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Dintinguished Women in International Affairs

International Women's Rights

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Remarks by H.E. Renee Jones-Bos
Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

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Introduction

I had the honor of serving as my country's ambassador-at-large for human rights, so the topic of women's rights is very close to my heart. As I traveled the world, the stories of women were the ones that had the greatest impact on me. I recall my trip to Yemen, where I met the country's first female minister who was in charge of human rights issues and wanted our help to implement a human rights strategy. She took me along to visit several women's organizations. In the streets, women in Yemen might have seemed shy and helpless at first sight. But when we talked with some of these women behind closed doors, the veils came down — literally — and I saw strong women standing up for their own rights.

Today, I want to acknowledge women throughout the world and the issues they face on a daily basis, by touching on the following:

• First, the persistent worldwide violence against women. Too many women are victims of large scale wars, or small scale conflicts in their own houses. This is something that we cannot and will not accept.
• Second, I will describe some of the main texts, treaties, and institutions that govern international women's rights.
• Finally, I intend to explain the importance of development and empowerment when discussing women's rights, and what we can do to step-up our joint efforts to achieve a structural improvement in the situation of women.

Violence against Women

Standing up for women's rights is never easy. Not in my country, not here, and certainly not in the Congo. Justine Masika, the exceptional women's rights defender from the DRC who we just saw on the screen, was personally threatened more than once. Worse, in 2007 her own daughters were brutally assaulted because of her work. Still, she refuses to give up. Since its inception in the 1990's, Justine's organization, Women's Synergy for the Victims of Sexual Violence, has helped thousands of women rebuild their lives. Lately, they have helped secure the conviction of several dozens of rapists. People like Justine Masika really make a difference in this world. These are the people we want to help, not only by subsidizing their organizations but also by recognizing them personally. Last year, my government created a new award dedicated to human rights defenders who have shown exceptional moral courage in their work. The award is the Human Rights Tulip. And here you see the very deserving Justine Masika, receiving the prize from Minister of Foreign Affairs [Maxime Jacques Marcel] Verhagen.

Sadly, the Congo is not the only place where women are victims of armed conflict. In many other war-torn places, particularly in the developing world, we see similar situations: women being beaten, raped, killed, or driven away from their homes and families. In fact, almost 80 percent of the world's 27 million refugees are women or children. Think about that — 21.6 million women and children are currently refugees, which is more than the entire population of the state of Texas. And furthermore, around 80 percent of the worldwide victims of small weapons are women or children. Still, women are barely involved when it comes to finding solutions for wars and conflicts.

In 2000, the United Nations recognized for the first time the particular position of women in armed conflict. The Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1325, which stated that women should not only be protected, but also be empowered to fully participate in the resolution of conflicts. Last year, the Security Council went a step further and adopted a follow-up resolution, 1820, calling for immediate action to end violence against women in armed conflict. The United States was instrumental in the adoption of this resolution.

Now you might think: what difference can these resolutions make — some pieces of paper? What real benefits do women in armed conflict reap from them? The answer is that women can benefit greatly from these resolutions if governments put paper to practice. My government, for one, is committed to this. We have adopted a national action plan to instruct Dutch government bodies and organizations about what they should do to improve the situation of women in armed conflict. Some examples: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs providing assistance to developing countries to improve their legislation, or the Ministry of Defense ensuring gender perspective within Dutch peace mission contingents, or Dutch NGOs implementing reconciliation projects and activities — and so on. Through our national action plan, we are striving to improve the situation of women in armed conflict — granted not overnight, but over time through persistent and coherent action.

While the violence that women experience in armed conflict is particularly brutal, women also face other situations of violent behavior — mostly by men. All too often, the most dangerous place for a woman is her own house. And this holds true not only in developing countries, but in developed ones as well. It may surprise you, but in the United States, 1.3 million women are physically assaulted by an intimate partner each year, and 200,000 women are raped by an intimate partner — sadly, this is not much different in the Netherlands, or in many other countries of the world where the statistics are probably even worse.

