Masire, UNIFEM call for equal participation for women

Facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue, Ketumile Masire and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) have called for equal participation of women in the dialogue. A statement from Masire’s office quoted him as urging the Congolese parties, signatories to the Lusaka agreement to ensure women’s equal representation at the forthcoming preparatory meeting of the inter-Congolese dialogue. The DRC’s forces vives have so far designated only one woman to represent them at the preparatory committee meeting for the inter-Congolese dialogue to be held in Gaborone, Botswana from 20-24 August. “I am deeply concerned that women may be inadequately represented at the preparatory meeting,” Masire said. “I have appealed to the Congolese signatories to the Lusaka agreement to increase their quota of female representation in an aim to address this serious imbalance and to ensure gender issues are addressed at the dialogue,” he said. He also appealed to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan and to the UN Security Council for “urgent support in this regard”. The conflict in the DRC has taken a severe toll on women, the statement noted. Although the country is party to the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Geneva Conventions and the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, women and girls continue to be targets of sexual violence, rape and other forms of torture. According to UNIFEM, maternal mortality in the eastern provinces of the DRC almost doubled between 1998-2000 with current rates estimated at 3,000 per 100,000 live births. Women represent large numbers of the estimated 800,000 cases of HIV/AIDS that were reported in 1999. After a two-day briefing with UNIFEM and a representative of Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) gender desk, Masire made a series of proposals to strengthen women’s participation in the dialogue. In a joint statement with UNIFEM, he proposed specialised training for women delegates to the preparatory meeting and dialogue and capacity building for women’s organisations in the DRC. He proposed that a substantive item on the agenda of the dialogue be discussed at the preparatory meeting dealing with gender issues, and particularly with respect to the constitution, the electoral system, the judiciary, the humanitarian and human rights situation of women and girls, and the threats to peace and security posed by HIV/AIDS. He also called for a closer cooperation with the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC) on the protection of women and girls in the DRC, their disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration and repatriation. “This is the first real test of the Security Council’s watershed resolution 1325 on women and peace and security,” UNIFEM’s executive director Noeleen Heyzer said. The Council’s resolution adopted in October 2000, urges all actors negotiating and implementing peace agreements to involve women in these processes and to support women’s peace initiatives. Masire plans to meet with the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council in New York immediately after the preparatory meeting for the dialogue.