WUNRN
Link to Full Speech Presentation by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury:
http://www.wunrn.com/pdf/akc.pdf
Equality of Women’s Participation: Essential for the Culture of Peace in Today’s World
Speech by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury at the Culture of Peace Seriers organized by the Soka Gakkai International – 9 March 2015
As you know, the core theme
of my presentation is equality of women’s participation and the culture of
peace and their close connection – how they relate to and reinforce each
other.
This morning I was going
through the InterPress Service (IPS) on-line news. The headlines there
presented in an amazing way how diverse, complex, wide-ranging and
inter-connected women’s issues are.
Let me read out some of
those headlines to you:
*Opinion piece “Let’s Grant Women Land Rights and Power for Our Future”
*Tech-Savvy Women Farmers Find Success with SIM Cards
*Women Leaders Call for Mainstreaming Gender Equality in Post-2015 Agenda
*Everyone Benefits from More Women in Power
*Opinion piece: Goals for Gender Equality Are Not a ‘Wish List’ - They Are
a ‘To Do List’
*From the Police Station Back to the Hellhole: System Failing India’s
Domestic Violence Survivors
*The 15 Journalists Putting Women’s Rights on the Front Page
*From the Mountains to the Sea, Timorese Women Fight for More
*For Women in Asia, ‘Home’ Is a Battleground
*By Girls, For Girls – Nepal's Teenagers Say No to Child Marriage
*Opinion piece: It’s Time to Step It Up for Gender Equality
And, finally the headline
which says all so powerfully
*“World Misses it’s Potential by Excluding 50 Percent of Its People”.
But those are not only
issues concerning women; those are relevant for humanity as a whole – for all
of us. This is most crucial point that needs to be internalized by every one of
us.
Those headlines also show
that the challenges to women’s rights and their equality not only
continue, but those also mutate and reappear, undermining any hard-earned
progress – of course in the process, those become more and more
complex, complicated and more difficult to overcome.
I will elaborate a bit.
Yesterday, I was seeing in the internet the trailer of a film titled “The
Trials of Spring”. The brilliant film-maker our friend Abigail Disney, who had
spoken in this Speakers Series, is its executive producer. It tells us a horrific
reality. You know
about the so-called Arab Spring when a series of uprisings swept Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen,
Syria, and Bahrain in 2010 and 2011. Euphoria of women following the fall of
their regressive regimes, however, was short-lived. Targeted and brutal
pushback is happening. Widespread sexual and physical violence aimed at women
taking part in public life has escalated. Activist women find themselves lost
with no pockets of support from society which fail to recognize how in
countless ways, women hold the key to a stable, peaceful, and prosperous Middle
East. Unfortunately the emerging male-dominated leaderships there seem to
forget that “democracy without equality in all aspects of the law and full
participation of 50% of the population is another form of authoritarianism.”
I bring this up to highlight
the reality of our challenges for women’s equality in the practical sense. Last
time I spoke in this Series was exactly three years ago and the title of my
speech was “Peace and Equality—Absolutely Essential for a Better World” – almost
similar to this evening’s. Recalling what I had articulated then in 2012, I am
disheartened to say that nothing much has improved with regard to global
situation either for peace or for equality.
And
this point has been asserted in the report of UN Secretary-General which he has
sent to the current session of UN-CSW. He reported that “Progress for women in the past 20 years has been
unacceptably slow, with areas of stagnation and regression.”
Based on inputs from governments
and civil society from 167 countries, the report laments that “despite some
progress, world leaders have not done nearly enough to act on commitments made
in the visionary Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.”
The head of UN Women very rightly underscored that “The disappointing
gap between the norms and implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action
points to a collective failure of leadership on progress for women.” But,
to this I would only say why do we need twenty years to realize that.
Beijing+5, Beijing+10 and Beijing+15 – all these reviews had been warning of
that political failure – but nothing was done about that. In March 2012,
President of the UN General Assembly and the Secretary-General had also
proposed jointly that a Fifth Global Conference on Women be convened. That
proposal was cold-shouldered by those very countries which claim to champion
women’s rights and equality.
At
a UN high level event on 6 March, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf –
first woman head of state in the continent of Africa - pointed out that “some
of us have broken the glass ceiling” at the same time regretting that “at the
current pace, it will take 81 years to achieve gender equality.”
