The celebration of International
Women's Day by the UN System in Bangkok highlighted the achievements and
struggles of women in seeking equality, development and peace.
To celebrate this important day, UNIFEM
and ESCAP through the Thematic Working Group on Women's Empowerment for
Gender Equality (TWEGE) organized a day of activities at the United
Nations Convention Centre in Bangkok. A panel discussion was held on
'Women, Peace and Security' to make visible women's concerns in
conflict, celebrate women's struggles, applaud and encourage women's
contribution to the peace process, affirm UN peace initiatives, and
remind the international community and each UN agency of the need to
wholeheartedly implement their commitments to women. These include:
- incorporation of women in peace
negotiations as decision-makers;
- placing women at the core of
reconciliation and reconstruction efforts;
- strengthening the protection of
refugee and displaced women;
- efforts to end war crimes against
women and ensure redress of grievances;
- extension of support and resources
to women and their organizations engaged in peace building efforts;
The well attended event commenced with
an opening ceremony presided over by Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Under-Secretary
General of the UN and Executive Secretary of UN ESCAP, who highlighted
the concerns of women in conflict. Mr Kim Hak-Su emphasized that peace
is not just the absence of conflict, but also a situation of economic
stability and development. Calling attention to the UN Security
Resolution on 'Women, Peace and Security', he emphasized the
responsibility of the UN under the Resolution. Mr Robert England, UN
Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, welcomed the
celebration of International Women's Day as a reminder of the need for
sustained efforts to promote gender equality and women's empowerment,
and the implications of this for Women's security. Focusing on conflict
contexts, Mr Jahan Shah Assadi, Regional Representative, UNHCR noted the
problems and constraints of refugee and displaced women, while
Thanpuying Sumalee, President of Thai Women Watch highlighted the need
for shared, balanced and reciprocal relationships between men and women.
The panel opened with Bhikuni Dr. Lee,
a Buddhist nun guiding us through a soothing reflection on the meaning
of peace, security, reconciliation and inner healing. Ms Naw Zipporah
Sein , Secretary of the All Karen Women's Organization, shared her
powerful personal experience as a woman and a teacher in Burma's
strife-ridden reality, graphically highlighting the persistent
insecurity, feeling of powerlessness and the disastrous impacts of this
on children. Ms Sein also described the peace-building efforts of
women's organizations in Burma, and discussed the recent formation of
the Women's League of Burma, an umbrella organization of which the All
Karen's Women Organization is a member. The Women's League is the first
organization in Myanmar's history to be established with an objective to
work for national reconciliation.
Mr Indrika Rattwatte, Senior Regional
Officer, UNHCR, reflected upon the development of international norms
for peace and human rights over the past 50 years and the changed nature
of war and conflict. He found this change was reflected in the fact that
the number of internally displaced persons has outpaced by far the
number of refugees. However, the UNHCR mandate currently only covers
refugees. The vast majority of both refugees and internally displaced
people are women and children, who are increasingly being targeted in
conflicts. The international community must develop concrete mechanisms
for prevention and response to this rapidly escalating situation. Mr
Indrika Rattwatte elaborated on UNHCR activities and attempts to adjust
to and address this change and the gender perspective applied in their
work, particularly calling for an increased involvement of women in
peace negotiations and reconciliation efforts. Women should participate
equally with men in peacekeeping efforts because the vast majority of
those fleeing conflict are women.
In the final presentation, Mr Malama
Meleisea, Regional Advisor of UNESCO, described the relationship between
structural inequalities and gender and peace, and explored directions
for strategic intervention. He discussed the existing value systems and
traditional attitudes and practices that reinforce patriarchal systems
and perpetuate gender discrimination in Asian and Pacific societies.
Quoting Amartya Sen, he pointed out that gender discrimination and male
preference had resulted in 60 million missing women, and speculated on
the implications of this trend on society. He concluded that, although
there is no assurance that gender equality in the peace process will
result in world peace, he firmly believed that it was a step towards
peace.
The panel presentations were received
positively by the audience, as reflected in the lively Q&A session that
followed focusing on women, conflicts and peace, and the role of and
constraints on the UN in conflict resolution and peace-keeping. Concrete
examples were cited from UNHCR's work in Kosovo, East Timor and some
border conflicts. Participants also reflected more broadly on the issue
of women and violence, arguing that a violence-free society would have
to start by ending violence at the household level.
