I headed the Irish delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women which was held in Beijing from 4 to 15 September. Also present for parts of the conference were the Minister for Education, Deputy Bhreathnach, and the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Doyle. The delegation also included officials of my Department, the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Health and Education, four Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas — three Deputies and a Senator — and representatives of the Employment Equality Agency, the National Economic and Social Forum, the National Women's Council of Ireland, the Irish Countrywomen's Association, Dóchas/Banúlacht and the Irish Aid Advisory Committee.
The conference was essentially intergovernmental in character with a parallel forum for non-governmental organisations. However, I appreciated the support of my colleagues who were present from the Oireachtas. I was pleased to be able to facilitate the Oireachtas Members on this occasion by including them in the official delegation.
The conference held particular significance, coinciding as it did with the year of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. In recent days we have heard much concerning the inadequacies and shortcomings of that organisation but, nonetheless, it provides the only forum through which countries with widely diverging cultures and outlooks can meet and formulate strategies with the common objective of improving the status of women.
The World Conference on Women was the biggest event of this type to have been organised by the United Nations to date. Around 5,000 delegates of 189 states and of many international organisations attended. During the first week of the conference, and during the week preceding it, an NGO forum was held near Beijing. This was attended by around 25,000.
The world conference itself operates through a plenary session at which statements were made by representatives of participating states and organisations and through working groups and subgroups which discussed the content of the Declaration and Platform for Action which constituted the output of the conference. I made the statement on behalf of Ireland to the plenary session. Under the rules of the procedure, speakers were encouraged to concentrate on commitments of their governments and in line with this I made commitments to aim to ensure that women constitute at least 40 per cent of the membership of State boards; strengthen and extend the scope of employment equality legislation and outlaw discrimination in non-employment areas on grounds of gender, marital and parental status and on other grounds; follow through on the process of consultation with women's organisations and bodies responsible for the health of women concerning a discussion document, published by the Minister for Health, which reviews the health status of Irish women and examines how the health services can better meet their needs, and prepare a plan; implement a policy to develop a comprehensive family planning service within the public health system; in the education system, provide for equal participation by females in all areas of the curriculum; provide that, at third level, each educational institution will have to develop and publish a policy promoting gender equality; increase Ireland's official ODA by 0.05 per cent of GDP each year in order to achieve the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GDP; implement the 20/20 concept as included in the Copenhagen programme; provide for appropriate involvement of Irish NGOs in the implementation of the platform to be agreed at this conference; continue to mainstream gender in Irish aid programmes; and enact legislation to extend further protection for women and children in situations of domestic violence.
As Deputies will note, four of these commitments relate to my area of responsibility. The remainder are solely for other Ministers and inquiries on their implementation should be addressed to the responsible persons. These commitments are, of course, examples rather than a comprehensive statement of the Government's policy on equality. In fact, all the actions agreed in the platform constitute commitments of the participating governments on the basis on which they were agreed.
With specific reference to those commitments for which I have responsibility, the Government has the ambitious objective of ensuring that women constitute at least 40 per cent of the membership of State boards. I am at present examining, as a priority, possible legislative measures which would facilitate this outcome.
I hope to publish the Employment Equality Bill during the current Dáil session and to publish the Equal Status Bill as soon as possible in 1996.
I will deal with the follow-up to the world conference at greater length later in my statement but Deputies can be assured that there will be an appropriate role for NGOs as there has been in the whole process up to now.
With regard to domestic violence, the draft legislation to extend further protection for women and children in such situations is currently before the Oireachtas. In the run-up to the conference some felt the prospect of a strong Platform for Action was poor, given the amount of unagreed text following earlier preparatory committee meetings.
Despite much preparatory work the conference was faced, at the beginning, with a draft Platform for Action which had a considerable number of unresolved questions. About 40 per cent of the text was the subject of disagreement.
The principal difficulties were in the areas of human rights, sexual rights, health, resources, respect for cultural and religious differences, sexual orientation, the definition of the family, parental responsibilities, inheritance rights, use of "gender" instead of "sex" and, of course, the possibility and content of a declaration to accompany the Platform for Action.