The same day, UN Women launched a new initiative “Planet 50-50 by 2030:
Step It Up for Gender Equality” to galvanize government pledges for action, as
part of UN Women’s wider Beijing+20 campaign.
The entity’s head announced that “By 2030 at the latest, we want to live in
a world where at least half of all parliamentarians, university students, CEOs,
civil society leaders and any other category, are women. Real progress requires
50-50.”
She also said UN Women is
looking for 10 world leaders, 10 CEOs and 10 universities to “break the mode”
and become champions of the agency’s “He for She” campaign, which calls on the
world’s male leaders, fathers, sons, husbands and brothers to stand up and
support equality for women in all areas of life. Here I would only comment that
I would prefer the campaign to be tagged “She & He – Together.”
It is a shame that in the second decade of the 21st
century widespread discriminatory norms and practices against women remain
deeply rooted. Structural barriers and social and economic
inequities hinder gender parity in national governments around the world. Political participation, legal discrimination including
land rights and inheritance, business ownership are areas which need determined
strategic interventions for equality. Of course, we should not underestimate
the importance of sexual and reproductive rights, which were the most
controversial issues in Beijing and still stir the biggest controversy in U.N.
negotiations. Also, eradication
of poverty is the first and foremost concern of women since the majority of the
poor in the world are women, and the feminization of poverty is a reality in
poor and rich countries alike. The increasing militarism and militarization
have made these even worse.
In a resolution in 2011 UN
General Assembly asserted that “Women in every part of the world continue to
be largely marginalized from the political sphere, often as a result of
discriminatory laws, practices, attitudes and gender stereotypes, low levels of
education, lack of access to health care and the disproportionate effect of
poverty on women.”
There are fewer than 20 female heads of state and government out of 193
countries of United Nations. Globally, only one in five Parliamentarians is a
woman, and there are nearly 40 countries in which women account for less than
ten percent of Parliamentarians.
Empowering
women’s political leadership will have ripple effects on every level of society
and the global condition. When politically empowered, women bring important and
different skills and perspectives to the policy making table in comparison to
their male counterparts.
At a
recent conference on “Women in power and decision-making: Building a different
world”, the leading participants emphasized that “It is not about men
against women, but there is evidence to show through research that when you
have more women in public decision-making, you get policies that benefit women,
children and families in general.”
Talking of
political participation, the United Nations’ own record is not something which
we can be proud of. In September 2012, a “Call to Action” was issued to world
leaders gathering at the UN by IMPACT Leadership 21 asking for urgent action in
four areas:
1. Appointment of a Woman as the Next UN Secretary-General. In its 70
years of existence, the world body has not elected any woman to that post.
2. Nomination of Women as Future Presidents of the General Assembly. Out
of its 193 member-states, only three women were elected as the Assembly
President.
3. Election of More Women as Heads of Various UN Governing Bodies
4. Appointment by Member-states of More Women as Ambassadors to the UN in
New York and Geneva.
The Charter of the United
Nations, when signed in 1945, was the first international agreement to affirm
the principle of equality between women and men. Since then, the UN has helped
create a historic legacy of internationally-agreed strategies, global legal
frameworks, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women
worldwide.
A specific part of the preamble of the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) continues to inspire me every time I read it. It says that “…
Convinced that the full and complete development of a country, the welfare of
the world and the cause of peace require the maximum participation of women on
equal terms with men in all fields…”
The UN Programme of Action on Culture of Peace adopted in
1999 accords a place of prominence for “equality between women and men” among
its eight action areas. The statement on Women's Contribution to Culture of
Peace issued during the Beijing Conference concluded by reaffirming that “Only
together, women and men in parity and partnership, can we overcome obstacles
and inertia, silence and frustration and ensure the insight, political will, creative
thinking and concrete actions needed for a global transition from the culture
of violence to the culture of peace.”
