Beijing to host NAM meeting on women's affairs

Beijing to host NAM meeting on women's affairs

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi
will, in place of President Soeharto, open and close a two-day
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) ministerial meeting on women's affairs
in Beijing on Sept. 1 and 2.

"President Soeharto is supposed to attend (the meeting) but he
is very busy, so I will be delivering his message," Mien told
reporters yesterday of Soeharto's decision to delegate to her the
responsibility of addressing the NAM meeting.

After meeting with President Soeharto, Mien said Indonesia
would participate in the United Nations Conference on Women, to
open on Sept. 4 and to last through Sept. 15, and would campaign
for the inclusion of the Jakarta Declaration.

"In the Beijing Conference, I will have the opportunity to
address it and express (my) views because Indonesia made a great
contribution to the preparation of the Jakarta Declaration last
year," Mien said.

"We have to fight so that the Jakarta Declaration can be
accepted by the world (conference) as well," she said.

The 10-point declaration for the advancement of women was
prepared and adopted during the Second Asian Pacific Ministerial
Conference on Women in Development here in June last year.

Considered the blueprint for the regional efforts for the
advancement of women, the declaration focuses on efforts to
attain, among other things, equal opportunities for education for
women. It also strives to achieve better health programs for
women, an end to violence against women, and the integration of
gender concerns in all stages and at all levels of sustainable
development.

The declaration also stresses the importance of poverty
alleviation for the advancement of women.

Mien will lead a delegate of around 90 Indonesian
representatives to the Beijing conference. The Indonesian Women's
Congress, a non-governmental organization, will coordinate 147
women activists to attend a parallel meeting of non-governmental
organizations in Huairou, a town some 50 kilometers away from the
Chinese capital.

Mien said all of the Indonesian delegates "have been prepared"
by the ministries of foreign and home affairs so that they would
be able to deal with questions regarding Indonesian political and
social affairs.

"(Their) responses should be linked with the image of our
nation," she said. "I told (the delegates) that they are the
people of Indonesia, all of them, and that they will bring with
them the name of this country."

"So, if there are problems, don't always respond (to them)
just like that...they mustn't," she said. "It's better for them
to keep silent, and not just talk nonsense so that controversies
would not become even bigger."

Mien gave as examples several issues which she said might be
raised by representatives of the other countries, including
abuse, harassment and violence against women.

"I used to say that there were cases (of such violence against
women) but it's not rampant here," she said. "The world now knows
that there are increasing incidents here, but still not as bad as
what happens in the more developed countries." (swe)