For the most part, these issues were resolved in a satisfactory way. The difficulty of securing agreement among the whole community of nations, embracing diverse philosophies and cultures, was obvious. The platform was agreed with reservations entered by some states which had difficulty with certain sections. The successful result of the conference is a tribute to all the participants. The Declaration and Platform for Action are important for women worldwide, and should help to ensure that equality comes about for women everywhere.
The documents agreed at the conference cover all aspects of women's lives and set out strategies to advance the goals of equality, development and peace. In particular, they call for the promotion and protection of the human rights of women and girls as an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The consensus and progress made at previous world conferences in Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, Cairo and Copenhagen are reaffirmed and endorsed with the addition of important new commitments. Measures which feature prominently in the conclusions of the conference are the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls and the removal of all obstacles to gender equality and the advancement and empowerment of women; the full participation of women on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including the decision making process; the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls; the elimination of unequal access to health-care and related services; the promotion of people centred sustainable development; steps to ensure the advancement of women in the context of peace, and the attainment of general and complete disarmament; and the promotion of women's education, including education with emphasis on science and the new technologies, economic independence and the eradication of poverty.
In advance of the conference Ireland expressed the desire to see a strong, positive and progressive Platform for Action, which built on previously agreed standards and texts, in particular the conclusions of Vienna, Cairo and Copenhagen. Ireland attached great importance to the human rights of women and the girl-child, and the recognition of women as actors, not as victims. Ireland also supported a strong condemnation of all forms of violence against women, whether physical, sexual or psychological, including violence perpetrated or condoned by the State.
In negotiations on the Declaration and Platform for Action the EU Presidency spoke on behalf of the Union. National concerns were pursued at EU co-ordination meetings. The approach of the Irish delegation was to: (a) support the retention of positive language agreed at previous conferences such as the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna and the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo; (b) support references to the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex, sexual orientation and parental status in employment and to legal protection against sexual and other harassment, in line with Government policy in this area; (c) support recognition in the platform of the additional disadvantage faced by some women, for example, members of racial or ethnic minorities; (d) ensure that the EU did not pursue positions which we could not accept, particularly due to constitutional or legal factors; and (e) ensure that recognition of the vital role of women in development was strongly reflected in the development aspects of the platform.
I am very happy with the contribution made by the Irish delegation during these negotiations. In particular, I am pleased that the Irish delegation was able to help in achieving agreement on contentious issues, especially in the final days of the conference, when Ireland was represented by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, on a high-level group dealing with the most difficult subjects.
When the report of the conference, including the text of the platform becomes available, I will lay it before the House and endeavour to make it available to interested persons and organisations.
The UN Fourth World Conference on Women was the culmination of a long preparatory process at national, European and international levels. Ireland played an active and important part in this process.
Each participating state was asked to prepare a national report outlining progress made towards the advancement of women in preparation for the conference. Reports were to review and appraise national progress and outline future strategic goals and objectives. Ireland's national report was submitted to the UN in October 1994. A committee chaired by my Department and representative of other relevant Government Departments, the social partners, the Employment Equality Agency and women's organisations co-ordinated Ireland's preparations for the conference. The Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Burton, organised an information seminar on the subject in May. A number of regional meetings have been held by the National Women's Council of Ireland and the ICA and the former body organised a national conference on 19 July.
Five regional preparatory meetings under the auspices of the UN regional economic commissions took place in 1994 and agreed regional platforms for action. The preparatory conference for Europe and North America took place in Vienna last October. I led Ireland's delegation to the Vienna preparatory conference, as I believed this conference was an important milestone on the way to Beijing and important in its own right. The Platform for Action agreed at Vienna was positive and progressive and parties to it sought to ensure that it was adequately reflected in the Beijing Platform for Action.