It
is now recognized that achieving gender equality requires “transformative
change.” In this conceptual reorientation, the politics of gender relations and
restructuring of institutions, rather than simply equality in access to
resources and options, have become the focus of development programmes. “Gender
Mainstreaming” – this terminology was first used at the Third UN world women’s conference
in Nairobi in 1985 - has emerged as the common strategy for action behind these
initiatives. We need to realize that equality is no longer only a technical and
statistical perception. It is also an understanding that the views, values and
experiences of women and men are different in many ways and, therefore, it is
essential that both male and female views are equally heard and recognized in
society as a whole, and, of course, in social, economic and political planning
and decision making. Only then can women and men equally and democratically
influence progress in society, which shapes the conditions and prerequisites of
their lives. Thus, the equal participation and impact of women in society
becomes not only their legitimate right, but also a social and political
necessity for achieving more balanced and sustainable development. Equality
between women and men is a matter of human rights and a fundamental
prerequisite for peace and social justice.
Referring to the reality that no country in the world has real equality of women, Bjørn Lomborg, founder of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, describes very succinctly that “Even in countries where gender equality has advanced furthest, women are over-represented in lower-paying jobs, under-represented in senior government and business positions, and on the receiving end of most domestic violence.”
Very appropriately he reinforces the advocacy
for women’s equality to be considered as a sustainable development goal saying
that “spending one dollar on improving women's access to economic opportunities
yields about $7 in health, education, and poverty-alleviation benefits. Other
studies show that spending a dollar on improving girls' education is also a
sound investment, producing $5 of benefits for each dollar spent.” He
goes on to say that ensuring that women have equal rights to inherit, sign a
contract, register a business, or open a bank account would cost little, but
have far-reaching economic benefits.
A Gender Action report highlighted that "A lot of people propose gender
equality, women's rights, women's empowerment, but then when you look at what
is budgetised, where the funds go, there is a huge disconnect….. it's critical
to translate the rhetoric into investments...” In 2011, while the World Bank's World
Development Report (WDR) highlighted
gender issues, the Bank's budget for "social development, gender and
inclusion" investments decreased to 908 million dollars from 952 million
in 2010. The Bank's spending in this thematic category represents less than
five percent of its annual budgets. It is a pity that for the world’s largest
development funding institution, women’s participation is still a rhetoric and
to them gender is not yet an integral part of hardcore development agenda. Now
we find the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is raising its voice for “Closing
the Gender Gap.” Hope it is not a public relations exercise as its earlier
much-heralded focus on poverty eradication was.
One inspiring lesson that I have learned in my life is that we should never forget that when women – half of world’s seven point two billion people - are marginalized, there is no chance for our world to get distributive development and sustainable peace in the real sense.
While women are often the
first victims of armed conflict, they must also and always be recognized as key
to the resolution of the conflict. It is my strong belief that unless women are
engaged in advancing the culture of peace at equal levels with men, sustainable
peace would continue to elude us.
We should remember that without peace, development is impossible,
and without development, peace is not achievable, but without women, neither
peace nor development is possible.
That brings me to the United Nations Security
Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on women and peace & security. Like many of
you, I am very encouraged that in choosing the three women laureates for the
2011 Nobel Peace Prize, the citation referred to 1325 saying that “It
underlined the need for women to become participants on an equal footing with
men in peace processes and in peace work in general.” The Nobel Committee
further asserted that “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the
world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence
developments at all levels of society.” This is the first time a UN
resolution has been quoted so specifically by its number in any Nobel citation.
On the International Women's Day in
2000, exactly 15 years ago, I had the honor of issuing on behalf of the United
Nations Security Council in my capacity as its President a statement that
formally brought to global attention the unrecognized, underutilized and
undervalued contribution women have always been making towards the prevention
of wars, peacebuilding and engaging individuals
and societies to live in harmony. All 15 members
of the Security Council recognized in that statement that peace is inextricably
linked with equality between women and men, and affirmed the value of full and
equal participation of women in all decision-making levels.
That
is when the seed for Resolution 1325 on women and peace & security was
sown. The formal resolution followed this conceptual and political breakthrough
on 31 October of the same year giving this issue the long overdue attention and
recognition that it deserved.
We need to remember that the
main emphasis here is not to make war safe for women, but to structure the
peace in a way that there is no recurrence of war and conflict. That is
why women need to be at the peace tables; women need to be involved in
decision-making and in peace-keeping teams, particularly as civilians, to make
a real difference in transitioning from the cult of war to the culture of
peace. Research and case studies consistently suggest that peace agreements and
post-conflict rebuilding have a much higher chance of long-term success when
women are involved.
