Economic and Social Council Concludes Annual Ministerial Review, Hears Nearly 50 Delegates as General Debate Begins
In parallel meetings today, the Economic and Social Council wrapped up its Annual Ministerial Review, spotlighting actions and progress aimed at achieving the global agenda on women’s issues, as it also began its general debate, which heard nearly 50 Government delegations outline their efforts to promote higher standards of living, full employment and socio-economic progress " particularly for women and girls " at home and abroad.
(Media-Newswire.com) - In parallel meetings today, the Economic and Social Council wrapped up its Annual Ministerial Review, spotlighting actions and progress aimed at achieving the global agenda on women’s issues, as it also began its general debate, which heard nearly 50 Government delegations outline their efforts to promote higher standards of living, full employment and socio-economic progress — particularly for women and girls — at home and abroad.
On a busy penultimate day of the high-level segment of its 2010 substantive session, the Council’s Annual Ministerial Review — which this year featured a record 13 countries making voluntary presentations on actions to mainstream a gender perspective into all sectors and achieve international targets relating to gender equality and women’s empowerment — concluded with detailed presentations by ministers, other senior officials and civil society representatives from Portugal, Republic of Korea, Norway, Australia, Congo and Mongolia.
While all the country presentations focused on progress and challenges in ensuring gender equality 15 years after world leaders adopted the landmark Beijing Platform for Action, each featured a unique highlight. Portugal, for example, noted the appointment of a Secretary of State for Equality in its new Government, as well as its willingness to tackle sensitive issues such as sexual and reproductive health rights, and its gender-related development cooperation efforts within the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. The Republic of Korea spotlighted the role that women had played in transforming it from a “poverty stricken” nation into an active donor of aid to developing countries.
Norway’s presenter announced that, for the first time, the Norwegian Cabinet was made up of an equal number of men and women, acknowledging, however, that “we are still not there” in achieving real gender equity, and that no progress could be attained without strong political will and input from a vocal civil society. Australia’s report focused on that country’s “Development for All” strategy and highlighted its development cooperation with Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.
As for the other national reports, Congo’s presenter noted Government efforts to tackle “invisible but omnipresent” violence against women and girls, while Mongolia’s report flagged the key lesson learned — promoting women’s rights required integrated actions, strong cooperation and broad consultation among all branches of Government, as well as civil society and international development partners.
Summing up the Annual Ministerial Review, Council President Hamidon Ali ( Malaysia ) thanked all participating delegations, including the six that had shared their national experiences today, as well as those of Brazil, Netherlands, Guatemala, Republic of Moldova, Namibia, France and the United States, which had made presentations earlier in the week. He said the discussions had been “rich and highly informative”, with valuable lessons that could be helpful to all States.
He said it had been heartening to learn that all countries were making progress to ensure gender equality and the empowerment of women, in accordance with their own circumstances and within their own means. At the same time, it was clear that much remained to be done, and that integrated and coordinated gender mainstreaming strategies must target both women and, especially, men.
Many of those same issues were raised in the Council’s parallel high-level general debate, where ministers and other senior Government officials stressed that women constituted the majority of the world’s poor, lacking access to the basic education, health care, financial resources and rights that would otherwise help them out of the vicious poverty trap.
“Women’s human rights must be put on a par with all other rights,” Council Vice-President Somduth Soborun ( Mauritius ), declared in opening remarks. While progress had been made since the ground-breaking 1995 Beijing Declaration — which outlined measures to achieve greater equality for women — more must be done to overcome the gender-based discrimination that inhibited women and girls from leading lives of their own choosing.
In the ensuing debate, several speakers emphasized that women disproportionately felt the negative impacts of the global food, climate and finance crises. “As a woman, I can feel in my skin our disproportionate suffering in times of crisis or hardship,” said Mozambique’s Minister for the Coordination of Environmental Affairs. The role of women in eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development deserved pragmatic and action-oriented attention.
Others pointed out that the Millennium Development Goals could only be achieved by respecting women as rights-holders and key agents of change, empowered to contribute to development. In that context, they hailed the consensus reached yesterday on creating a new United Nations gender entity, with Belgium’s delegate, speaking for the European Union, reiterating the regional bloc’s commitment to gender equality as a human right, a matter of social justice and a driver of peace.
Still other speakers highlighted the links between gender inequality and poverty, and further, between poverty and violence against women. Kenya’s delegate called for a breaking of that cycle, saying that any serious effort to eliminate bias against women must include a change in societal attitudes. Against that backdrop, some speakers described measures to integrate the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action into national policies, and to include a gender perspective in initiatives aimed at realizing the Millennium Goals.
Lead presenters in the Annual Ministerial Review were Elsa Pais, Secretary of State for Gender Equality, and João Gomes Cravinho, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, of Portugal; Paik Hee-Young, Minister for Gender Equality and Family of the Republic of Korea; Ingrid Fiskaa, State Secretary for International Development of Norway; Robert McMullan, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development of Australia; Jeanne-Françoise Leckomba Loumeto-Pombo, Minister for the Promotion and Integration of Women of Congo; and Tugsjargal Gandi, Minister for Social Welfare and Labour of Mongolia.
Also participating in the general debate were ministers, other senior Government officials and representatives from Yemen ( on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China ), Nepal ( on behalf of the Least Developed Countries ), Morocco, Pakistan, Brazil, Estonia, Italy, Poland, Namibia, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Iran, Czech Republic, Australia, Latvia, Austria, Israel, Bolivia, Switzerland, Rwanda, Liechtenstein, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Belarus, Honduras, Bahamas, Peru, Lithuania ( on behalf of the Community of Democracies ), Argentina, Gambia, Uruguay, Ukraine, Ghana, Mexico, Turkey, Ethiopia, Croatia, Cuba, El Salvador, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea.
A representative of the Observer Mission of the Holy See also addressed the meeting.