The preparatory committee for the world conference was organised under the auspices of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and met twice in 1994 as well as in March-April 1995. The remit of the 1995 meeting was to finalise the draft Platform for Action but, despite an extension of the meeting, it failed to reach agreement on a large portion of text. There was substantial disagreement on many issues in the platform with most of the text subject to reservations by delegations or groups of delegations. There was a perception that some states wished to dilute language agreed at previous similar conferences on issues such as the human rights of women and girls, reproductive rights and health. There were also differences on economic, resource and environmental issues between the developed and developing countries. In view of the many issues in dispute in relation to the platform, informal consultations took place on some sections of it in New York on 31 July to 4 August. This meeting managed to reach consensus on some of the contentious issues and these agreements were affirmed at the start of the world conference.
At European Union level an ad hoc group was established at the end of 1994 to co-ordinate activities. The group met on several occasions during the year and met throughout the conference in Beijing to co-ordinate the EU position. Meetings were held at ministerial level in Beijing also which helped to maintain the unity of the EU position as the negotiations evolved.
The overall outcome of the negotiations was satisfactory from the point of view of Ireland and the EU with our stance prevailing in some cases and not in others. The rules of procedure provided that all possible efforts should be made to ensure that the work of the conference and the adoption of its report were accomplished by general agreement. Each part of the documents had to receive the assent of all or almost all of the participating states. If a small number could not accept a text it was adopted and the dissenters had the opportunity to record their reservations.
The European Union wanted sexual rights, a concept not previously agreed at a world conference, to be guaranteed in the platform. These rights were to include the right to have control over and decide freely in matters of sexuality, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. This proposal evoked opposition from many states. However, though the term "sexual rights" is not used these rights are now in the platform. Ireland supports this important development.
All references to sexual orientation in the platform were deleted as they were unacceptable to a substantial number of countries. These references were supported by the EU which had proposed including sexual orientation in the platform as a ground on which discrimination in employment should be prohibited. Age, race and religion, which had been proposed by others in the same context, were deleted. For our part we could have accepted mention of all those grounds but when many other countries objected compromise was necessary. Useful additions to the platform in the course of the conference were references to the central role of religion in the lives of many people and to the role of women as mothers. These two elements helped to counter a criticism which had been made of the Beijing process, namely, that it was imposing a specifically western model of the promotion of women. The paragraph on religion has important references to the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to the fact that any form of extremism may have a negative impact on women and lead to violence and discrimination.
Paragraph 9 of the platform provides a saver for states in implementing the agreed actions inasmuch as it recognises that this has to be the sovereign responsibility of each state. This paragraph was the subject of much disagreement at the conference and the text as finalised is a compromise which is acceptable because, while affirming the prerogatives of states, it emphasises the need for the full realisation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of all women and provides that implementation must be in conformity with these rights and freedoms.
A satisfactory compromise was reached to ensure that references to human rights were not qualified by the words "universal" or "universally recognised" which the EU viewed as restricting the enjoyment of these rights.
The economic independence of women is crucial to the achievement of equality and women must have access to secure, well-paid employment as a key to tackling other problems such as violence, poverty and exclusion. Strategies to promote the increased involvement of women in economic life must include positive action, family-friendly conditions of employment, increased sharing of family responsibilities and access to high quality, affordable, child-care.
Experience has taught us that legal measures alone are not sufficient to ensure that equal opportunities for women and men become a reality. To change society, and the relative levels of power within society, it is necessary to change attitudes and behaviour as well as the legal and administrative context.
As I have said, the Government attaches great importance to equal participation of women and men in decision-making roles and is committed to a radical programme of action in appointing women to State boards. Each country has a duty to examine the obstacles existing to women's full participation in public life. Political parties, the social partners and public institutions have a role to play here.
Proposals coming to Government must already include an assessment of the probable impact on women of any policy change. This is an important mechanism for sensitising decision-makers. The Government has also built the objective of equality for women into the Structural Funds, through specific commitments in the National Development Plan on gender-proofing and child care. These have been followed through in the Community Support Framework and in individual operational programmes. This is very much in line with current European thought on mainstreaming.
