Remarks by Kiyo Akasaka,

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information

 to the International Women’s Day Luncheon

The Mayflower Hotel, Washington , DC

Thursday, 6 March 2008

 

Thank you, Pat – and thanks to the Women’s Foreign Policy Group.  You have always been a key partner in our annual commemoration of International Women’s Day.

I would also like to thank Representative Barbara Lee for joining us.  We are all grateful you are able to address our gathering, particularly on a day when Congress is especially busy.

I would like to offer a special thanks to the UN Foundation, which is at the forefront of so much of the work the United Nations does.  We are indebted to you for your help in strengthening our relationship with the United States and with its generous citizens.

            Finally, I want to recognize my colleagues at the UN Information Centre.  UNIC-Washington is part of a larger UN family, and it’s good to see such a broad range of our UN organizations represented here today.

This is the first time that I have the honour to meet all of you here since I joined the United Nations last April. I wanted my first visit to Washington to coincide with a cause that I feel passionately about, and one that I believe in.  That issue is, of course, women’s empowerment and equality. I am delighted to be here and want you to know you have a strong ally in me.

            Before I welcome Representative Lee to take the floor, I would like to mention two pressing challenges.

Humanitarian Challenges:  First, humanitarians everywhere – whether they are working for the United Nations, for their government, or in private organizations – are struggling.  Food prices have increased 70% since 2002, and we all know how fuel prices continue to rise. 

The UN’s World Food Programme – which is headed by an American, Josette Sheeran, and which feeds 40% of the world’s hungry – is facing the terrible possibility that it may have to start turning people away.  Other organizations are in similar difficulty. 

I want to thank all of you for doing what you can, because I know you’re some of the strongest supporters of the life-saving – and history-changing – work that humanitarians do.  But I also want to be sure you know how much people around the world are counting on you. 

Peacekeeping Challenges:  Second, peacekeepers around the world are also facing tremendous challenges. 

We all hear about, and are engaged in, the tragedy in Darfur . But there are 16 other UN peacekeeping missions working overtime to help people get their lives back to normal.  The UN has critical missions in some very hot spots – from Sudan , to the Democratic Republic of the Congo , to Lebanon , Haiti , and East Timor .

War and conflict affect everyone, of course, but women bear a special burden…so I want to be sure you are aware of the work that is needed to find and keep our blue helmets where they are most needed, and where they can contribute to easing people’s suffering, and to peace and prosperity. 

And I want to thank you for any help you can lend us to make sure these brave men – and women – get the support they need to do their job.

New initiatives:  In spite of these challenges, this is a year full of hope.  I want to take this opportunity to commemorate International Women’s Day by highlighting two important initiatives taken by the Secretary-General.

First, this year we are at the midpoint in our long push to achieve the Millennium Development Goals – the “MDGs”. This September, at the beginning of the General Assembly, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will convene a special meeting of Heads of State to galvanize urgent action to achieve the goals.  We expect that celebrity activists and leaders from the private sector and foundations will also take part, and we hope this will spur a big step forward on the MDGs.

Of course, women are key to achieving the goals -- not only the goals on gender equality and maternal health, but all of the eight goals.  It has been shown over and over that investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on health, productivity and sustained economic growth.  We have made progress on getting more girls into school and more women into government, but we are lagging behind badly on maternal mortality: over half a million women die annually of preventable and treatable complications in pregnancy and childbirth.  From my own personal experiences at WHO, I saw that greater access by women to health services, particularly in rural areas, and education for girls, are crucial to addressing gender equality. As importantly, it is crucial to improving the lives of entire families.

Women are also critical agents of change in development and poverty eradication. But, as we know, they are underrepresented in important areas like trade, infrastructure and finance. Concrete goals, targets, legislated quotas and temporary special measures should be established or reinforced in these areas as a means to addressing this gap. In addition, a basic step towards increasing the contribution of women in “economic governance” is for financial institutions and banks, bilateral aid agencies, and regional and international bodies to incorporate gender perspectives and women’s voices into all economic policymaking.

The second initiative I want to mention is the new campaign launched by the Secretary-General last week on ending violence against women. This effort unites a broad range of UN agencies, NGOs and others -- and pays particular attention to getting men involved.  At least one in three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. The Secretary-General will urge world leaders to push for action through national campaigns and to adopt and enforce laws.

I would also like to mention that 10 UN agencies have come together to reaffirm their commitment to stop the practice of female genital mutilation. This archaic practice affects about three million girls in Africa, Asia and the Middle East . The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General said last week, “The consequences of genital mutilation are unacceptable anywhere, anytime and by any moral and ethical standard.” We must work together to end this practice within a generation.

Again, as with so many of our shared priorities, tackling violence against women requires funding -- to run national campaigns, to train the police, judiciary and health workers, to advocate for legislation, and to provide services to victims. This is the kind of work that is funded by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which has awarded more than $19 million in grants to 263 projects in 115 countries since it was set up eleven years ago. But more funds are needed. Money is coming primarily from Governments, and actress Nicole Kidman is helping to publicize this issue and raise funds.  You can show your support by going to the website “www.SayNotoViolence.org” and adding your “signature”. The UN Foundation has pledged a dollar for each of the first 100,000 signatures.

I want to thank you all again for the work you do on these and other priorities -- and to thank you in advance for continuing to work with the United Nations on these particular challenges and initiatives.

Now, without further delay, it is my honour to introduce Representative Barbara Lee.

As many of you know, Congresswoman Lee is one of the pre-eminent leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  She has led work to protect AIDS orphans, and to create the Global Fund, another initiative that broadens the battle to tuberculosis and malaria.

Our speaker also has long been a champion of peace – leading the fight to stem the violence in war zones from Iraq to Darfur and beyond.  She has also lent her eloquent voice to the battle against poverty.

Congresswoman Lee has brought a tremendous breadth of experience to all of this work.  We all know that real leaders do not suddenly appear, by chance and out of nowhere.  And women leaders tend to have worked especially hard for their opportunities. Congresswoman Lee is just such a leader.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts today, Congresswoman Lee, and we thank you again for your leadership.