Also speaking was a representative of the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund.
The Economic and Social Council will reconvene in parallel sessions at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 2 July, to continue its general debate and hold a high-level policy dialogue with international financial and trade institutions on current developments in the world economy.
Background
The Economic and Social Council met today to begin the general debate of its high-level segment, and in parallel meetings, continue its Annual Ministerial Review, with presentations by Portugal, Republic of Korea, Norway, Australia, Congo and Mongolia.
Annual Ministerial Review — Portugal
Moderating this morning’s Review session was Ritva Koukku-Ronde, an Under-Secretary of State from Finland.
ELSA PAIS, Secretary of State for Gender Equality of Portugal, presented the relevant report ( document E/2010/59 ), saying that, some 15 years after the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, it was time to ensure widespread implementation of that landmark framework. Indeed, broad attainment of the Millennium Goals could not occur unless all globally agreed targets on women’s empowerment were met. Portugal also support full implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 ( 2000 ) on women peace and security.
She went on to highlight the aims of national plans to tackle domestic and other violence against women, a crime in Portugal, as well as trafficking in human beings, and screened a video of relevant awareness-raising campaigns. Laws on political participation by women had been one of the legislative highlights of Portugal’s post-dictatorship growth, she said, adding that women could help make a better democracy. Portugal now had five female ministers out of a total of 16. Moreover, the Government had set various quotas to ensure adequate female representation in political posts. She went on to highlight her country’s development cooperation efforts in the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.
JOÃO GOMES CRAVINHO, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Portugal, said there was now a broad international consensus that the well-being and empowerment of women had a major and positive impact on the promotion of development. However, situations in which women’s human rights were threatened or violated remained tragically widespread. Moreover, the political, economic and social discrimination they suffered hindered the development possibilities for entire communities and countries. It was, therefore, perfectly clear that, without significant progress in advancing the economic and social empowerment of women and strengthening their rights, it would be very difficult to reduce poverty, eliminate hunger and promote sustainable development.
With all that in mind, he said, the Portuguese Government was strongly committed to the promotion of gender equality, and had been working hard to ensure that proper guidelines were in place for the incorporation of a systematic gender perspective into national development activities, both at home and abroad. The Government was currently reviewing its national Gender Strategy for Development Policy, an exercise that brought together both government and non-government actors.
He said the new gender strategy would, among other things, focus on promoting women’s empowerment through access to education and income-generating activities; promoting the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls; raising attention to the impact of climate change on women’s lives; and strengthening commitment to combat all forms of gender-based violence. Looking beyond Portugal, he highlighted the Government’s development cooperation with Guinea-Bissau, largely in the health sector and with a focus on women’s reproductive rights health.
EKATRINA PARRILLA, Executive Director for Public Policies, Presidential Secretariat for Planning and Programming of Guatemala, and the first reviewer, said her Government was pleased that Portugal was targeting gender equality, domestic violence and human trafficking, as well as making efforts to promote socio-economic development, which had led to poverty reduction. Guatemala was keen to hear more about efforts to bolster women’s participation in non-political spheres. She was also interested in more information on actions and programmes to boost efforts to attain the Millennium Goals, in Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries.
INGRID FISKAA, State Secretary for International Development of Norway, commended Portugal’s significant progress on gender equality, both internally and through development cooperation. At the same time, she requested additional information about the Government’s actions to improve women’s political representation. She asked if Portugal could provide more information on initiatives to promote women’s health and reproductive rights, and efforts to tackle domestic violence.
Ms. PAIS said in response that bodies had been established at the local levels and the councillors in charge of them had been tasked with setting policies in areas such as paternity leave, wage equality and burden-sharing in the home. A website had been created to track those local-level initiatives, with a view not only to improve information exchanges between councillors, but to invite comments from civil society.
Mr. CRAVINHO, for his part, highlighted the work being carried out through the Iberia-American development cooperation, saying that the Portuguese Government contributed to a fund intended to benefit indigenous people in Portuguese-speaking countries, as well as to programmes training gender affairs officials. On its work with Mozambique, he said the Government was helping that country with institutional capacity-building and policy development in areas such as violence against women and human trafficking. Portugal had helped set up a model police station in Maputo that handled domestic violence cases specifically, he said, adding, however, that Portugal needed to strengthen its overall efforts to include men and boys in its gender initiatives, both at home and abroad.
Commenting on the presentation was the representative of Cape Verde.
Annual Ministerial Review — Republic of Korea
PAIK HEE-YOUNG, Minister for Gender Equality and Family of the Republic of Korea, presented her country’s report ( document E/2010/71 ), accompanied by Kim Bonghyun, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
Ms. PAIK said the international community faced “lingering obstacles” in its effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, noting that the majority of children around the world who did not attend school were girls; women were often engaged in insecure or low-paying occupations; and, despite greater parliamentary participation, they were still underrepresented in political decision-making. Over the past three decades, the Republic of Korea’s economy had grown rapidly, and on 1 January 2010, it had joined the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ), having successfully transformed itself from a poverty-stricken nation into a donor country.
“In explaining such rapid development, it is necessary to understand the significant role of Korean women in the course of socio-economic development,” she said. Since the 1960s, the Government had been taking steps to develop the political and economic capacities of women by incorporating them into the overall development process and reflecting their needs and interests in national policy planning. In particular, the sixth Five-Year Economic and Social Development Plan, launched in 1987, laid out concrete policies geared towards promoting the use of women resources, building their capacity, and improving welfare schemes for women. The Seventh Plan mapped out detailed policy directives for women’s development, encompassing education, employment, culture, social activity, welfare and international cooperation.
