on a follow-up to the implementation of the International Year of Volunteers (document A/C.3/63/L.6). He said that since 1997, draft resolutions had been regularly introduced in support of voluntary work, and, in recent years, those drafts had been approved by consensus. The present draft resolution builds on the text of previous General Assembly resolutions and represented one more step forward towards building greater visibility and recognition for voluntary work. Convinced of the relevance of voluntary work as an important element of social development, the delegations of Brazil and of Japan -- the two co-sponsors of the draft resolution –- therefore invited the membership to support the approval of the draft.
Introducing the draft resolution on follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing (document A/C.3/63/L.4), and speaking, once more, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, the representative of Antigua and Barbuda said that the draft resolution was intended to continue the engagement of the General Assembly on the issue of ageing and older persons. The draft places particular emphasis on building capacity and the inclusion of “ageing-specific” and “ageing-mainstreaming” efforts of Member States, the United Nations system and the international community as a whole. The draft resolution requests Member States to present their views on the outline of the strategic implementation framework for future implementation, and asks the Secretary-General to translate the Guide to the National Implementation of the Madrid Plan into the official languages of the United Nations.
The Committee next heard the introduction of a draft resolution on the United Nations Literacy Decade: education for all (document A/C.3/63/L.7) by the representative of Mongolia. She said the draft reflected trends in literacy as reflected midway through the Decade, which, though numerous, still left hundreds of millions of adults illiterate and millions of children not in school. The draft called for renewed collective commitment to the cause. The quality of programmes was as important as quantity, requiring greater investment and more data to be collected on literacy issues, which the text refers to. The draft would have the General Assembly appeal to Governments to lend more material support to efforts to improve literacy and achieve “education for all”. The text also lists three priority areas meriting particular attention: building stronger commitment, the need to reinforce programme delivery, and the importance of harnessing new resources for literacy programmes.
She made two oral amendments, removing a phrase in operative paragraph 10, that was repeated in paragraph 11, and striking the phrase “action in literacy” in paragraph 11 to be replaced with “based on above priority areas”.
Next, the Committee heard the introduction of a draft resolution on the implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons: realizing the Millennium Development Goals for persons with disabilities (document A/C.3/63/L.3) by the representative of the Philippines. He said the draft was based on a previous resolution, and contained provisions aimed at ensuring that disabled persons could benefit from the outcome of the Millennium Development Goals. The draft stressed the importance of building the capacity of policymakers to craft policies for disabled persons, so as to give disabled persons equal opportunities to participate in the development process. The draft would have the General Assembly assign tasks to the Secretariat, so as to assist Governments in fulfilling those obligations.
The next draft text, on improving the coordination of efforts against trafficking in persons (document A/C.3/63/L.9), was introduced by the representative of Belarus. He said human trafficking and slavery was a serious threat to all countries, especially developing countries, and required a holistic, comprehensive response from international community. The first draft on that topic was adopted by consensus two years ago. The current draft was a follow-up to that resolution, and takes into account findings in the Secretary-General’s report on the subject -- and the reports of other bodies dealing with the matter ‑- as well as the outcome of major United Nations events, such as the Vienna Forum and the General Assembly’s thematic debate on trafficking. It suggests further steps for tackling trafficking in persons, including the creation of a global plan of action. He invited Member States to attend informal consultations on the text, which were ongoing.
The final draft text, on the United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (document A/C.3/63/L.11), was introduced by the representative of Uganda, on behalf of the Group of African States. The text was an update of previous resolutions on the Institute and drew on the Secretary-General’s report on that body. The current draft included two new paragraphs: the first would have the Assembly note the Institute’s efforts to establish contact with organizations within countries and subregional entities; and the second would have the Assembly welcome the Institute’s decision to convene a meeting of Ministers to improve the flow of resources to the Institute. She also invited Member States to participate in informal consultations on the draft, which were ongoing.
Statements
The Committee then resumed its discussion on the advancement of women.
