Statement by Ms. Angela E.V. King
Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
to
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women
at its exceptional session
As delivered
Madam Chairperson
Distinguished members of the Committee
Representatives of the United Nations system and agencies
Colleagues and friends.
It is my honour and privilege, on behalf of the Secretary-General, to address the exceptional session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and to welcome you all to United Nations Headquarters.
Madam Chairperson,
It is only a little over a month since the twenty-seventh session of the Committee ended. However, I would like to highlight several events that have taken place since that session, and report on activities, which have been carried out by the Division for the Advancement of Women and my Office.
Madam Chairperson, distinguished experts.Immediately after the twenty-seventh session ended, Ms. Charlotte Abaka, your Chairperson travelled to Geneva accompanied by Jane Connors, Chief of the Women’s Rights Section to attend the fourteenth meeting of chairpersons of human rights treaty bodies from 24 to 26 June 2002. Ms. Abaka was elected Chairperson/Rapporteur of the meeting. During the meeting, Chairpersons were provided with an opportunity to exchange views among themselves and engage in dialogue with other actors in the field including the Commission on Human Rights and its special procedures, and the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
The Chairpersons held their fourth joint meeting with special procedures mandate-holders, deciding that the next joint meeting to be held in June 2003 would be dedicated to a discussion on globalization and its impact upon the various mandates of the special procedures and treaty bodies. The Chairpersons discussed the importance of interaction with the special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights and recommended that OHCHR explore ways of encouraging further dialogue between them, including supporting the presence of special procedures mandate-holders at treaty body sessions. Members of the Committee will be glad to know that this morning, Mr. Miloon Kothari, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on adequate housing will discuss collaboration with this Committee.
During the Chairpersons’ meeting an informal consultation with States parties also took place. A number of specific issues were discussed, including periodicity of reports, the burden that reporting can entail for States parties, in particular, small States, and consideration of reports by treaty bodies. In light of the interest generated during the meeting, it was agreed that an entire day would be dedicated to an informal consultation between the Chairpersons and States parties in 2003. The Committee will be particularly gratified to know that several States highlighted the value of CEDAW’s informal meeting with States parties on 17 June 2002. I have also received very positive feedback from States parties with respect to this meeting, which was referred to in a number of statements during this year’s session of the Economic and Social Council.
The first Inter-Committee meeting took place immediately following the Chairpersons meeting. Your Committee was represented by its Chairperson, Ms. Ivanka Corti and Ms. Aída González Martínez. You will be pleased to learn that Ms. Abaka was also elected Chairperson of this meeting. The meeting focused on ways of strengthening cooperation and collaboration among the treaty bodies and ways of harmonizing their working methods. Your representatives, I know, will wish to brief you fully on the meeting’s outcome, so I would merely like to highlight that all agreed that human rights treaty bodies should work together in a complementary way in order to underline the holistic nature of the human rights treaty framework. In light of its success, the Inter-Committee meeting recommended that a second meeting should be convened in two years’ time to discuss outstanding issues from the first Inter-Committee Meeting, implementation of its recommendations and an appropriate substantive theme.
Madam Chairperson, distinguished experts.On 25 July 2002, I addressed an open debate of the Security Council on conflict, peacekeeping and gender. I presented some findings, challenges and recommendations emanating from the Secretary-General’s study on women, peace and security mandated by the Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). The study, which is nearing finalization, is based on the inputs from all United Nations entities participating in the Inter-agency Task Force on Women, ¹ú²úAV and Security and has benefited from the collective wisdom and experience of the United Nations system, both at Headquarters and in the field. As Task Force members, the International Organization of Migration, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the NGO Working Group on Women, ¹ú²úAV and Security have also provided valuable inputs, as have two former Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, Dame Margaret Anstee and Dame Anne Hercus scholars, practitioners and women at the grassroots.
The uniqueness of the study lies in the fact that it provides a systematic overview of gender-related activities carried out by the United Nations family in the peace and security field. It considers the impact of armed conflict on women and girls at every stage of conflict, revealing that the corrosive and pervasive violence against women and girls during armed conflict often persists as domestic violence when the conflict is over. It spells out clearly the role of women and the obstacles they face in contributing to all aspects of sustainable peace (conflict prevention, peace-making, peacekeeping, peace-enforcement, reconciliation, peace-building, and post-conflict reconstruction). It concludes that sustainable peace and lasting security cannot be achieved without women’s empowerment and full involvement and makes recommendations on protection issues, humanitarian law, girl child soldiers, disarmament, demobilization, resettlement and rebuilding.