She went on to highlight her country’s work in strengthening institutional mechanisms for women’s advancement, gender mainstreaming efforts, and increasing women’s representation. In order for it to realize its commitment to enhancing the status of women, women must be better represented in all areas, including the political, economic, social and cultural realms. In that context, the Government had amended, among other things, the Political Parties Act, which required parties to nominate women for at least 50 per cent of the seats in general elections and local council polls. As for the way forward, the Republic of Korea planned not only to continue its efforts, but to help developing countries achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment through enhancement of their economic capabilities; increasing their educational and employment opportunities; and helping to establish or strengthen systems for gender equality.
OCTAVIO ERRÁZURIZ ( Chile ), the first reviewer, applauded the Republic of Korea’s transformation into a donor country, and hailed its work in the area of information and communications technology. He requested additional information on efforts to restructure family and gender policies, and was also keen for the delegation to elaborate on efforts to bolster women’s employment, especially in the field of science and technology.
HASAN KLEIB ( Indonesia ) also hailed the Republic of Korea’s “inspiring” transformation, and noted that its report presented many interesting examples of efforts to help developing countries. Those examples emphasized the importance of sharing growth through cooperation, “which is the backbone for advancing our common gaols”, he said, recalling that the Republic of Korea and Indonesia had signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2009 on joint training and programming between their respective ministries dealing with gender.
MÅRTEN GRUNDITZ ( Sweden ) said his delegation had noted with great interest the establishment of “target systems” or quotas to increase women’s participation, adding that his own country was considering similar quotas for the private sector, but faced some public reluctance. Requesting examples of the Republic of Korea’s experience in that area, he asked whether it was considering extending its programmes to the private sector. He also asked for more information on what Republic of Korea was doing to include men in its efforts to mainstream gender.
Mr. Kim said in response that the Government would continue to target women’s empowerment in developing countries, and to that end, had named seven gender officers in 2009 to take charge of gender mainstreaming and compiling sex-disaggregated data on the country’s aid projects. The Government was also targeting women’s health and capacity-building to improve the conditions of women in developing countries.
Ms. PAIK, for her part, said the country had participated in OECD initiatives to enhance the position of women in the workplace through programmes in “interrupted career” support, maternity and paternity leave, and workplace equality, among others. The Government was also keen to protect women against all forms of violence, and had enacted laws to protect them against domestic violence and sex trafficking.
As for gender-specific welfare programmes, she said that system had initially focused on groups such as women with disabilities, but had since broadened to cover all women. For example, such programmes now provided assistance in the form of childcare and babysitting services for women who became ill or were forced to leave town on business, among others. She also highlighted the various national funds for women, which supported, for instance, career-seeking college graduates, or women needing help to start businesses.
Annual Ministerial Review – Norway
INGRID FISKAA, State Secretary for International Development of Norway, introduced her country’s report ( document E/2010/66 ), announcing that, for the first time ever, the Norwegian Cabinet comprised 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women. Indeed, two out of three party leaders in the Government were women. Despite that political progress, however, “we are still not there”, she said. In the labour market, women still earned less than men; there were still disparities in sharing the burden of household duties; stereotypical attitudes remained a challenge; violence against women persisted; and minority women still faced discrimination. Yet, on that point, she said Norway’s position was clear: no tradition, religion or culture could ever serve as an excuse for violence against women.
Emphasizing that political will was the key to her country’s success, she said the Government had had the political will to ensure social justice, human rights and equal opportunity for all members of society, regardless of their level of development. Indeed, while it was easy to think that Norway’s generous welfare policies on gender equality had been made possible by its oil revenues, that assumption would be incorrect. “How was this possible? It was the result of political struggle by the poor and progressive — not least by women,” she said, emphasizing that Norwegian women had won the right to vote in the early 1900s.
She went on to say that by the 1950s the Government had ratified International Labour Organization ( ILO ) conventions on freedom of association and equal pay for men and women. “The modern Norwegian welfare State is built on women’s participation in the workforce,” she said, noting that greater participation in the labour force meant a larger tax base that could be drawn upon to expand the social security system and provide better public services. Norway had also promoted political empowerment by ensuring gender equity in Parliament, she said, noting that the Saami Parliament was now 46 per cent composed of women. As for economic empowerment, affirmative action and quotas had been needed to secure gender balance in elected positions, and Norway had been the first country in the world to introduce a legal requirement for gender balance within private sector company boards.
She went on to highlight several family policies promoting gender equality, including generous welfare schemes that allowed parents to combine work and childcare. They included an entire year of paid parental leave, with “quota reserves” for fathers; paid leave when a child was sick; and the right to reduce the number of working hours for employees caring for young children. Wrapping up, she stressed that nothing she had reported today would have been possible without the persistent “push and pressure” from Norwegian civil society, especially women’s groups. Cooperation with both trade unions and employer’s organizations had also been vital to the push to reach gender goals, she said.
METTE MOBERG of Norway’s Forum for Women and Development praised the Government’s cooperation with women’s civil society groups, but noted that, while she was pleased that the report highlighted Government actions to prevent violence against women, the brief mention of that aspect masked the depth of the problem, in Norway and elsewhere. The Forum had also hoped for more targeted and comprehensive strategies to address the impact of climate change on women.
TRINE LINSE SUNDNES of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions said the high participation of women in Norway’s labour would not have been possible without the tripartite dialogue between Government, employers and civil society, among other social partners. The development of child day-care facilities, promotion of the “father’s quota” and wage improvements had all resulted from that dialogue. At the same time, the gender pay gap must be comprehensively solved, she said, adding that greater efforts should be made to move women from part-time to full-time employment. The needs of migrant women should also be addressed, she emphasized.
SVEN OPEKARD of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise said Norway’s labour market was highly segregated and women tended to dominate the public sector. The persistent 15 per cent wage gap was not an example of mistreatment but rather the outcome of a traditional wage gap between the public and private sectors. On the perceived “competence gap”, he said talent was equally distributed between the sexes, and having women in management positions was “simply good business”.
