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Madam. Chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women,
Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies & Gentlemen,
Over half of Mankind is, actually, Womankind, yet this majority has been
discriminated against worse than any minority. This discrimination affects not
only women, but children, families, the entire community, retarding the progress
of societies, states and human civilization.
2. This Commission, therefore, has a major role to play in realising the
aspirations and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations to end wars,
promote peace and promote progress in larger freedom. This wide responsibility
is reflected in the Commission’s mandate to promote women’s equality, progress
and rights in the political, economic, social and educational fields.
3. This is a hallmark session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). It
is being held ten years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, twenty years since the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies
for the Advancement of Women and thirty years since the Mexico City World
Conference of the International Women’s Year.
4. This is also the year when the World’s leaders will gather here in New York,
in September, to review the implementation of the Millennium Declaration,
including the MDGs and to observe the Sixtieth Anniversary of the United
Nations.
5. Success in the struggle for women’s equality and empowerment is essential for
the realization of the Millennium Declaration’s goals. Most importantly it is
vital for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Three of the eight
MDGs are focused on issues that are largely within this Commission’s purview:
gender equality and mainstreaming, child mortality and maternal health,
including ending HIV/AIDS as well as universal primary education. Indeed, the
achievement of all the 8 MDGs is interlinked and interdependent. We shall not
end poverty and hunger unless we can ensure the full potential of women
participation in the development process. The international conference on
“Gender Mainstreaming and Millennium Development Goals” next month in Islamabad
will, I hope, reinforce this message.
6. Considerable progress has been made over the last three decades in advancing
the rights and status of women. This Commission’s contribution to this progress
has been significant, yet the challenges we face are also considerable. Women
continue to suffer discrimination and exclusion. They continue to shoulder
unequal burdens and have an unequal access to resources and opportunities. They
continue to be the primary victims of wars and conflicts, of abuse and poverty.
7. This session of the Commission on the Status of Women will, no doubt, help to
develop a better understanding of the Strategies required to respond to these
pervasive challenges through specific plans and time bound actions.
8. The establishment over the past decade of a number of new mechanisms to
support gender equality at the national level, including parliamentary caucuses,
gender equality commissions, ombudspersons offices, women’s rights commissions,
and focal points in the Government Ministries is an emerging signal of the
commitment of Member States to respond to the challenges and achieve our agreed
objectives as set out, inter alia, in Beijing Declaration and Platform of
Action.
Excellencies
Distinguished delegates,
9. As this session opens, we must all commit ourselves to fulfil the commitments
made at Beijing. We should move faster, from commitments to concrete actions so
that gender equality and the empowerment of women are realized. This, in turn,
will considerably enhance the prospects of realising the Millennium Goals. We,
in ECOSOC, look forward eagerly to the outcome of your deliberations and to your
important contribution, to the success of the High Level Plenary meeting of the
General Assembly in 2005.
I wish you all a very useful and productive session.
I thank you, Madam. Chairperson.