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RESOLUTION 1325
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International
Women's Day
8 March 2003
Statement by Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director,
UNIFEM
International Women's Day 2003 dawns on a world in which there is
both a need and cause for hope; but also at a time of
widespread fear and insecurity. On the day that commemorates women’s
rights and struggles, the signposts of progress are
undeniable. The commitments agreed to by leaders of 189 Member States
of the United Nations in the Millennium Declaration
(2000) placed gender equality and women’s empowerment as a goal
in its own right, as well as being central to achieving the
seven additional goals. One month ago, on 7 February, state signatories
to the new International Criminal Court elected
seven women judges, over a third of the total. Advocates for gender
equality and countless communities and countries that
have turned commitments to women into realities have many reasons
to be proud of these and many other achievements.
Yet, we live in a world where human rights and human security remain
a dream for far too many women and men.
Emphasizing human security would see poverty, environmental destruction,
illiteracy and HIV/AIDS as the real threats faced
by millions, and would prioritize money for health care and education
over spending on fighter jets and other weapons. On
International Women’s Day, like any other day, hundreds of women
will lose their limbs from exploding landmines, thousands
of women will be raped at the point of a gun in countries ravaged
by war and armed conflict, and hundreds of thousands will
sit in camps displaced by bombing of their towns and villages. A recent
study by the World Health Organization noted that
approximately one in three women in the world can expect to be beaten,
coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her
lifetime. On International Women’s Day, like any other day, the
abuser will usually be a member of her family or someone
known to her. All of these point to a horrifying conclusion: a central
factor for becoming a victim of violence is simply being
female.
Growing recognition of specific and omnipresent threats and violations
to women’s security and rights has yielded an
impressive array of commitments over the past years. The Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol, the UN Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women, and a growing
number of regional commitments require States to take concrete actions
to protect and promote women’s rights. On October
2000, one month after the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals,
the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1325,
calling for the protection of women in conflict zones and for their
participation in the processes of peace-making and
peace-building. In passing this resolution, the Security Council acknowledged
that women are waging peace in the face of
the multiple and nefarious forms of violence that they confront.
To make this resolution meaningful, greater support for the innovative
and courageous initiatives undertaken by women in
countries and communities around the globe is critical. In Southeastern
Europe, women from Kosovo's new Assembly have
banded together across party lines to form a women's caucus -- a non-partisan
effort in a community traumatized by conflict
and ethnic strife. In war-ravaged Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka
and Colombia, women have demanded inclusion in peace
talks and have contributed their efforts to building peace in their
communities. Since 1997, through a Trust Fund to Eliminate
Violence against Women established in UNIFEM by the General Assembly,
we have been able to provide more than $7
million to groups in 73 countries who are using creative strategies
to challenge and reduce femicide, domestic violence,
trafficking, rape and the wide range of forms of violence that women
face everywhere, whether during war or peace.
Last year, in response to Security Council resolution 1325, UNIFEM
commissioned an Independent Experts’ Assessment
entitled Women, War, Peace. The experts visited women survivors of
violence in more than 14 conflict and post-conflict
countries. Today, as world leaders debate whether to enter into war,
we know that the hundreds of heroic women that the
experts met would bring their unrelenting commitment to the task of
finding creative alternatives to massive violence and
devastation. But, still, women are rarely at the tables where war
is decided upon, or the tables where peace is negotiated.
Women around the world who are courageously bridging differences and
divides need the world’s peace and security
institutions to share their vision of human security and rights. Women
around the world want to know that the Millennium
Development Goals offer a set of time-bound targets, tied to principles
and commitments that put a priority on achieving a
world free of poverty, violence and inequality. On International Women’s
Day 2003 let us recommit to implementing Security
Council Resolution 1325 and to fulfilling the spirit of the Millennium
Development Goals, so that we can achieve security for
all.
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