WUNRN
Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom
Statement for UN Commission on the Status of Women
2008 - 52nd
Session
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF), among the first group of non-governmental organizations to receive
consultative status with the United Nations, has monitored every session of the
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The 52nd Session offers an
opportunity for Member States to demonstrate their commitment to the goals of
women’s empowerment, human rights and gender equality, goals WILPF has
continually worked towards since its inception in 1915 as part of its ongoing
work to prevent armed conflict and to establish the conditions for sustainable
peace on a global scale.
WILPF recognizes the many commitments expressed by
Member States and applauds the concrete achievements by governments and the UN
system towards realizing equality between women and men as outlined in the
preamble of the Charter. Unfortunately a significant gap between policy and
practice still remains. We look forward to the Commission addressing the
persistent gaps in implementing policy commitments, particularly to the role
played by the failure to allocate adequate human and economic resources to
implementation of gender equality goals.
WILPF looks forward to
In the work of the Peacebuilding Commission, it is
unclear whether commitments to include women in peacebuilding have made a
practical difference on the ground. While there is a lack of demonstrated
political will to ensure women’s participation, more tangible still is the poor
commitment of resources to these issues. This despite agreement in the 48th
Session to “continue to make resources available nationally and internationally
for prevention of conflict and ensure women’s participation in the elaboration
and implementation of strategies for preventing conflict.”
WILPF thus welcomes the Commission’s consideration of
the important theme of Financing for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.
In developing policy in this area, it is critical that clear and strong
connections be drawn between this and the realization of all other commitments
to development and gender equality made by the Commission and Member States;
including commitments to women’s full and equal participation. It is not simply
that women have the right to participate as equals. It is also that without
women’s participation and empowerment and without gender equality, sustainable
peace, sustainable development and true human security are unattainable.
As then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan articulated:
“study after
study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than
the empowerment of women …. And I would also venture that no policy is more
important in preventing conflict, or in achieving reconciliation after a
conflict has ended.”[1][1]
WILPF welcomed the recognition of the links between
participation, equality and development in the 2005 World Summit Outcome
Document. In particular WILPF welcomed the recognition that the full and
effective implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and outcome of the
23rd Special Session of the General Assembly “is an essential
contribution to achieving the internationally agreed development goals,
including those contained in the Millennium Declaration.” This contribution is
not possible without resources and gender-centered financing policy. The
failure to finance gender equality is the failure to finance development and
human security.
The consideration of Financing for Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment requires providing direct, sustained and increased
financial and human resources to discrete budget lines, and support to women’s
groups and organizations. It is, however, critical also to look beyond this
level and type of support. Financing for Gender Equality is not just about
adding more resources to existing efforts. It is also about how resources are
spent by government in the economy as a whole. WILPF welcomes the work done by
some governments to engage in gender responsive budgeting and calls on all
governments to do so and to enhance these efforts. This involves not only
analyzing the differential impact of government spending on men and women but
also offers a means to critically reflect on government spending priorities and
to prioritize human security and gender equality.
WILPF finds it unacceptable that despite the many
commitments made to gender equality and women’s empowerment the figures tell a
different story:
- Women make up 70 percent of the world’s poor and 67%
of the world’s illiterate. They own just one per cent of assets worldwide;[2][2]
- According to a 1995 UNDP study, more than two-thirds
of the world’s unpaid work is done by women – the equivalent of $11 trillion
(approximately half of the world’s GDP);
- Out of $69 billion of overseas development assistance
in 2003, only $2.5 billion or 3.6% was earmarked for gender equality as a
significant or principal objective.[3][3] Yet, in the three year period from 2002 to 2004,
- Of $20 billion in bilateral aid in 2001-2005, an OECD
DAC study reports only $5 billion was allocated to projects promoting gender
equality; the cost of approximately 2 weeks of the occupation of
- The combined budgets of the UN women’s entities is
only $65 million[6][6] only 0.005% of world military expenditure of $1204 billion
in 2006;[7][7]
- The entire budget of the only operational women’s
entity – UNIFEM – in 2006 was only $57 million, only 2 % of the $2.34 billion
budget of UNICEF for the same period;[8][8]
- The World Bank estimates the cost of interventions to
promote gender equality under MDG 3 is $7-13 per capita. The world’s military
expenditure in 2006 amounted to $184 per capita.[9][9]
What is clear is that in scales that matter,
commitments to gender equality are not yet real. No amount of policy will make
a difference unless: gender equality is seen as a critical part of public
finance management; is factored into macroeconomic policy and development
financing; and is seen as more important than weapons.
WILPF calls on
Member States:
- To invest in human security, equality and sustainable
peace and to end the prioritization of war and military spending and the
impunity enjoyed by war and weapons profiteers.[10][10]
- To strengthen the development and human rights work of
the United Nations by strengthening and better resourcing its gender equality
architecture as a critical aspect of financing for gender equality.
- To include women as senior decision makers in economic
and trade policy including through ensuring their input in the decision making
of supra-national institutions such as the World Trade Organization and Bretton
Woods Institutions. WILPF calls on Member States to provide mechanisms by which
women are guaranteed an opportunity to input into the decision-making processes
of these institutions at a local level and that these take account of the needs
of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
- To pressure the Security Council to implement Article
26 of the United Nations Charter, which charges it with formulating a system to
regulate armaments and reduce military expenditures, in order to promote
international peace and security and free up human and economic resources for
development.
- To participate in the UN Register of Conventional Arms
in order to enhance transparency of international arms transfers, procurement
through national production, holdings, and relevant policies, and in the UN
Instrument for Reporting Military Expenditures to enhance transparency of
spending on military personnel, operations, maintenance, procurement,
construction, research, and development.
WILPF looks forward to the development of policy
during this 52nd CSW that will ensure a gender-perspective in the
2008 follow-up to the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development in Qatar
and the follow-up to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in Ghana.
As a 92-year old
organization, WILPF continues to work toward collective human security and
sustainable peace and away from militarism and economic violence, in
collaboration with civil society, governmental and international actors,
including within the UN system. We look forward to working with others from
around the world to dismantle the prevailing culture of militarism and create a
culture of peace in which gender inequality, racism and discrimination,
economic injustice, violence and oppression are absent and in which women are
full and equal participants.
Women's International
League for Peace & Freedom - WILPF
WILPF PeaceWomen
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[1][1] Empowerment
of women the most effective development tool, Secretary-General tells
Commission on the Status of Women, UN Press Release SG/SM/9738, WOM/1489,
28 Feb 2005
[3][3] Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers’ Meeting: Policy Brief,
(2007) at 9
[4][4] Collateral
Damage, The Center for Public Integrity, (2007) http://www.publicintegrity.org/militaryaid/regions.aspx
[5][5] Congressional Research Service, Report for US Congress, The Cost of
[7][7] SIPRI, Recent Trends in Military
Expenditure, http://www.sipri.org/contents/milap/milex/mex_trends.html
[8][8] UNIFEM UNICEF Annual Reports 2006
[9][9] SIPRI, Recent Trends in Military
Expenditure, http://www.sipri.org/contents/milap/milex/mex_trends.html
[10][10] 1995 UNDP