GERT ROSENTHAL ( Guatemala ), the first reviewer, said Norway’s report demonstrated the importance of a strong State in a position to implement public policies that made women a priority. Norway’s progress had also been speedy because it was invested in an ongoing review of its gender policies and initiatives, he said, adding that the country had shown rapid socio-economic growth for women. Nevertheless, there were challenges, especially in promoting full-time employment for women, he said, asking the Norwegian panel for additional information on its plans “to recover the remaining ground” and its international development cooperation priorities.
PIET DE KLERK ( Netherlands ) complimented Norway’s “extensive and frank report”, noting that the presentation highlighted the heavy reliance of social change upon political will. Unfortunately, such support could not always be taken for granted, he said, asking what Norway was doing to keep gender equality and women’s empowerment on the agenda. He also requested additional information on Norway’s experience in promoting parental leave among men. Had such programmes led more women to take jobs or move from part-time to full-time work?
Ms. FISKAA responded by reiterating that her country’s gender equality initiatives had been driven by a strong and vocal civil society. Indeed, labour and trade unions remained active in pressing the Government to take firm action in the area of employment. The Government was aware that it could not be content with the progress made, and realized that the gender equality debate must continue, especially among younger generations.
On other topics, she said all Government ministries were now charged with carrying out analyses of their respective gender-related activities. The impact of implementing such activities was now supposed to be included in ministries’ budget lines. The Government had found that most ministries were able to include gender-related activities in their budgets and successfully to use gender- and sex-disaggregated data to outline their programmes. On family leave, she said employee attitudes on the issue of parental leave for men were now changing, resulting in higher numbers of women entering, or remaining in, the workforce.
The representative of Portugal also participated in the discussion.
Annual Ministerial Review – Australia
Council President Hamidon Ali ( Malaysia ) moderated the afternoon session of national voluntary presentations.
ROBERT MCMULLAN, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development of Australia, presenting his country’s report ( document E/2010/63 ), said his Government had an ambitious approach to international development and had in recent years built a bigger and better aid programme. Australia had pledged to go further in future with the aim of ensuring “development for all”. In that context, the Government targeted all groups, especially the disadvantaged, he said, going on to outline some of the tangible actions that his country, working with partner Governments, had achieved in gender equity.
“Gender equity makes sense,” he said, emphasizing that when girls had equal access to education, birth rates declined, maternal mortality fell and the health of both women and children improved. When women as well as men had access to economic opportunity, it helped families prosper and helped the country grow. “Women have half the world’s talent and we should all use it,” he said, adding that Australia had seen that when women came together to exert influence on policy formulation and decision-making, the lives of all citizens improved. Last week, Australia had appointed its first female Prime Minister, he recalled, noting that the Governor General was also a woman, as were the state Premiers of Queensland and New South Wales.
He then turned to an issue about which both developed and developing countries had to admit they had not done enough to address — violence against women, including domestic violence. With that in mind, Australia had provided Papua New Guinea with some $75 million for activities in support of efforts to reduce domestic violence, he said, citing also a community-level education programme with the Association of Men against Violence, under way in Timor-Leste.
He went on to say that education was the flagship of his country’s aid efforts, especially since women and girls represented two thirds of the almost 1 billion people globally who lacked basic literacy skills. Children with disabilities were especially disadvantaged. Another example of Australia’s development cooperation was its partnership with Papua New Guinea in promoting faster progress towards basic education, in support of that country’s Universal Basic Education Plan. Concluding, he said: “We face a long-term challenge. Despite our achievements and ambition, we still have a long way to go.”
SOFIA MESQÍTA BORGES ( Timor-Leste ), the first reviewer, described the presentation as a testament to Australia’s commitment to ensuring broad development for all. The Government of Timor-Leste enjoyed strong relationships with Australia and their joint development programme highlighted the need for national ownership of such initiatives, with balanced participation by both sides. As a small island developing State still recovering from conflict as it struggled to consolidate its administrative institutions, Timor-Leste shared a common need to achieve the Millennium Goals, and appreciated Australia’s ongoing support to that end.
ROBERT GUBA AISI ( Papua New Guinea ) said that Australia’s presentation had noted a number of joint programmes that were being carried out within the robust and mutually respectful relationship between the two countries. There was also a steadily growing aspect of people-to-people links between the two nations. He hailed Australia’s commitment to the Millennium Declaration’s call for strengthening the international partnership for development. He also stressed the need to “zero in” on education and awareness-raising for boys and young men, so as to better sensitize them to gender issues.
JOÃO GOMES CRAVINHO, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Portugal, the final reviewer, said Australia’s report noted the links between women, development and security, and he wondered if the Government was considering adopting an action plan on implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 ( 2000 ). He also asked whether Australia, Portugal and Timor-Leste could do more together to address gender issues in Timor-Leste. What was Australia doing to promote institutional consolidation in fragile States?
Mr. MCMULLEN said in response that, while the Timorese Government made cooperation easy because it had prioritized gender issues, he had to admit that more could be done, especially in helping that country lower its child and maternal mortality rates. Australia was also keen to press ahead with implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 ( 2000 ) on women peace and security.
The representative of Israel also participated in the discussion.
Annual Ministerial Review – Congo
JEANNE-FRANÇOISE LECKOMBA LOUMETO-POMBO, Minister for the Promotion and Integration of Women of Congo, delivered her country’s report ( document E/2010/78 ), saying that Congo was 52 per cent female and had prioritized gender in its poverty reduction strategy paper. The national gender policy covered the mainstreaming of gender into all sectors; improving women’s productivity; enhancing access to social services; strengthening social benefits for women; and boosting women’s social status. The Government was also strengthening its efforts to improve girl’s access to education and to combat violence against women.