The Netherlands is committed to countering such violence against women: in our own country and elsewhere. For example, my government is hosting an international conference on violence against girls this week in The Hague. Moreover, we subsidize projects that empower and help women who are faced with violence. One such project is a safe house for Bangladeshi women who are victims of the brutal practice of relatives throwing acid in their face, because they allegedly have brought shame on their families.

We also make multilateral efforts to stop violence against women. For over a decade, the Netherlands has actively promoted UN action to combat all forms of violence against women. In 2006, a resolution tabled by the Netherlands and France was adopted by the General Assembly. This resolution contains a list of actions for individual countries and the UN alike which must be taken to eliminate violence against women. Since then, follow-up resolutions have been adopted, for example one denouncing the impunity of perpetrators of violence against women. UN efforts were intensified as a consequence of these resolutions - for example, last week the Secretary General launched a database which serves to compare legal frameworks and situations of violence against women in all UN member states, and disseminate best practices.

The International System of Women's Rights

So far, I have focused on violence against women, which is the most visible and brutal violation of women's rights. However, the women's rights agenda is much broader than that. It encompasses equal opportunity and equal treatment — two equalities which have yet to be fully realized. In some Western countries, legislation concerning equality may have been passed, but major hurdles remain in the implementation of these laws and the full achievement of real equality. For example, less than half the women in my country are financially independent, compared to more than three quarters of all men. And in most developing countries, gender equality remains a very distant vision in spite of women's rights being firmly established in international law.

How then did women's rights become enshrined in our international system? It began in the early 20th century, when the first waves of emancipation breached important barriers. But even in 1945, when the United Nations was created, the equality of women and the respect for their rights were still distant ideals.

Even so, the nations that signed the UN Charter of San Francisco declared their "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of Nations large and small." Realizing the particular challenges to ensure these equal rights of men and women, the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was created in 1946.

The writers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted in 1948, were also very aware of the specific situation of women — not surprisingly so, given the key role Eleanor Roosevelt had in the creation of this milestone declaration (may I recommend A world made new: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by Mary Ann Glendon?). The Universal Declaration does not make any distinction between women's and men's rights, and in doing so it reaffirms the rights of women in an unequivocal way. The Declaration emphasizes the equality of all human beings, regardless of their sex. For many societies in the mid 20th century, the Universal Declaration contained some radical notions indeed: girls are entitled to the same education as boys; marriages should only be entered into with mutual consent; everybody — regardless of gender — is entitled to equal pay for equal work; women, like men, are entitled to take part in the government of their country; and so on. Moreover, the Declaration recognized that motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.

The rights conferred on women by the Universal Declaration have been reaffirmed and further defined in subsequent treaties and declarations. The most important of these are the CEDAW and its Optional Protocol, and the Beijing Declaration of 1995.

The CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, came into force in 1981. All UN members but eight have ratified this treaty. In 1999, the next step forward was taken by the creation of an Optional Protocol to the CEDAW, which allows women or groups of women to submit claims concerning violations of their rights to the Committee (provided their country has signed and ratified the Optional Protocol).

The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, resulted in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. At this conference, governments explicitly recognized women's sexual and reproductive health and rights and committed to protecting these rights. By the way, then First Lady Hillary Clinton played a very instrumental and impressive role to ensure the success of the Beijing conference.

Women and Development

The international framework of women's rights is very important to a country like the Netherlands, since we are a nation that strongly believes in the need for multilateral cooperation and in an international legal order. However, more is needed than a framework alone. As I said before, we have to put paper into practice. Part of doing so is supporting people in the field, like Justine Masika, who stand up for the rights of women whenever these are violated. But even that is not enough. To achieve structural advancement, we need to recognize the importance of development for women's rights and, vice versa, the importance of women's rights for development.

