From DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.orgTue Sep 12 08:14:59 1995 Date: Sat, 09 Sep 1995 08:21:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: WCW: Excerpts from speeches September 5 [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] ## Original in: /HRNET/WOMEN ## author : theearthtime@igc.apc.org ## date : 05.09.95 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpts from speeches, September 5 Senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani of the Philippines, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77: "The United Nations system and other international organizations, male-dominated as they are, should take necessary measures to eliminate barriers to the advancement of women within their organizations." Carol Bellamy, UNICEF Executive Director: "Everyone agrees that education is a basic right and is vital for all development--human, social and economic development. Yes, so far the world has failed to make the investment needed. It is unconscionable that a world which is able to spend approximately $800 billion a year on weapons believes that it cannot find the money needed for basic education. An extra US $5 to $6 billion is needed annually to achieve primary education for all. It must be found." Cristina Alberdi, Minister for Social Affairs of Spain, speaking on behalf of the European Union: "In order to guarantee the credibility and effectiveness of the measures that we approve under the Platform for Action, institutional and financial issues must receive special attention. Only by devoting sufficient budgetary resources and giving institutional machinery the power to implement and monitor gender equality policies will we be able to reach our stated objectives." Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, Director General, World Health Organization: "We all stand to learn from other cultures, which all deserve that we should respect them and try to understand them. But any practice that violates the integrity and imperils the life and health of any human being must be rejected. We cannot accept that modern health technology and prenatal identification should be used to eliminate girl babies, and we must firmly discourage such harmful practices as female genital mutilation." Peng Peiyun, Deputy Head of the Chinese Delegation and State Councilor of China: "It is a long-term and arduous task to achieve gender equality. We will join hands with all other national governments to make unremitting efforts for the advancement of women worldwide. The UN Fourth World Conference on Women bears a glorious mission. We are ready to work whole-heartedly with foreign delegates on the basis of mutual respect, friendly cooperation, consensus through consultations and seeking common ground while putting aside differences so as to make the Conference a success."