International Women's Day
-------------------------
THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL
MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
8 March 2001
A quarter of a century has passed since 8 March 1976, when we first
celebrated International Women's Day at the United Nations. Twenty-
five years on, we have many reasons to celebrate. Much progress has
been achieved in the advancement of women -- from better legislation
to greater participation, from the Cairo conference on population and
development to the Beijing Platform for Action, from economic empow-
erment to intellectual emancipation.
But this International Women's Day is also a reminder that for the
majority of the world's women, daily life remains a difficult and
sometimes dangerous struggle. The past year has brought into sharper
focus the objectives of gender equality, development and peace that
remain at the heart of our agenda, and that are still far from being
achieved.
Last June, the "Beijing Plus Five" Special Session of the General As-
sembly showed that while we have move forward in some areas in imple-
menting the Beijing Platform, there are many points on which we have
yet to make serious headway. In October, the UN Security Council
highlighted one of the most pressing of these challenges when it held
its first open debate on women, peace and security.
It is one of the tragic features of modern conflict that women and
girls suffer its impact increasingly and disproportionately. They are
neither the initiators nor the prosecutors of conflicts, and yet they
have been specifically targeted, often as a way to humiliate the ad-
versary and break the morale and resistance of whole societies. Steps
have been taken to end the culture of impunity surrounding this la-
mentable practice -- both at the International Criminal Tribunals for
the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and in the adoption of the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court. We must build further on
that work.
And we must do more. As the Resolution adopted by the Security Coun-
cil makes clear, we must address the issue of women, peace and secu-
rity on several fronts. While women are often the first victims of
armed conflict, they must also be recognized as a key to the solu-
tion. We must strive to integrate women more effectively in peace
processes worldwide.
It is increasingly realized that women possess particular skills and
experiences that enable them to contribute to all stages of a peace
process. In times of conflict, it is often women who take over the
running of homes, farms and villages. Women understand the root
causes of tension and know which power groups within communities and
countries are most likely to support peace initiatives. Women are
able to work together and communicate across barriers and divides.
We must make greater use of that potential. We must ensure that these
experiences are replicated at all levels, in national and interna-
tional arenas. We must build partnerships among all actors -- govern-
ments, non-governmental organizations, community groups and the pri-
vate sector -- to bring more women to the negotiating table and into
decision-making positions. We must act on the understanding that
women's full participation in preventing and resolving conflicts is
essential for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security in
the 21st century. On this International Women's Day of 2001, let that
be our credo for a more peaceful millennium.
--
Claudio Schuftan
mailto:aviva@netnam.vn
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