Let me clarify this with an example: in recent years, microfinance — providing small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries — has gained a lot of attention as an effective instrument for development. In 2006, Prof. Mohammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their pioneering work on microcredit. And Dutch Crown Princess M��xima, who has a background in banking, was asked by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to promote microfinance policies worldwide. Later this week she will be here in Washington, D.C., to attend a conference on microcredit at the World Bank. Experience has shown that businesses established by women with the use of microcredit loans are much more successful than businesses set up by men, and that women are more reliable and faster in the repayment of their debts. Unfortunately, in many developing countries, women still do not have equal rights to property and work or access to land. This hampers the possibilities for women to apply for microcredit, even if they have proven to be more successful as small entrepreneurs. Together, we must find ways to break down these barriers that are limiting women's access to capital, so women can gain a livelihood, offer a stable environment to their children, and contribute to the development of their countries. Women would win, families and local communities would win, and the country as a whole would win.

The link between women's rights and development has been acknowledged by the international community. In the year 2000, all nations agreed on the Millennium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015. Two of these eight MDGs deal specifically with women and girls. MDG 3 calls for equal rights to education for boys and girls in primary and secondary education. MDG 5 aims to significantly improve maternal health and reduce the number of women who die in child labor.

The reality is that we, the world as a whole, are behind schedule for each and every one of the eight development goals we committed to at the turn of the Millennium. And it is on the two women-related MDGs that the very least progress has been made. The number of women who can read and write is still significantly lagging behind men; in countries like Chad and Afghanistan, the literacy rates of men are more than triple those of women. And still, with each minute that passes, a woman somewhere in the world dies in child labor or as a result of a pregnancy complication.

As a result of these realities, the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Bert Koenders declared equal rights and opportunities for women and girls one of the four priority areas of Dutch development cooperation policy. The government has allocated additional assistance to programs and projects aimed at improving the education of girls and gender equality in general, and at the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women in developing countries. Fifteen percent of Dutch development aid is allocated to education, which amounts to about 575 million U.S. dollars per year.

Education is the key to gender equality. It contributes to steady, bottom-up changes in society. When I was in Iran as human rights ambassador, I was struck by the fact that over half of the university students were women. We all know that Iran, with its theocratic and oppressive political system, has a very long way to go when it comes to gender equality. Still, I noticed that education played a very important role in the way that Iranian women could stand up for their rights and I am confident that with our help the women of Iran (like Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi) will sooner or later be able to change their country for the better. Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran also convincingly shows the resilience and intelligence of women in Iran.

Education is a necessary precondition for gender equality, but it is not the only one. Sexual and reproductive health is another one. The Netherlands spends about 200 million dollars per year on projects aimed for example at improving women's access to healthcare and counteracting the practice of female genital mutilation. The Netherlands also spends some 375 million dollars per year on HIV/AIDS. This money is either allocated directly to partners in developing countries or is spent via NGOs or international organizations.

President Obama's decision to rescind the so-called "Mexico City policy" is welcomed by the Netherlands. By increasing the possibilities for international NGOs to apply for U.S. family planning funds, the new administration has shown its commitment to furthering women's rights worldwide. Together we need to tackle the significant challenges ahead and ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights for all women, including the poorest and most disadvantaged ones.

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen, we have seen that a lot has been done in the field of women's rights, and that an awful lot more remains to be done. Very often women are still confronted with armed conflict and all sorts of violence. International norms have been established, but their implementation is still seriously lacking. And there is too little progress in furthering the women-related Millennium Development Goals. We are thus facing a huge challenge to further improve the position of women. Many disadvantaged women around the world are courageously standing up for their rights, but they need our help. Not only our help with activities to directly counter the worst violations of women's rights, but also our joint action to further the rights of women in international fora, and our concerted effort to achieve development through the promotion of women's rights. My country aims to contribute as much as possible, and I ask all of you to do the same. The United States has always been a frontrunner when it comes to equal rights. From the days of Eleanor Roosevelt to the recent prominence of two women presidential candidates, to the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter act for equal pay for equal work. Women around the world, like Justine Masika in the Congo, need and expect leadership from countries like the United States and the Netherlands, and from the entire international community. Together, we can make a difference in women's lives.