She went on to say that the Government was also working to curb school drop-out rates and to alleviate the burden of education costs on parents by providing free primary school text books. It was also making significant efforts to reduce maternal mortality, which were caused chiefly by induced abortions, post-partum haemorrhages, post-abortion infections and malaria. Congo was also struggling to update its medical equipment, training and facilities. It had increased budget allocations to the health sector in order to bolster the medicine supply system and reduce health-care costs, especially for prenatal care. The Government had taken action to modernize health-care centres and hospitals.
She said women had very low presentation in public life, chiefly because of cultural and traditional attitudes, but also due to low interest among women in participating in advocacy groups. In response, the Government had developed a number of important bills to bolster women’s participation in the political sphere. On other issues, she said the Government was targeting the agricultural sector by rehabilitating rudimentary and archaic infrastructure, and establishing support centres to help girls and young women enter the work force.
On violence against women, she said the Government had established a conservatory against domestic violence and hoped to review the Penal Code so it would cover rape, domestic violence and workplace harassment, among other crimes. That review would be accompanied by a campaign to sensitize men to gender issues, she said. Given its enormous financial needs, the country would require between $6 million and $16 million to implement all its women-related programmes and projects. Concluding, she said that, while progress had been made in education and women’s representation, Congo acknowledged that more work lay ahead, and it was prepared to press ahead in pursuit of the agreed gender targets, working with traditional and new partners to that end.
ZHANG DAN ( China ), the first reviewer, welcomed the Congolese Government’s integration of gender targets into its national development strategy, and its efforts to ensure equal work for equal pay. It attached high importance to improving women’s health and was certainly in a better position today to achieve the Millennium Goals. While the country certainly faced challenges, especially in addressing maternal health and the high drop-out rate, China was certain that it could take significant steps to address those issues if the Government remained committed and the international community provided assistance. Among other questions, she asked what actions the Government had taken to offset the impact of the global economic and financial crisis, and what measures it was taking to ensure that women had access to social services.
CÉCILE SPORTIS, Gender Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, said it would be impossible to obtain results without addressing serious health concerns, especially HIV/AIDS and ill-equipped medical facilities. What road map did the Government have to improve the situation of women by 2015? How did it plan to provide women with access to adequate and modern medical care? On violence against women, “the common negative heritage of all the world’s women”, she said men and boys must be included in the effort to combat the practice.
ADU NGAPI, Director-General for Gender of Congo, said in response that the Government was aware that women’s needs were different from those of men, and to that end, its poverty reduction strategy targeted mircocredit and maternal health, among other issues. Acknowledging that Congo had one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, she said its health facilities were not up to par, very few planning services were available. The Government was considering a road map that would include training, education and awareness-raising campaigns on neonatal and postnatal care, in addition to rehabilitating medical centres.
Highlighting Government efforts to equalize wages in the formal employment sector, she said there were, at the same time, serious challenges in taking such actions in the informal sector, where most women worked and social security was non-existent. On violence, she noted, among other things, that the Government was working with the media to eliminate stereotypes in school textbooks and on television. The Government was also working with community leaders to tackle stereotypes and reduce domestic violence. A key obstacle to those efforts was the persistence of traditional attitudes about women, which meant that victims of domestic violence rarely came forward and perpetrators were rarely punished. The Government was working with bilateral partners to help frame its response to gender-based violence, she said.
MARTIN ITOUA, a member of the Economic and Social Council of the European Commission and previously a member of the Congolese Government, said girls and boys had equal rights at school and all levels of Government were involved in promoting education for young people. “Fruitful” interaction between the Government and civil society had led to progress in areas such as violence against women, as well as in raising awareness about gender issues among men and boys. He reiterated that the “dynamic” partnership in Congo’s human development campaign would continue to lead to more progress.
Annual Ministerial Review — Mongolia
Tugsjargal Gandi, Minister for Social Welfare and Labour of Mongolia, and Nasan-Ulzii Enkhnasan, Senior Specialist, Division for Strategy and Policy Planning, Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour, presented their country’s report ( document E/2010/80 ).
Ms. GANDI stressed the need for a multisectoral approach in achieving gender equality, noting the links between agriculture and rural development, the need for better health systems, disaster risk reduction, better educational opportunities, migration, food security and better mechanisms for strengthening democratic governance. Those links must be taken into account when designing policies and strategies.
Ms. ENKHNASAN elaborated further on the report, saying that Mongolia was a signatory to many United Nations and ILO conventions concerning discrimination against women, and the Government had enacted several laws to ensure gender equality in all sectors. Mongolia also had a comprehensive national development strategy based on attainment of the Millennium Goals, and Parliament was currently considering a draft law on gender equality.
She said that, to ensure labour rights for women, Mongolia offered career counselling and job matching services, retraining courses, special loans for owners of small and micro-businesses and public works to encourage employment. While the employment rate had risen over time, the economy could not absorb the labour force. However, Mongolia managed to attain a 53 per cent male-to-female ratio among wage employees, thus attaining the Millennium Goals target. But women’s participation in the labour force was still nine points lower than that of men; average salaries in the agricultural sector were lower by 15 per cent; jobs with higher salaries were dominated by men; and rural women received less than 20 percent of the end-produce price.
Major socio-economic changes and a pension-reform initiative could have destabilizing effects, and the Government recognized the need for gender-sensitive policies, she said. Ensuring women’s participation in politics and decision-making was important for their further empowerment, she said, but the Government’s 30 per cent target for women’s participation in politics had failed to receive parliamentary endorsement. However, it had tabled a new bill to re-introduce the concept. Meanwhile, women’s representation in the Parliament was declining, mainly due to financial pressures associated with Mongolia’s first-past-the-post electoral system, and higher participation by women might not be achieved by 2015 without temporary affirmative-action initiatives.
On women’s sexual and reproductive lives, she said Mongolia’s target of reducing maternal mortality rates had led to a four-fold reduction, beginning in 1990. To overcome geographic remoteness, weak infrastructure and poor access to facilities, Mongolia was making more use of telemedicine and “maternal rest homes”. However, there were still large disparities between rural and urban situations, and natural disasters further strained the health-care system. Current thinking centred on improving women’s health care before pregnancy, she said.
