From DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.orgFri Sep 15 10:25:51 1995 Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 01:02:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: WCW: South Asian Statement [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 : apcwomen@gn.apc.org ## date : 11.09.95 ------------------------------------------------------------------- /* Written 5:30 AM Sep 12, 1995 by wcw2392@wcw.apc.org STATEMENT FROM THE SOUTH ASIAN LOBBYING GROUP Whereas the women of the South Asia Caucus are concerned about the poor status of women throughout the region, we urge the General Assembly of the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women to specifically address the following areas if the situation is to be corrected by the end of the century: 1. POVERTY needs to be further addressed by correcting the economic discrimination against South Asian women from [a] structural adjustment programme [SAP], [b] trade imbalances, [c] unregulated operations of transnational corporations, and [d] multilateral and bilateral cebt, [e] a committment for new and additional resources from international community. 2. VIOLENCE in all its forms needs to be recognized, condemned and acted upon including: [a] population control programmes, specifically with respect to long-acting contraceptives, anti-fertility vaccines, sterilization trials, female infanticide, and prenatal sex selection; [b] trafficking and sexual exploitation of both women and girls in sex industries such as prostitution, pornography and sex tourism [c] domestic violence; related killings, including marital rape, sexual abuse within the family and drug and alcohol-related assaults on women; [d] military violence against women, including rape and genocide; [e] community violence against women as a result of all forms of fundamentalism including religious, casteist and ethnic; and [f] violence as a consequence of anti-women, anti-people and environmentally degrading development policies. 3. EQUALITY BEFORE LAW must be given to women where personal and customary laws discriminate them to [a] in order to create social and political environments conducive to change. 4. ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT must be granted to women through the acknowledgement of their [a] unremunerated work both inside and outside the home through accounting mechanisms [b] inheritance and property rights, [c] equal entitlement to credit, and [d] equal access to all forms of professional and non-professional employment. 5. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM must be given to women from accessible and affordable primary and advanced education to university level, so that women are appropriately and equally qualified for every profession including positions of public office. Educational system should be restructured so that it reflects, creates, sustains, values and relationships based on gender equality. A committment must be made by national and international communities for giving new and additional resources for girls and women. 6. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND DECISION-MAKING must be seen as women's entitlement at every level and women must be assured of an equal share of public appointments to achieve an egalitarian society. Creation of enabling environment free from corruption and criminalisation must be ensured. 7. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES for women must be inclusive of [a] the stringent enforcement of equal wages, [b] freedom from sexual harassment, [c] access and equity to promotion and work benefits such as sick pay, injury compensation, and retirement settlements and [d] women-specific needs such as child-care and maternity leave, in both the organized and unorganized sector. 8. HEALTH CARE must include [a] the provision of primary and secondary health services in areas ranging from physical and mental health for all women from birth to old age, [b] education of both women and health providers to ensure that women are able to give their informed consent to medical interventions throughout their life span.