In addition to these activities, Thai
NGOs displayed traditional handicrafts and operated a bazaar offering
their products for sale. An exhibition by UN agencies and NGOs featuring
information on women's issues and their activities in Thailand also
attracted strong interest and remained open over the remainder of the
week.
UNIFEM East & Southeast Asia Regional
Office supported the international NGO Women's Environment and
Development Organization (WEDO) and regional NGOs, Center for
Legislative Development (CLD) and
Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP) to conduct an
Asia Pacific launch of the WEDO 50-50 Get the Balance Right Campaign to
achieve equal representation of women in politics by 2005. The official
launch, the first at a regional level, took place in a small ceremony on
the second day of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Business Convention and
Exhibition on Globalization and Transformative Leadership: Women and Men
in Business, Partnership in the New Economy and Workshop held in Manila
on 20 March.
The two-day workshop that followed on
Gender Balance in Political Representation organized on behalf of
WEDO by CLD and CAPWIP for 60 women leaders from ten countries issued a
call to action for "Women in Government - 50-50 by 2005: Get the Balance
Right!!" The 50-50 call is part of a global campaign demanding that
governments work for "a provisional minimum target of 30% representation
of women in cabinet ministries and legislatures as well as local
authorities by 2003 and equal representation by 2005. Keynote speaker, (WEDO)
Director for Gender and Governance Dr. Socorro Reyes reported that "… at
a yearly annual rate of 5 per cent increase, it will take 75 years
before we attain gender gender equality in government. Our governments
must act now by setting numerical targets to uphold and ensure women's
human rights." Other partners supporting the workshop were the Women in
Development Section of ESCAP, and the
UNDP-Asia Pacific
Gender Equality Network (APGEN).
UNIFEM East & Southeast Asia and the
Gender Affairs Office (GAO) of the East Timor Temporary Administration
(ETTA) are conducting a series of four workshops to train women from
East Timor who are interested in contesting the first national election
to be conducted by the UN later this year. The response from women has
been overwhelming: more than 200 have applied - double the original
target. The three-day workshops will be held in the World Bank premises
in Dili on 1-3 May, 8-10 May, 15-17 May, and 22-24 May. If necessary, a
fifth workshop will be held 29-30 May. UNTAET is responsible for
in-country costs and the complex logistics of transporting the women to
Dili from all over the thirteen districts, while UNIFEM is covering the
costs of trainers and resource persons.
The training will build on the
experience gained by UNIFEM in the Asia-Pacific region and utilize some
of the training materials developed by UNIFEM Pacific, as well materials
from Indonesia. Trainers from Fiji and Jakarta will be supported by
resource persons who have personal experience of standing for elected
office. The resource persons include the Hon. Mu Sochua, Minister for
Women's and Veteran's Affairs, Cambodia, Khunying Supatra Masdit, former
minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Thailand (and convenor of
the NGO Forum at Beijing) and former Senator, Margaret Reynolds of
Australia.
Note: this item has also been
incorporated into our
East
Timor activities page.
A proposal by the Bangkok-based Hotline
Center Foundation aimed at helping end gender-based violence has won
funding from the UNIFEM Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate
Violence against Women for a new project. The Foundation's proposed
television docu-dramas Thai Women Moving from Victim to Victor:
Learning to Change from Case Studies of Gender Violence is one
of only five projects worldwide to be chosen under the special "Telling
the Stories, Working for Change" initiative.
This one time only initiative is
funding innovative media and communications proposals that strengthen
the capacity of organizations to "tell the story" of ending gender-based
violence. The initiative was established to encourage the creative use
of media and communications to raise awareness and publicize successful
strategies in the fight against gender-based violence.
Television and Docu-dramas of
Thai Women Moving from Victim to Victor
The Hotline Center Foundation provides
information, counseling and psychotherapy to women and youth by
telephone, face-to-face, outreach programmes and mass media. It
currently produces, with the support of the UNIFEM East & Southeast
Asian Regional Office,
a very
popular television call-in programme on Violence Against Women (VAW)
that has a weekly audience of over 2 million.
The UNIFEM funding will support the
Foundation's production of a series 48 hour-long television programmes -
Thai Women Moving from Victim to Victor - to be broadcast
on Thai television over a period of two years.
The programmes will document, dramatize
and discuss actual cases drawn from the Foundation's experience with
real Thai women, children and men. Through the use of drama based on
case studies the series aims to highlight stereotypes and related
violence. It will also show specific efforts to solve problems of
Violence against Women, and ultimately help service providers and the
community in their search for solutions and an end to violence against
women.