URANTSOOJ GOMBOSUREN, Vice-President of MonFemNet, a network of women’s organizations in Mongolia, spoke on behalf of civil society, sharing observations and thoughts on the draft law. She said the Government’s focal point system lacked the financial resources to make policy recommendations, and there was a need to strengthen that capacity. Areas needing attention included the growing wage gap between women and men, which was approaching 20 per cent in agriculture; sexual harassment in the workplace; and low access to credit for women, which was pushing them towards the informal sector. However, she praised the process undertaken to prepare the voluntary report, whereby the governmental and non-governmental sides had striven to reach a common understanding, which was perhaps the most important outcome of the process.
Mr. ERRÁZURIZ ( Chile ), the first reviewer, noted the remaining differences between women in urban and rural areas and asked for more information on initiatives to overcome them. What was being done to spur women’s participation in the labour market? Regarding the proposed gender equality legislation, he asked which main areas were covered by the proposed legislation, and what obstacles had been encountered in developing it. He also requested information on health workers, asking whether there were enough of them to provide the health services needed by women, such as midwives.
NORIHIRO OKUDA ( Japan ), the next reviewer, focused on the human-security aspect of gender equality, asking what Mongolia thought the role of donor countries should be in tackling gender issues. Japan’s “initiative on gender and development” aimed at mainstreaming gender through its ODA programme, he explained. Noting the importance of collaboration between Governments and civil society, he asked for examples of such collaboration and how the Government intended to strengthen that relationship.
Ms. ENKHASAN, replying to the question on human security, explained that Mongolia ran projects on sustainable primary health care, rehabilitation of boarding schools, and teacher training. The Government was expanding social services in peri-urban and rural areas, to better provide free basic education and basic health services. It was also improving sanitation for citizens living in the project areas. A social welfare law provided a cash allowance during pregnancy and for women to care for their infants. Mongolia was a signatory to ILO conventions on equal treatment and payment, protection of mothers and prohibition of forced labour, while national laws protected women against domestic violence, she said. Key indicators showed that women were benefiting from skills training, and drawing on employment benefits at a higher rate than men, thereby contributing to the country’s efforts to create an enabling environment for women.
An outdated social insurance law had mandated a lower retirement age for women, she said, noting, however, that the draft law on gender equality sought to guarantee gender equality in State and public organizations. The draft legislation also addressed sexual harassment in the workplace — a first for Mongolia. It had been drafted with wide participation by civil society organizations and there were a few difficulties in approving it, due mainly to objections over mandatory quotas for women in Parliament and Government organizations. She admitted to a lack of medical personnel in some remote areas, and asked donor countries to be understanding of Mongolia’s need to collect gender-disaggregated data to better evaluate their needs vis-à-vis women’s empowerment.
Ms. URANTSOOJ added that the Government was poised to draft a national programme for building sustainable development of civil society organizations, and intended to amend the law governing non-governmental organizations.
Also participating in the discussion were representatives of the World Meteorological Organization.
General Debate
SOMDUTH SOBORUN ( Mauritius ), Council Vice-President, launched the debate, noting that gender-based discrimination persisted globally, despite increased awareness on gender equality and women’s empowerment. While progress had been made since the Beijing Declaration, more must be done to overcome the gender-based discrimination that inhibited women and girls from leading lives of their own choosing. “Women’s human rights must be put on a par with all other rights,” he declared.
He went on to say that national presentations and panel discussions demonstrated commitment to prioritizing gender equality and women’s empowerment in development strategies. There was a need for broad engagement and dialogue in overcoming challenges to the timely realization of the Millennium Development Goals. Furthermore, the role of partnership in various forms and at different levels was key to generating momentum. “I hope that this debate will provide a platform for launching and strengthening partnerships for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment.”
ABDULLAH M. ALSAIDI ( Yemen ), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, noted that the progress made had been uneven and obstacles remained to the implementation of internationally agreed targets and commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Women still constituted the majority of the world’s poor, while illiteracy, health and violence against them remained key issues. National mechanisms continued to face constraints in implementing their mandates, including inadequate human and financial resources.
“Progress cannot be made towards achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, without progress in gender equality and the empowerment of women,” he said, underlining the need for collective action to eliminate obstacles. He expressed deep concern about the negative impact of the ongoing global crises, which disproportionately affected women. Hailing the future establishment of the new United Nations gender entity, he stressed the importance of ensuring the continuation of all relevant operational activities, field offices and facilities, as well as existing new country programmes.
He went on to emphasize that greater efforts were needed to support developing countries, including through the fulfilment of all commitments on official development assistance ( ODA ), debt relief, market access, financial and technical support and capacity-building. There was a need to translate commitments into action, and to redouble efforts to accelerate progress, he said, reaffirming the commitment of the Group of 77 and China to the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
JAN GRAULS ( Belgium ), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that, despite substantial progress in recent decades, “women and girls still constitute the large majority of the world’s poorest, subsisting on less than $1 a day”. Girls were more likely than boys to suffer poor access to education, while women lacked access to land, financial resources and technologies. Maternal health was the area in which least progress had been made of all the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in fragile States, he said, adding that the picture was made bleaker by the failure adequately to integrate gender equality and women’s rights into development plans. As such, all actors — international organizations, Governments, civil society and the private sector alike — must renew their efforts to place women’s issues at the heart of the development agenda.
Noting that gender equality was a fundamental value for the European Union, he said it had adopted, on 5 March, a women’s charter covering equal economic independence, equality in decision-making and an end to gender-based violence, among other areas. Externally, it had recently adopted its Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development for the 2010-2015 period, which aimed to speed achievement of the Millennium Goals, especially Goals 3 ( gender equality ) and 5 ( maternal health ). The Plan also detailed actions to increase technical capacity for gender mainstreaming, and aimed to make aid more effective by ensuring that gender equality issues were part of the annual and multi-annual planning process with partner countries.
