9190
Statement on Women's Contributions to a Culture of Peace
(excerpts)
On the eve of the twenty-first century, a dynamic movement towards a culture of peace derives inspiration and hope from women's visions and actions...
Women bring to the cause of peace among people and nations distinctive experiences, competence, and perspectives. Women's role in giving and sustaining life has provided them with skills and insights essential to peaceful human relations and social development. Women subscribe less readily than men to the myth of the efficacy of violence, and they can bring a new breadth, quality and balance of vision to a joint effort of moving from a culture of war towards a culture of peace.
To this end, we the undersigned, commit ourselves to:
• Support national and international efforts to ensure equal access to all forms of learning opportunities...
• Promote relevant quality education...
• Encourage new approaches to development that take account of women's priorities and perspectives;
• Oppose the misuse of religion, cultural and traditional practices for discriminatory purposes;
• Seek to reduce the direct and indirect impact of the culture of war on women...
• Increase women's freedom of expression and involvement in the media...
• Promote knowledge and respect for international normative instruments concerning the human rights of girls and women...
• Support Governmental and intergovernmental structures as well as women's associations and NGOs committed to the development of a culture of peace based on equality between women and men...
Drafted by UNESCO and signed by participants at the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing, September 1995.
The Alternative Declaration states that the 'dominant neo-liberal system as a universal model for development has failed'. It charges that the policies of indiscriminate trade liberalization, privatization, deregulation, wage suppression and credit reduction have sharply concentrated wealth around the world at the expense of the poor, under 'a system that places growth above all other goals ... and leads to an unequal distribution in the use of resources between and within countries.' The Declaration takes a strong stand against militarization which, it says, 'creates enormous waste of human, natural and financial resources'.
The Fourth World Conference on Women, sponsored by the United Nations in Beijing in September 1995, is the first world summit to specifically address a culture of peace. The Statement on Women's Contributions to a Culture of Peace, excerpts of which are reproduced here, was presented by UNESCO and signed by participants at the Conference, led by its Secretary General, Gertrude Mongella. She said, 'I have been talking a lot about peace and I mean it... It is an idea we need to put into action. I am in full support of UNESCO's initiative.' Among the other leaders who signed the document were Prime Ministers Begum Kaleda Zia of Bangladesh, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, and Tansu Ciller of Turkey and President Mary Robinson of Ireland.
The most powerful multiplier force for the commitments made in the Statement on Women's Contributions to a Culture of Peace promises to be the thousands of women who attended the forum of non governmental organizations associated with the Beijing women's conference.