A feature of recent world conferences has been the ever-increasing role of non-governmental organisations. This is encouraged by the UN system and by participating states. I have already paid tribute to the Oireachtas Members who went to Beijing and I also wish to express my appreciation of the role of Irish NGOs both as members of the official delegation and for their active participation in the NGO forum. During my stay in China, I had the welcome opportunity to visit the forum site, see at first hand the activities of Irish NGOs and participate in discussions with them. I arranged for daily briefings of NGOs by officials from the Irish delegation and understand that these were found to be very helpful.
The overall allocation at my disposal for the world Conference and activities associated with it was £100,000 in 1995. This covered the cost of the members of the delegation from my Department who attended, the expenses associated with preparatory meetings and the publication of a supplement to our national report. The expenses of Ministers and officials of other Departments who went to Beijing were borne on their own Votes. From my allocation, I set aside an amount to fund conferences organised by the National Women's Council in the run up to Beijing. I also used it to pay expenses of the NGO representatives on the official delegation. Other NGOs were funded by me subject to the following maxima: Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed £2,300; National Traveller Women's Forum £2,700; Forum of People with Disabilities £2,300; Women's Aid £2,700; National Youth Council £1,200; Cork Federation of Women's Organisations £2,300; Inishowen Women's Network £1,200; Women of the North West £2,300; and Tallaght NOW £1,200. In deciding on this allocation, I wished to assist a mix of organisations: broadly based organisations like the National Women's Council and the ICA, organisations dealing with women experiencing double disadvantage such as disability, young women, grassroots groups and, in the case of Women's Aid, an organisation dealing with violence against women which is an important area of concern in the Platform for Action. I decided I would not assist women's groups of political parties because, if I were to do this for all parties, it would eat up the funds which I had for NGOs in general to go to Beijing. While a decision on which organisations to fund and which to refuse is always a difficult one and is bound to be disputed, I believe that my allocation of resources, which are necessarily limited, has met with general acceptance on the part of women's organisations. The Departments of Foreign Affairs, Social Welfare and the Environment assisted NGOs in their sphere of activity.
While it was gratifying for all of us who attended the conference to see agreement reached on the Platform for Action, especially after the uncertainty and pessimism of the preceding months, it is not on this that the success of the conference will ultimately be judged. Instead it will be judged on the actions which result from it throughout the world. Only after a period of years and in the light of the development or lack of it in bringing about equality, will we be able to say whether the effort expended on this world conference was worthwhile. I am hopeful that Beijing will provide the impetus worldwide not alone to governments but to society generally to make substantial and measurable progress in this regard.
I will be paying particular attention to follow-up in Ireland and intend to take decisions shortly on the structure which will co-ordinate this. Chapter 5 of the Platform for Action calls for the involvement of NGOs in formulating strategies for the implementation of the platform and, in line with my approach to date, I will ensure that this is a feature of our follow-up.
The policies initiated by the last Government and continued by the present administration facilitate the implementation of the platform as do the equality activities of the European Union. I am thinking in particular of our targets of gender balance on State boards, the introduction of new equality legislation and, at the European level, the Fourth Action Programme on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men which is now being formulated. The EU Social Affairs Council has already reviewed the outcome of Beijing at a recent open session. It has also decided to return to the topic at least once a year.
It is my intention to publish a White Paper during the period of office of this Government which will include a review of our plans on equality in the light of the actions agreed in Beijing.
As I have indicated, in the lead-up to the conference there was profound uncertainty about the prospects of agreeing conclusions. There was also a degree of unease about arrangements for the event itself and the related NGO forum. I am fully aware of the criticisms which have been made of China's record on human rights and of the amplification of that criticism which occurred in the run-up to the conference in Beijing. In focusing international attention even more closely than before on these issues, I would hope that the conference would have beneficial effects on all in China, women and men. My colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Spring, ensures that we take up the issue of human rights with the Chinese authorities at every appropriate opportunity, including of course the grave ongoing problem of Tibet.
Bearing in mind the various constraints, I am satisfied that the conference was a success both in terms of organisation and of the documents which emanated from it. It will always be difficult to reconcile the widely different views that exist on aspects of the subject matter of the conference but I am confident that, in the Declaration and Platform for Action, we have the basis for the advancement of women as we face the 21st century.