“Achieving the Goals can only be done if we look at women as rights-holders and key agents of change that are empowered to contribute to development,” he stressed, adding that promoting women’s access to full employment and decent work had a positive multiplier effect on the economy. Sharing responsibilities between men and women enhanced everyone’s quality of life and increased women’s opportunities for education, training and political activities. It was also vital to attain universal access to reproductive health and to address the feminization of HIV/AIDS, he said. As for developments at the United Nations, he welcomed yesterday’s breakthrough in negotiations on reforming the Organization’s gender architecture, saying his country would look to the new entity to help countries collect more reliable gender-disaggregated data. In closing, he reiterated Belgium’s strong commitment to gender equality as a human right, a question of social justice and a driver of peace.
GYAN CHANDRA ACHARYA ( Nepal ), speaking on behalf of Least Developed Countries and aligning with the Group of 77 and China, pointed out that challenges to achieving the Millennium Goals were highest in vulnerable countries. Women bore the brunt of obstacles such as poverty, and current levels of financing were inadequate to overcome them, he said, calling for sustainable, enhanced and predictable financing.
Least developed countries had no capacity to withstand economic, social and environmental shocks on their own, he continued. They needed policy coherence, harmonized development cooperation and the promotion of sector-wide programmes. Accountability and transparency were also critical to providing effective results on the ground. Recalling the need to consolidate efforts relating to women and girls, he stressed that economic policies should not undercut development policies.
“We still have a long way to go to enhance the representation of women,” he said, calling for the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. To uplift women’s social, economic and legal status, a multifaceted approach to progress, collective commitments and strong international mechanisms was needed. He also stressed the need to ramp up ODA in favour of least developed countries, noting that aid worked as a counter-cyclical strategy. Lastly, he asked the international community to invest more in developing countries by lending strong support to national programmes and efforts.
NOUZHA SKALLI, Minister for Social Development, the Family and Solidarity of Morocco, said the Millennium Goals were closely linked to the struggle for gender equality, and achieving them was especially related to the fight against discrimination and violence. While the global community had made “undeniable” progress in the area of access to education, among others, considerable challenges were linked to the issue of equality. Promoting women’s rights and equality was the principal avenue for building a fairer, more human world, which required new governance designed and implemented with women’s input.
Noting that her country had clearly committed to implementing an agenda of reforms targeted at promoting human rights and equality, she described the fight against discrimination as a “formidable lever” to further social justice and women’s rights. In 2004, Morocco had reformed its Family Code, which today was based on equality and joint responsibility, and the Nationality Code had also been reformed to give women the same right as men to pass their nationality on to their children born of Moroccan fathers.
Morocco had also intensified its fight against discrimination and, since 2002, had implemented a strategy to combat violence against women, she said. Under the “TAMKINE programme” a draft law against partner violence had been initiated and the Penal Code was being revised. As for maternal health, the mortality rate had dropped from 227 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004, to 132 deaths in 2009 — a 42 per cent decline. Gender-aware budgeting had reached an advanced stage and parity in the management of public affairs, once a major concern, had reached a turning point, she said.
SARDAR MUHAMMAD LATIF KHAN KHOSA, Minister in Charge and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Information Technology of Pakistan, aligning himself with the Group of 77 and China, said his country’s Constitution guaranteed equal rights for all its citizens and ensured full participation by women in all spheres of national life. Pakistan was preparing a national plan to implement the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on the basis of observations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Pakistan had had the honour of electing Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as the first female Prime Minister in the Muslim world, and today it had South Asia’s first woman Speaker of the National Assembly, he said. The Government had recently adopted legislation to protect women’s rights, including a criminal law, and had moved a bill on protection against harassment in the workplace, in 2009. The Gender Reform Action Plan of the Ministry of Women’s Development also aimed to reform the gender agenda in a coherent manner.
Turning to the just-concluded Development Cooperation Forum, he said its deliberations this year had assumed particular significance owing to the troubled state of the global economy, and the consequent squeeze in resource flows to developing countries was expected to undermine their efforts to realize the Millennium Goals. In that context, Pakistan viewed the Forum as a unique, inclusive platform for countries to voice their concerns and shape the international development cooperation framework. Welcoming the creation of a new United Nations gender entity, he said the consolidation would help gender equality and women’s empowerment.
NILCEA FREIRE, Minister of the Special Secretariat of Policies for Women of Brazil, underscored the advances her country had made in economic and social indicators, notably the reduction in inequality between rich and poor. Poverty had been kept low and, thanks to a strategy to promote social justice, Brazil would was likely to attain all the Millennium Goals by 2015. Services offered through the bolsa familia programme included prenatal examinations, nutritional supplements and support for children’s health, she said, noting that the programme had benefited more than 12 million poor families in the country, representing 40 million people.
In terms of education, women were a growing presence in all levels of teaching, she said, adding that more women attended university and held more loans for graduate and doctoral programmes than men. To eliminate inequality between the sexes, the Government had launched a plan in 2005 to combat violence against women, especially black and indigenous women. Brazil had also made progress in advancing progress towards attaining the Millennium Goals and hoped to achieve a 15 per cent reduction in maternal mortality by 2011, she said.
URMAS PAET, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Estonia, said progress towards gender equality had been fragile in the last 15 years. When crises occurred, advances in gender equality and women’s rights were the first to disappear, he said, noting that the current financial crisis had fuelled unemployment, malnutrition and hunger among women. Violence against women had also increased and maternal mortality remained high across much of the developing world. Women were among the most gravely affected by the rising number of environmental disasters, but financing for the mitigation of climate change too rarely took a gender perspective into account.
