From DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.orgWed Sep  6 11:57:30 1995
Date: Mon, 04 Sep 1995 14:35:00 +0100
From: Debra Guzman <DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.org>
Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org
To: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org
Subject: WCW: Gertrude Mongella at press conference

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## author     : theearthtime@igc.apc.org
## date       : 04.09.95

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Gertrude Mongella at press conference
By Daniel J. Shepard
Earth Times News Service

Women must fight at the Fourth World Conference on Women to
preserve the gains made at previous conferences, Conference
Secretary General Gertrude Mongella said at a press briefing
yesterday.

"The advancement of women is a struggle," Mongella said.
"When you have a struggle, you must be prepared to face
elements that want to preserve the status quo."

Mongella said that any bracket in the Platform for Action
that brackets a provision from a previous conference is
"invalid." She said it was inconceivable that governments
should challenge provisions and rights that had been
previously agreed upon.

At the preparatory meeting for Beijing in March, as well as
at the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen,
some countries challenged the agreements on reproductive
rights that were reached at the International Conference on
Population and Development held in Cairo last year.

Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations
Population Fund said at the same briefing that "it is a
little bit disturbing" to see the same issues that were
thoroughly debated and agreed upon in Cairo again being
debated. She said it was the aim of only a few governments,
which had reservations about the Cairo Program of Action,
"to prevent any advance on the agreements reached in Cairo."
She said that criticism of the ICPD on the grounds that it
promoted promiscuity, and represented the imposition of
western values was "totally false." She said the ICPD
provided "exactly what women in developing countries want."

But women, she said, "have vowed that they will not give up
any of the gains made in Cairo and will guard against any
dilution of the language on reproductive rights."

Sadik said the importance of the ICPD was that it brought to
the forefront the issues of sexual health and reproductive
rights. The principle contained in the Plan of Action, that
ordinary men and women should have the right to information
and the means to make their own choices were "essential
conditions" for people to achieve autonomy and empowerment.

She said cultures that celebrate the birth of a boy while
viewing the birth of a girl a tragedy must change. "We can
no longer be bound by cultures and traditions of this kind."

Mongella said that women at the Conference must get
commitments from governments. "This is a call for action.
Words must be shorter and actions must be longer." She said
that because the concerns of women were now well known to
everyone, "what we are looking for now is solution."

Mongella said while resources were vital, she declined to
put a price tag on the Platform for Action, saying that the
Platform incorporated many of the targets and goals of
previous conferences which also addressed the needs of
women. Mongella suggested that in addition to the 20/20
proposal, where 20 percent of developing countries be used
for social programs, and 20 percent of donor aid be targeted
for the same, countries adopt the 10/10 plan where half of
all social spending be targeted for women.

Mongella said there must also be a shift of resources away
from useless ventures, such as the purchase of arms, and
spend more on health and education for women.