Subject: [fem-women2000 612] Onsite Report from 45th Session of the UNCSW - No. 4
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 01:31:39 -0500
Seq: 612
Forwarded by lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org> ---------------- Original message follows ---------------- From: Susanna George <susanna@isiswomen.org> To: apwomen2000@isiswomen.org Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 04:21:06 +0800 Subject: [apwomen2000] Onsite Report from 45th Session of the UNCSW - No.= 4 -- Distributed by Isis International-Manila - linking women, sharing knowledge, engendering change -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Onsite Report from 45th Session of the UNCSW - No. 4 source: Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Isis International-Manila <mavic@isiswomen.org> <fgballeza@yahoo.com> date: 03.08.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 08 March 2001 -Onsite report from the 45th Session of the Commission on the= Status of Women. "Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflict" is the theme of this year's observance of the International Women's Day at the United Nations. To mark the occasion, the UN Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality organised a programme consist of two panel discussions; screening of the film "Women, Peace, Security" produced by UNIFEM and the UN Department of Public Information; a discussion on the 50/50 Campaign, a project that aims to bring a gender balance in government positions and in the UN; and awarding of the first Millennium Peace Prize for Women. In one of the panel discussions, UN Deputy Secretary General Louise Fr=e5=83hette stressed the fact that women are now key to resolving conflic= t. She cited a number of cases where women played a key role in peace building= including the case of women in Guatemala who have been instrumental in putting an end to the 36-year old civil war. In addition, Fr=e5=83hette appealed to UN Member States to nominate more women in key positions in government. In the same panel, Harri Holkeri, President of the UN General Assembly drew= attention to the recent decision of the Hague International Tribunal to declare rape as a crime against humanity. He added that "the UN can no longer ignore women's role in conflict management." He informed the audience that there is now a recommendation to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations to set up a gender unit to raise awareness and ensure that gender perspective is taken into account. For his part, UN Security Council President Volodomyr Yel'chenko paid tribute to women who have been actively securing peace. He emphasized that in response to the need to take a critical look at women's representation in the UN's peacekeeping functions, the Security Council has taken the first step in by formulating Resolution 1325. Adopted on 31 October 2000, Resolution 1325 urges UN Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels and mechanisms for prevention, management and resolution of conflict. Moreover, the Resolution encourages the UN Secretary-General to implement his strategic plan of action calling for an increase in the participation of women at decision-making levels in= conflict resolution and peace processes. In another panel, Elisabeth Rehn, former Special Representative to the Secretary-General in Bosnia and Herzegovina and former Defense Minister of Finland underlined the fact that the involvement of women in all peace processes is crucial for sustainable peace. "In peace negotiations economy,= reconstruction of infrastructures such as roads, bridges and industries are on top of the list. While this is important, all material reconstruction is useless if the minds of the people are crashed, if no program is created to reconstruct the humanity of the suffering people." Ms. Rehn added. Moreover, Rehn pointed out the importance of having more women serving as Special Representative of the Secretary General. According to her, experience has shown her that in certain situations victims trust one woman= more than several men. This is because they see women as more approachable.= "The feminine way of holding hands is not a bad way of creating trust and peace," she stressed. Another panelist, Felicity Hill of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom welcomed the passing of Resolution 1325. She emphasized that this should be used to open doors toward resolution of the 30 wars that are currently raging across the world. Meanwhile, Asma Jahangir, UNIFEM/International Alert Millennium Peace Prize Recipient asserted that women's participation in arm conflicts is tantamount to disempowerment. She also called for zero tolerance for militarization. In another event, the summary of findings of the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal 2000 that took place in Tokyo, Japan in December 2000 was presented to the NGO and some government delegates to the 45th CSW session. Based on evidence presented before it, the Tribunal found the late Emperor Hirohito guilty of and responsible for rape and sexual slavery. In addition, the Judges determined that the government of Japan has incurred state responsibility for its establishment and maintenance of the comfort system. Hwang Geum Joo, an 81-year old former comfort woman from Korea spoke at the= event and expressed her wish for the government of Japan to repent. However, she also said that this seemed unlikely to happen as Japan is even= deleting reference to the comfort women and the comfort women system in its= history textbooks. The others who were at the presentation of the findings were Eleanor Conda >from the Asian Center for Women's Human Rights, Yayori Matsui from the Violence Against Women Network, Hei Soo Shin from the Korean Women's Council, and Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald. -30- Prepared by Mavic Cabrera-Balleza Isis International-Manila 08 March 2001- New York =3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d= =3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d= =3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d=3d APWOMEN2000 is a general announcement list created to facilitate information and resource sharing for the NGO review process in Asia and the Pacific for the Beijing Platform for Action. Send postings to <owner-apwomen2000@isiswomen.org>. APWOMEN2000 is archived at: http://www.isiswomen.org/womenet/lists/apwomen2000/archive _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem