EU Presidency Statement - The advancement of women

Mr Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the Union - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia - and the Associated Countries - Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, align themselves with this statement.

Equality, development and peace were the objectives of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which gave rise to the Beijing Platform for Action, the basis of our gender-equality policy. This was reaffirmed and further developed at the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly in June 2000, entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century".

This year has been marked by the preparations for and holding of a number of major conferences important to women, among them: the Financing for Development Conference and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The World Summit has examined global action for women towards sustainable and equitable development. For the European Union, the Millennium Declaration constitutes the overarching policy framework for the economic and social work of the UN. The Millennium Development Goals and the other internationally agreed goals, including those most recently adopted in Johannesburg, provide us with concrete, measurable targets in the economic, social and environmental areas. In this light we welcome the continued commitment in the Johannesburg Declaration to ensure that women's empowerment, women's emancipation and gender equality are integrated in all these activities. The EU also welcomes the outcome of the Monterrey Conference, which affirmed the need for mainstreaming a gender perspective into development policies at all levels in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the global economic system.

The EU stresses that gender equality is an essential element for the realisation of social and people-centred sustainable development, and that gender inequality is a major obstacle for the eradication of poverty. As the Millennium Declaration states, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women are effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable. The EU supports the empowerment of women through the implementation of policies and programmes aimed at increasing women's skills, capacities and opportunities, enabling them to become both agents of their own development and empowerment within societies, as well as contributors to economic and social development of societies at large. The EU recognises the importance of their participation in decision- and policy-making processes as critical tools for the advancement of women and gender equality.

The EU pays special attention to the situation of women and girls in armed conflict, who are particularly affected because of their social status and sex. Security Council resolution 1325/2000 was a landmark resolution, which has contributed significantly to a number of positive developments in gender aspects of conflicts and peace efforts. But more has to be done to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts; the nomination of Ms. Tagliavini to head the UNOMIG mission as Special Representative of the Secretary-General is an encouraging signal in that direction. Likewise, a gender perspective should be incorporated in all mandates for peacekeeping operations as well as distinct expert responsibilities for gender mainstreaming. It is also essential that there is a strong gender competence among the personnel in peacekeeping operations.

Mr Chairman,

The Commission on the Status of Women plays a catalytic role in the follow up to the objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action. The EU welcomes the conclusions made at its 46th session on issues related to the Monterrey Conference and the Johannesburg Summit. In particular, the EU notes with interest conclusions on the eradication of poverty through empowerment of women and on the need for mainstreaming a gender perspective in environmental management and natural disasters. The EU has continuously called for an improvement of the working methods of the Commission, and therefore welcomes that some progress was made at the session in this respect. But efforts must continue to enhance the Commission's working methods in order to strengthen its catalytic role.

The primary international instrument on respect for the rights of women is the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol. As of today, 170 States have ratified the Convention, 44 are party to the Optional Protocol, and 75 have signed the Optional Protocol. The European Union is particularly concerned at the growing number of reservations to the Convention, which run counter to its objectives and content. The European Union calls on those States, which have not yet done so to ratify or accede to this Convention and to consider ratifying its optional Protocol. It also urges that the Parties' obligations under the Convention should actually be put into practice. Furthermore, Governments must take firm action to ensure that the Convention is implemented in practice at the national level.

In this connection, the EU welcomes the efforts by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. It urges States to accept the amendment to Article 20, paragraph 1. This amendment would allow the Committee to enjoy a greater flexibility and would facilitate the analysis of the numerous reports submitted by State Parties on progresses achieved in the implementation of CEDAW.

Mr Chairman,

Violence against women is a crime and a major obstacle to achieving gender equality. Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The EU calls on Governments to exercise due diligence and intensify efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women through legislative and policy measures. Governments must prosecute and punish perpetrators and ensure that women victims of violence have access to adequate support services. This obligation on States also applies to domestic situations, including marital rape and all forms of violence falling under the heading of customary or traditional practices. The EU welcomes the Action Plan adopted at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children, to end harmful traditional and customary practices, such as early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation. The EU also welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls committed in the name of honour. The EU fully shares his conclusions that all forms of violence against women and girls committed in the name of honour should be criminalized, and those deliberately participating in such acts should be penalized. The European Union wishes to highlight the responsibilities of States to eliminate the practices of crimes committed in the name of honour. The EU welcomes the excellent work of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy.

The European Union condemns trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual or economic exploitation. Given the many different underlying causes of this phenomenon, joint efforts including trans-border cooperation and multi-professional approaches are essential in combating the problem. It is pertinent to adopt a strategy designed to convict traffickers and their accomplices, as well as to stop the trade and help the victims. To this end, we urge States to sign and ratify the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its additional Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, as well as the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.

In the field of health care, inequality and poverty prevent women and girls from enjoying their right to benefit from the highest possible level of both physical and mental health. Efforts must be intensified to ensure universal access to essential health care services, as well as protection against HIV/AIDS, which increasingly affects women and girls. The EU affirms that the human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive rights.

In this connection, the EU underlines the importance it attaches to the activities of the UNFPA as a major contribution to solving the problems raised by population growth and reproductive health issues in developing countries. UNFPA deserves strong and further support to pursue its activities - thereby contributing to reaching the Millennium Development Goals, particularly those related to HIV/AIDS, and maternal and child mortality.

Education plays a paramount role as one of the most effective means of achieving gender equality and empowerment of women. The Millennium Development Declaration captures this in the targets set for achieving universal primary education and for eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015. States must live up to these goals by ensuring equal access to education without discrimination and implementing educational policies fostering an understanding of equality between men and women.

The European Union would also like to underline the vital role played by civil society and NGOs, particularly women's NGOs and associations, which have worked unceasingly for many years to promote women's rights and equality at national, regional and international levels. The Union encourages governments to support this work.

Mr Chairman,

With the Beijing Platform for Action gender mainstreaming became a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality. The EU fully supports the gender mainstreaming strategy and appreciates the progress made in the UN system in this respect. The EU encourages all governments to implement the dual strategy of gender mainstreaming and policies for the advancement of women, recognizing the importance of addressing the different impacts and opportunities that policies and programmes may have on women and men. In this respect the EU also welcomes the adoption by consensus of the resolution on gender mainstreaming at the ECOSOC General Segment. But gender perspectives are still not always addressed as a matter of routine and opportunities and effective methods to narrow gender gaps must be pursued to promote equality between and women.

At the national level experience shows that strong national machineries are indispensable for achievement of gender equality - not least for securing women equal access to work, equal pay for work of equal value, pension and for the combat against sexual harassment in the work place.

Gender equality between men and women is a fundamental value of the European Union as clearly stated in the Amsterdam Treaty and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The EU is determined to integrate the dimension of equality and gender perspectives in all relevant community policies and actions, including the EU enlargement process. The Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality provides a framework for action in which all Community activities contribute to the objective of eliminating inequalities and promoting equality between men and women. Likewise, mainstreaming the dimension of equality and the gender perspective is a guiding principle of the Community policy on development cooperation.

In conclusion, we face multiple challenges to achieve the effective implementation of gender equality and non-discrimination and the full enjoyment of women and girls of their human rights. Equality between women and men in all areas of society must become a reality. Therefore Governments must commit themselves to include a gender perspective in all policies and programmes and at all levels of society and to eliminate all laws that directly or indirectly discriminate against women.

Thank you.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Women, Peace and Security (28/10/2002)