From DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.orgTue Aug 22 02:34:02 1995 Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 10:06:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: USA on Beijing 1 [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] U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 95/03/20 Statement: Amb. Albright at Comm. on Status of Women U.S. Mission to the United Nations UNITED STATES MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS PRESS RELEASE FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY USUN PRESS RELEASE #43-(95) CHECK TEXT AGAINST DELIVERY March 20, 1995 Statement by Ambassador Madeleine K. Albright, United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Before the Commission on the Status of Women, on Agenda Item 4, March, 20, 1995 _________________________________________________________________ Thank you Madam Chair. I join my colleagues in congratulating you on your election; you may count on the full cooperation of my delegation in making this session of the Commission successful and productive. As a woman and as a policymaker, I look forward, like many of you, to participating in the United Nations's Fourth World conference on Women in Beijing in September. As we work on the Platform for Action during these next two weeks, we are conscious of the opportunity -- and of our responsibility -- to design a strategy that will achieve real progress towards the further empowerment of women, not just in some societies, but throughout the world. The work we do here and in Beijing will have profound implications not only for women's rights, but for the achievement of sustainable development and peace for qenerations to come. On Friday, my colleague and co-delegate, Marjorie Margolies- Mezvinsky summarized the United States' priorities for this Preparatory meeting and for the Beijing Conference. She spoke of the indivisibility of women's rights; the importance of a life-span approach to health and education; the nurturance of girls and young women; the need to balance work and family responsibilities; the vital role of NGOs and other important goals. My delegation will be addressing these issues further. However, I would like to use my brief time today to emphasize one critical area of concern on the Platform of Action -- that is equal and full participation by women in formulating policy and making Political decisions. Establishing goals is a necessary task, but not usually a difficult one. The greater challenge is to design and implement policies that achieve those goals. So it is with the Platform of Action. The United Nations should be an effective vehicle to help women implement the global changes outlined in that Platform. It provides a forum for moral and political leadership, a mechanism for formulating norms of universal application to help guide our actions, and thus influence the course of our common future. To do so, the UN must lead by example. Unfortunately, in some ways the UN is still falling short of its full potential. We must address together the status of women in the offices and corridors here in this building. A good place to start is with recruitment. The United States Government supports fully the Secretary General's "Strategic Plan of Action for the Improvement of the Status of Women in the Secretariat for the years 1995-2000." This is an important document, not least, because it recognizes that the UN failed badly to achieve its fiftieth anniversary goal of 50/50 parity between men and women at the Assistant Secretary General and Under Secretary General level. On the eve of the fiftieth anniversary, women still fill only twelve percent of those positions. The UN can do better -- it is committed to doing better -- and we can help. As member nations, we must nominate qualified women for both high- level and professional positions. My own government is making a very strong effort in this area. Fortunately, Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali has recognized the need to improve opportunities for women at the senior levels of the UN. Some other elements of the UN bureaucracy, however, have been resistant. The UN also must address -- and address aggressively -- the existence of sexual harassment in the UN system. My government is sensitive to this problem and has brought it to the attention of the UN's senior leadership. We have urged the UN to develop a system of internal justice that will deter any supervisor from creating a hostile work environment for women in the workplace. Under Secretary General for Administration and Management, Joseph Connor, has begun steps to establish needed reforms. His efforts deserve our strong support. At the same time, the Specialized Agencies need to begin the same process of review and reform in their personnel systems. Beyond the personnel system, we can help make the UN a more effective policy vehicle for empowering women by trimming the bureaucracy and dedicating more assets to programs in lieu of overhead. The International Conference on Population and Development made the important decision to reshape the priorities and programs of the UN system to ensure that they would benefit women's lives and promote women's rights. Under the principles agreed to in Cairo, fully half of all development resources should be directed towards women. Better management of UN development resources can translate into greater resources directed towards women throughout the UN system. By the same token, we should take steps to ensure that UN programs with portfolios specific to women are focused properly and not duplicative. For this reason UNIFEM and INSTRAW should be merged as soon as possible. Savings that result from that merger should be directed to programs that advance the combined goals of the new agency -- not more bureaucracy. Finally, it is critical to support the Secretariat of the Fourth World Conference on Women so that it will be able to accomplish the enormous task of organizing this Conference successfully. As the First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton said here just a few days ago at a Conference dedicated to the memory of Eleanor Roosevelt: "The UN must play a leadership role and must play a role by example. Every program, policy and decision that emanates from this building directly and indirectly affects women. Women must be a part of the process within the UN as we search for answers and women must continue to demand that their rights and opportunities be respected in nations around the world. In this fiftieth anniversary year, member states must understand that it is our responsibility -- and in our shared interest -- to help the UN succeed. My government remains fully committed to the UN as an instrument to help nations achieve world peace and greater international cooperation. We look forward to working with the delegations from all nations, with the Secretariat and with outside organizations to energize this institution, and to bring about the full participation of women in policy formulation and decision-making. This is but one step towards the larger goal of sustaining progress towards equal rights and protections for women around the globe. Thank you. (###)