Still, some progress had been made towards erasing gender inequality, he said, pointing out that several countries had managed to narrow the gender gap in schools. The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Action to Eliminate Violence against Women had set a successful example by helping to bring together judges from several African countries with a view to raising awareness about what was often an unconscious bias in legal reasoning, he said, adding that participants in that Fund were using the “jurisprudence of equality” in their respective courts after forming an association for that purpose.
He said his country contributed to the United Nations Development Fund for Women ( UNIFEM ) and the United Nations Population Fund ( UNFPA ), in addition to providing bilateral aid in support of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Estonia supported several women’s health projects in Afghanistan and had financed others in Georgia aimed at ending gender-based violence, including a psycho-social rehabilitation centre and capacity-development in the region of Abkhazia. In closing, he said the Government was forming a national action plan to implement Security Council resolution 1325 ( 2000 ) on women, peace and security.
MARIA ROSARIA CARFAGNA, Minister for Equal Opportunities of Italy, welcomed the creation of a United Nations gender entity as a “crucial step in promoting women’s rights worldwide”, stressing that each of the Millennium Goals was directly or indirectly linked to women’s rights. Societies in which women could not enjoy the same rights as men would be unable to make adequate progress by 2015, she noted.
Highlighting her country’s initiatives in favour of access to microcredit, she said Italy’s commitments focused on filling existing gaps and widening the scope of social, economic and productive opportunities for women. Progress could be accelerated by extending essential services and strengthening health-care structures to protect women and girls. Female education, she continued, was one of the most powerful means of establishing a supportive environment for protecting the health of mothers and newborns, and it could potentially prevent 700,000 HIV infections year, she said.
The key to achieving Goal 3 was redistributing health-care services and increasing the representation of women in the workplace, she stressed. The Italian Government had taken measures to establish gender equality in the labour market, introducing new laws which imposed severe sanctions on employers who practised discrimination. As for violence against women, she emphasized that physical and mental abuse were great violations of human rights, and even more intolerable when used as an instrument of war. “If we neglect the importance of empowering women and forget the rights of young girls, we risk weakening our countries’ growth because gender equality represents a cost for our national economies,” she said.
JOLANTA FEDAK, Minister of Labour and Social Policy of Poland, said her country worked to implement gender mainstreaming in many ways. It was focusing on improving women’s status, ensuring equal opportunities for women in the labour force, eliminating gender stereotypes, and promoting and generating awareness about gender equality. Within the framework of the initiative competition for non-governmental organizations, her Ministry was co-financing the activities of non-governmental organizations to create equal opportunities for women in socio-economic areas under the “promoting women’s participation in the public life” programme. Promoting women’s participation in decision-making strengthened the public sphere. Fifteen years after the World Conference on Women in Beijing, it was clear that gender equality was necessary for development. The Congresses of Polish Women, organized since Poland’s political transition 20 years ago, showed that the gender equality process could not be stopped.
She said that the Congresses of Polish Women, held in June 2009 and June 2010, had enjoyed the participation of 6,000 Polish women of all stripes. Supported by her Ministry and European Union funds, those Congresses had led to the adoption of measures to foster women’s socio-economic regionally and locally. Efforts to bolster women’s employment and entrepreneurship, help them balance family and professional life, and boost their participation in decision-making had been mainstreamed, but national leaders were concerned over the slow progress in those areas. On average, women accounted for about 20 per cent of parliamentarians, which was not enough for them to influence the most important State decisions. On average, only 60 per cent of women were active in the labour force. Gender equality must be treated as a long-term investment rather than a short-term liability.
DOREEN SIOKA, Minister for Gender Equality and Child Welfare of Namibia, aligning with the Group of 77 developing countries and China, said quality basic education better equipped girls and boys with the knowledge and skills to take an active role in social, economic and political decision-making as they entered adulthood. Namibia had achieved its goals to eliminate gender disparity in secondary education, which it would most likely achieve in primary and tertiary education as well by 2015. In addition, access to education had improved with the adoption of the “Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learners’ Pregnancy” and the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme, which would help meet 2012 targets.
Despite such progress, challenges remained in the implementation of the internationally agreed goals on gender equality and women’s empowerment, she said, underscoring that women were still most likely to be unemployed or working in the informal sector, and ranked among the least paid. They did not have access to credit and were most likely to be affected by HIV. Moreover, there were few women in top positions in the public and private sectors. Recognizing that gender inequality impeded the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, she reaffirmed Namibia’s pledge to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcome of the General Assembly’s twenty-third special session and other internationally agreed goals on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
ALCINDA DE ABREU, Minister for Coordination of Environmental Action of Mozambique, aligning with the Group of 77 and the least developed countries, commended the Secretary-General’s report and agreed with its analysis of impacts of the global challenges to women and gender relations. “As a woman, I can feel in my skin our disproportional suffering in times of crisis or hardship,” she said. It was her strong belief that women’s role in eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development deserved pragmatic and action-oriented attention. Concerted efforts at regional and global levels also were needed to complement national actions to meet those and other challenges, which hampered attainment of the Goals.
She said that Mozambique, for its part, had undertaken “tremendous” efforts to raise women’s status in the public and private sectors and to overcome gender inequalities in Government, Parliament, municipalities and communities. From those efforts, 39.2 per cent of Parliament was now comprised of women, and a woman had served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2010. Mozambique had also seen success in implementing the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. It had crated national machinery for women’s empowerment and gender equality, developed related policies and reviewed discriminatory national legislation. Results of the girl-child education programme also had been “enthusiastic”. Maternal and child mortality had been reduced, as had poverty. Despite that, more must be done in the areas of women’s health and education. In closing, she urged the Council to better respond to emerging challenges for the success of women’s participation in eradicating poverty, adapting to and mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable development.
ALEXANDER YAKOVENKO, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, noted that global financial and economic crises further complicated the achievement of gender equality and stressed the need for specific measures to protect women’s rights, adding that his country shared the Secretary-General’s view that all Member States should develop national strategie
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