ROSEMARY BANKS (New Zealand), speaking on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum, said one of the greatest modern human rights disasters was the high rate of maternal mortality and disability. For every woman that died in childbirth, 20 more were left injured or disabled, and unable to participate fully in society. Of all of the Millennium Development Goals, the international community had achieved the least amount of progress on the goal related to maternal health. Regionally, the need for better health for women and their communities had been addressed in the Pacific Plan for Regional Cooperation and Integration, which was the guiding framework for the development of the Pacific Islands region.
Emergency obstetric care, skilled birth attendance, and family planning were central to confronting the question of maternal mortality and disability in the region, she said. Accurate reporting and effective data collection were also essential, as both helped countries to fully understand the nature and extent of the problem. Mobilizing greater resources and increasing the availability, quality and use of maternal health services would also be key to improving maternal mortality rates. Another important area of work in the region was in the field of family planning, specifically the increased use and choice of contraceptives for women. The “blunt instrument” used to assess the progress of the Pacific Islands on maternal health -- the maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 births -- was often inadequate in the region, due to the very small size of some of the Pacific Islands populations. As such, better indicators needed to be developed to establish and monitor progress.
HJALMAR W. HANNESSON ( Iceland) said that, although some progress had been made towards gender equality and the empowerment of women, a large gap still remained between existing commitments and their implementation. Women and girls were subjected to persistent and grave violence all over the globe and they continued to be the principal victims of domestic and sexual violence, including in armed conflict. Trafficking in human beings, particularly women and girls, was also on the rise. Such challenges required a comprehensive and concerted approach that underlined the importance of full and effective implementation of international standards on violence against women. The recommendations included in the Secretary-General’s report on the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women constituted a clear strategy for Member States and the United Nations system.
On the subject of peace and security, he said that an effective, global Arms Trade Treaty would enhance the protection of all human beings, including women. As well, the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security would ensure the equal participation of women in peace processes, which was fundamental to achieving, maintaining and promoting sustainable peace and stability. Iceland attached great importance to the Commission on the Status of Women and the agreed conclusions adopted at the fifty‑second session of the Commission on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The United Nations had a central role to play in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, and the importance of strengthening the Organization, including at the country level, was indisputable. In closing, he expressed his delegation’s support for a new gender entity within the United Nations system to improve the Organization’s ability to respond to gender issues.
SUDHIR BHATTARAI ( Nepal), aligning himself with the Group of 77 and China, said good progress had been achieved in integrating the gender perspective into the global development agenda. But, much remained to be done in terms of achieving full and effective implementation of international commitments. In Nepal, one-third of the Constituent Assembly were women, and its interim Constitution guaranteed the civil liberties and fundamental freedoms of people, including women and marginalized groups. Nepal accorded high priority to poverty alleviation, girl’s education, health, women’s access to economic resources, political and social empowerment, and elimination of gender discrimination. Recent policies and programmes adhered fully to agreements to promote women’s rights, gender equality and economic, social, cultural and political empowerment of women at all levels. In addition, the Government had a gender-responsive budget.
He said Nepal was party to most international human rights instruments related to the rights of women, and, as a result, had taken several legal and administrative measures to end discrimination and violence against women. The Government was working to create a framework that would allow strong action against criminal offences, such as physical exploitation, domestic violence and trafficking against women, while at the same time “abolishing” the “patriarchal social structure”. He expressed his belief that the United Nations could play a significant role in promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, and voiced support for proposals to create an effective United Nations “gender architecture”. When reviewing financing for development in Doha, he suggested that priority be given to the issue of financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
NAJWA AL-SERRI (Yemen), aligning herself with the statement made on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said that Yemeni women now enjoyed all the same rights and freedoms as men, thanks to the adoption of numerous national strategies and measures to improve the status of women in the country. Her Government had adopted a national strategy for women, and had established a Supreme Council of Women that included all ministries and pertinent bodies relevant to women. As well, Yemen had submitted its sixth report on the level of implementation of the Women’s Anti-Discrimination Convention, and was fully committed to the Beijing
Published on: 2008-10-15
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