My own experience during the course of my different
responsibilities — more so during past 25 years — has shown that the
participation of women in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding assures
that their experiences, priorities, and solutions contribute to peace, security
and stability.
In their inclusion in peace negotiations, women invariably ensure that
peace accords address the validity of gender equality in new constitutional,
judicial and electoral structures.
Here I would pay tribute to
the Soka Gakkai International President Daisaku Ikeda, a global leader and
ardent champion for the culture of peace and women’s equality, for his strong
support to the implementation of 1325. He has articulated convincingly that
“The significance of the resolution lies above all in the fact that it was a
declaration to the world at the threshold of the twenty-first century that
women's involvement is essential if lasting peace is to be realized.”
However, though as a Security Council resolution, it
has its own intrinsic weight according to the UN Charter, the historic and
operational value of 1325 has been undercut by the not-very-encouraging record
of its implementation. Now a global study has been commissioned by UN
Secretary-General to review 15 years of
implementation of 1325. The study is expected before the Security Council’s 15th
anniversary summit in October this year.
In real terms, National Action Plan (NAP) is the engine
that would speed up the implementation of Resolution 1325. It should be also
underscored that all countries are obligated as per decisions of the Security
Council to prepare the NAP whether they are in a so-called conflict situation
or not. So far, only 47 out of 193 UN member-states have prepared their plans –
what a dismal record after 15 years.
Next I would say that
special attention should be given to building awareness and sensitivity as well
as training of the senior officials within the UN system as a whole with regard
to Resolution 1325.
This need was starkly
evident when on 31 October last year, UN announced its 14-member high-level
independent panel on peace operations with only three women. After a strong
protest from civil society led by AIDS-Free World of Canada, UN recognized its
mistake and tried to rectify by adding three more women – still less than 35%
of the panel. Another recent insensitive action by a UN-mandated body,
University for Peace in Costa Rica, resulted in the elimination of the only MA
program in Gender and Peacebuilding from its curriculum, declaring there is no
“use” for it.
Also, much-needed attention should be given to put an end
to the sexual violence and abuses which take place in the name of peacekeeping
and humanitarian intervention by UN personnel and which have been ignored,
tolerated and left unpunished for years by the world body. There should be no
impunity and immunity whatsoever for the perpetrators of such acts. The recent
report on UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti highlighted how the “protectors
turned into predators”.
The existing international
policies and practices that make women insecure and deny their equality of
participation, basically as a result of its support of the existing militarized
inter-state security arrangements, is disappointing. I am referring to the
concept of security based on current strategic power structure rather than on
human security which highlights the security of the people.
When violence on women
happens, it is not just against women only, it is violence against humanity. I
believe strongly that gender equality at all decision making levels will reduce
violence and its recurrence in a big way.
We want complete and real,
practical, functional, operational equality.
Today’s slogan should be
“Women and men together – we have the power to empower”.
Let me wind up by paying
special tribute to the determined and remarkable role played by civil society
in promoting true gender equality and implementation of 1325. We are all very
proud of that contribution. At the same time we should be watchful against the
attempts by governments to undermine the critical and unequivocal role of
women’s organizations, feminist activists and women human rights defenders.
Transformative change for
women’s equality and the culture of peace will not happen without personal
commitments by every one of us.
We need not waste time
digging into statistical labyrinth to show that women are unequal. Gender
inequality is an established, proven and undisputed reality – it is all
pervasive. It is a real scourge!
If nothing significant is
possible or is happening for the good of humanity, we should not lament,
criticize and sit back. We should do little things that we can. That will be a
big step forward when we put all those together.
Let us focus on getting rid
of gender inequality and prejudice and discrimination against women from our
mindset and also from real-life situations. Inequality will continue and even
flourish without any effort because the culture favors that. Action is needed
only when we want to get rid of it.
For men, I would say that
accept equality as a value and show women the same respect you expect from
another person – understand how irresponsible it is not to treat women as
equal.
For women, I would say that
never reconcile with inequality of any kind, never accept it as a fact of life,
stand up against discrimination anywhere at all times.
Let us all make a
determination that WE ACCEPT AND RESPECT EQUALITY AS ESSENTIAL FOR HUMANITY TO
PROGRESS.
*******