Conference on women concluded with reservations

Conference on women concluded with reservations

JAKARTA (JP): Ministers attending the Second Asia-Pacific
Conference on Women formally adopted the Jakarta Declaration and
Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women, yesterday, though
not wholeheartedly.

In the view of some delegates, the documents contained many
shortcomings which have still to be addressed by individual
countries.

Many of the 31 ministers and a number of high-ranking
officials from the region said they felt caught in a bind; their
options were either to adopt the documents with reservations, or
run the risk of losing the benefits already achieved by them.

The two-day ministerial conference was marked by the
delegates' efforts to include political considerations into the
discussion on women's issues.

Conference sources said some delegates felt that the plan,
drawn up under the three main issues of "equality, sustainable
development, and peace", reflects an intention to sweep political
realities regarding women's affairs under the carpet.

The plan will become the regional blueprint to guide
government efforts for the development of women for the next
decade. Some delegates, however, felt the plan fails to include a
holistic approach for establishing strategies for the enhancement
of women's roles and improvement of their well-being.

Taufa Vakatale, Minister of Education and Women of Fiji, said
her delegation noted "with anxiety" that the plan "has skimmed
over the pertinent issues of militarism, colonialism and
`nuclearism'" in the Pacific region.

"We believe that our economic and social empowerment is
intricately linked with political and legal empowerment," she
said. "For some of the countries in the Pacific, any serious
discussion of economic and social empowerment will first have to
focus on political realities."

"We (the Pacific countries) are host to the largest number of
colonial, metropolitan powers in the world," she said.

Ten out of the 24 island countries of the Pacific are still
colonies. They are American Samoa, Guam, Tahiti-Polynesia, Kanaky
(New Caledonia), Palau, Pitcairn Island, Tokelau, Wallis and
Futuna, West Papua and Rapanui (Easter Island).

"If sustainable development is indeed the goal of this global
initiative, we must recognize the universal rights of all peoples
to self-determination and independence," she said.

Self-determination

She added that the struggle for self-determination in the
colonies has been violent and often make women the victims of
various forms of violence, including rape.

She called on the conference to give due consideration to the
region's historical, environmental, political and economic
conditions.

The physical environment of Pacific islands are extremely
fragile, she said, and therefore vulnerable to pollution from
toxic substances, hazardous wastes and chemical and nuclear
wastes.

A strong remonstration also came from Pakistan.

State Minister and Social Advisor, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, said the
plan should provide more specific solutions to the political
victimization of women, especially in rural areas.

She said the plan fails to mention the existing political and
societal structures, such as feudalism, tribalism and
colonialism, despite the fact that colonialism is part of the
country and region's history.

"We, not just in women conferences, need to challenge
patriarchal, societal structures which oppress women," she said,
as quoted by Nigat Said Khan.

Nigat Said Khan is an activist belonging to the Women's Action
Forum in Pakistan.

Minutes before the plan and the Jakarta Declaration were to be
adopted, dozens of members of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) who came to the conference as observers, managed to grab
the participants' declining attention.

Thanpuying Sumalee Chartikavanij, leader of the Asian and
Pacific NGO Working Group, reminded the conference that the
concept of "peace" must include human security defined beyond the
confines of the military and political sphere.

"The victimization of women through growing religious
fundamentalism, militarization, and armed and non-armed conflict
must be condemned," she said. (swe/anr)

Declaration -- Page 5