SPEECH BY MS CHRISTINE MCNAB
UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR
International Women’s Day 2005
Tuesday, 22 March 2005
Your Royal Highness, Princess Basma bint Talal,
Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Ten years ago, a remarkable event was held in Beijing: the 4th World Conference on Women. That the UN discussed such an important topic was not in itself remarkable. What was remarkable was that the discussions in Beijing showed that gender issues were not going to go away because of lack of response in many of the member states. The conference was an affirmation of the will and possibility to change gender relations and ensure the human rights of women.
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Conference, the United Nations General Assembly held its 49th session during the period 29th of February – 11th of March of 2005, to review the progress achieved in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. The deliberations were based on national reports submitted by the various governments and non-governmental organizations.
The past decade has witnessed a great deal of work and effort exerted by governments and non-governmental organizations and networks at both national and regional levels on women’s issues. National structures and strategies have been developed; numerous programs for women and girls’ capacity building have been implemented; and plans for mainstreaming gender have been drawn up to ensure the advancement of women
In the past few years, Arab States have endorsed new perspectives in developmental planning for women. Many countries have signed and/or ratified a number of important conventions, declarations and platforms for action thereby creating a new standard for development objectives with time-bound targets that nations should meet. Gender equality permeates the global Millennium Development Goals, and Arab policy makers have formulated and adopted development strategies that invite the civil society to join governments in assuming the responsibility for development initiatives. Women and gender issues are being discussed openly in light of the need to achieve gender equity and equality in Arab societies.
Today, a new partnership is developing between government and civil society, working towards achieving a common agenda for improving the status of women. Civil Society has assumed a new role
The involvement of civil society organizations is considered by many countries and international organizations to be part of the solution to finding acceptable and implementable actions to improve the status of women. An increasing number of non-governmental organizations are contributing to the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action through initiatives in areas such as the political, legal, and economic empowerment of women.
There is a perceptible shift in civil society from mere observation and limited participation to a more active involvement through providing guidance and services to women. Their scope of work has expanded to encompass “gender mainstreaming” especially related to the commitment that most governments in the region have made towards incorporating gender equity in their plans and policies.
In order to document and analyse the progress that has been made and the contributions of the Civil Society Community across the Arab region, UNIFEM, UNFPA and the Center of Arab Women Training and Research in Tunisia (CAWTAR) have collaborated on producing a report that highlights the involvement of Non-Governmental Organisations in development with particular emphasis on their contribution to the implementation of the Beijing Platform. Areas for action include: Gender based violence, legal rights, women’s health and reproductive health, political participation and economic security. The report shows the advances made but also reflects on some constraints and challenges facing the region and civil society organizations.
It is clear that more still needs to be done to address issues that negatively impact on Arab women across the region. Despite the legislative recognition of women’s rights, negative attitudes and practices continue to undermine women resulting in discrimination in both women’s public and private lives. Women’s political participation and decision-making participation is still weak and progress made in this area is slow. For example, women’s participation in political parties is low; there is social resistance to women’s candidacy for elections; far too few women vote, and even fewer women vote for women.
If NGOs are to further enhance their role in constructive social change, they need to work on building their institutional capacities and organizational structures, mobilizing volunteers, engaging youth, enhancing the professional capacities of their staff and adopting strategic and sustainable planning as basis to all of their activities.
It is also imperative that governments and international organizations recognize and support the role of civil society organizations and continue to establish effective partnerships with NGOs having outreach and visible impact on the quality of life of local communities.
Together, governments and civil society can make a difference to the lives of women across the region.
Thank you.