I would like to express my gratitude to one of CEDAW’s members, Ms. Savitri Goonesekere who has been a part of the Resource Group that has been reviewing the study. The Secretary-General’s report on the study will be presented to the Security Council in September and the report in October marking the two-year anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325.
As you know, in accordance with its multi-year programme of work for 2002-2006, the Commission on the Status of Women will consider two thematic issues at its forty-seventh session in 2003, in addition to a number of other items that are regularly on its agenda. Item 1 is entitled “Participation and access of women to the media, and information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women.” The other is entitled “Women’s human rights and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls as defined in the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome document of the special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century. Plans are well advanced in the Division with respect to preparation of these themes, and the Director of the Division, Ms. Carolyn Hannan, will discuss with the expert group meeting on the themes that will be held in November as part of these preparations on her return from annual leave next week.
Madam Chairperson, distinguished experts,I am pleased to report that, with Bahrain’s ratification of the Convention on 18 June 2002, we have a total of 170 States parties. Seventy-five States have signed the Optional Protocol, with the most recent being Seychelles on 22 July 2002. Forty-one have ratified or acceded to this treaty, with the most recent being Brazil on 28 July 2002. Thirty-five States parties have now accepted the amendment to article 20.1.of the Convention on the Committee’s meeting time, the most recent being Cyprus on 31 July 2002. I assure you that the Division for the Advancement of Women and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women will continue to take every opportunity to encourage ratification of the Convention and the Optional Protocol, as well as acceptance of the amendment to article 20.1. Both offices also seek to encourage regular reporting and implementation of the substantive articles of the Convention in States parties, and support for the work of the Committee. In that regard, I am pleased to report that the Division plans to hold a reporting workshop in November at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for the Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) for East Asian States parties which have yet to report. It is hoped that representatives of Afghanistan and East Timor, which have both expressed interest in accepting the Convention, will attend.
Let me now turn to the work of the Committee during this exceptional session, which, in accordance with the General Assembly’s wishes, will be used entirely for the consideration of States parties reports in order to reduce the backlog of reports awaiting review. Eleven States parties will be reporting. They are: Argentina, Armenia, Barbados, the Czech Republic, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Mexico, Peru, Uganda and Yemen. I appreciate that this means that the Committee will be confronted with an enormous amount of work during this session. On Saturday, 17 August a one-day workshop organized by IWRAW Asia Pacific in collaboration with the Division for the Advancement of Women on Temporary Special Measures: article 4.1 of the CEDAW Convention, will take place. This workshop, which is generously hosted by the German Mission, will inform the Committee as it prepares its general recommendation on this provision of the Convention.
Madam Chairperson,I am well aware of the heavy burden that falls on the Committee as it performs its work, and particularly during this session. Let me assure you of our full support and that of our staff, and the Division for the Advancement of Women, especially the staff of the Women’s Rights Section who have prime responsibility for providing support to the Committee. I regret that the financial constraints currently facing the United Nations, which have resulted in restrictions in areas including documentation and meeting time, have not lessened. These restrictions continue to preclude extension of meetings beyond 1pm and 6pm respectively, and rule out the possibility of evening sessions. We will continue to do our utmost to ensure that these restrictions do not adversely affect the Committee’s work.
In closing I would like to mention that with regard to women in decision-making in the United Nations Secretariat and the UN system, the General Assembly’s target of 50 per cent women on all professional and higher level posts is still far from being met. Within the Secretariat, as of 30 June 2002, women in posts subject to geographical areas are 41 per cent and for all post including geography, women are 35 per cent. For the entire UN system including the UN Secretariat, the percentage is only 34.
I call this to your attention as this Committee under article 8 of the Convention, may call on States parties routinely to provide information on how many women nationals work for the international or regional organizations. This would be very helpful in assisting the Secretary-General in meeting the goal of 50 per cent for gender equality.
Madam Chairperson, distinguished experts.
May I now extend my best wishes to you for a fruitful and successful session and a pleasant stay in New York. I wish you all the best in your deliberations.
Thank you.