The some 140 women parliamentarians from 93 countries attending the Eighth Meeting of Women Parliamentarians in Santiago, Chile, as part of the 108th Inter-Parliamentary Conference being held until 12th April at the Centro Diego Portales, have ddebated the issue of the Iraq war and expressed their deep concern at the consequences of the war on women and children.
The women MPs launched a general appeal for peace, referring in particular to the war in Iraq. They urged the parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and human rights and recalled the fundamental role of women in the aftermath of an armed conflict in relation to reconciliation. They also pointed out that the United Nations had a major role to play and requested the IPU to participate actively in the peace-making process.
Following her election to chair the Meeting, Isabel Allende, President of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, spoke of her "feelings at the opening of this new Meeting" […] I am appalled at the unjust war taking place in Iraq, whose consequences are destruction and death affecting thousands of human beings, including women and children. On the other hand, I am absolutely delighted to have you here in Chile and to welcome you in my capacity as President of the Chamber of Deputies, which is a post held only for the second time by a woman since 1811, the year our National Congress was established".
Referring to the involvement of women in various phases and spheres of restoring peace, President Allende declared that "this is particularly important in relation to the war in Iraq, at a time when the international legal system seems to be under challenge and when it is urgently necessary to create the conditions for restoring the principles underpinning the world order, in addition to performing all the humanitarian tasks that the war victims need".
Lastly, Isabel Allende pledged that "I shall go on campaigning in my country on behalf of initiatives that meet our aspirations, including the law introducing a quota system for women candidates for elective office, the law on divorce which even now does not exist in Chile, the establishment of new Family Courts and, as my highest aspiration, the establishment of gender-equal democracy".
At the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians, the joint United Nations/Inter-Parliamentary Union Handbook on The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol was presented. In this regard, the women parliamentarians undertook to promote the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the CEDAW in their respective parliaments, since only 49 countries had ratified it so far.
The President of the IPU Council, Senator Sergio Paéz, emphasised the role that Parliament should play in promoting gender equality and declared that "they can debate and adopt national legislation which is consistent and compliant with the international principles established by the Convention, since we should not forget that a country which fails to respect women's rights also fails to respect men's rights, because equality benefits to society as a whole".
Referring to the Handbook, Mrs. Allende declared that "the importance of the CEDAW lies in the fact that it tries to make up for the backlog of discrimination that women have suffered in so many ways in the economic, political, cultural and social spheres, for many centuries". Although the recommendations of the Committee were not binding, she referred to the tasks that emerged as parliamentary initiatives in the Handbook. These included ratifying the Optional Protocol; incorporating procedures into national legislation for the monitoring, advancement and protection of women; setting up parliamentary committees to address women's issues and discrimination, developing programmes on women's rights and instituting the Ombudsman to address violations of these rights, and promoting bilateral and multilateral international cooperation to prevent discrimination against women.
In the course of a debate on the CEDAW Handbook, Angela King, the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, stressed the importance that the UN attaches to cooperating with national parliaments; to attaining, with the IPU, the Millennium Development Objectives, and to giving the Millennium Declaration its full significance. This being so, she emphasised the fact that "the United Nations and IPU have a specific mission to promote democracy and advance human rights, including women's rights. Democracy as a universally recognised ideal based on values shared by people irrespective of cultural, political, social and economic differences as stated in the IPU Universal Declaration of Democracy, is impossible without the contribution of all citizens – men and women alike".
The Meeting of Women Parliamentarians was also attended by Cecilia Pérez, the Minister of Women's Affairs Unit. Speaking before the women MPs in attendance, she said that she was proud to be addressing such a large and representative group of women parliamentarians because "the fact of being present in itself was a symbol of the most important historical process experienced by humanity in the 20th century; the struggle by women for social, civil and political rights". Ms. Pérez went on to address the present state of women in Chile, explaining that they were better trained and educated, more integrated and independent today and pointing out that Chilean women had been "the protagonists of formidable changes in our way of life and in our relations with men. These changes have not been linear, but have been fraught with obstacles and reversals. Yet the fact that they have persisted and are developing gives us cause for hope for a society which will become increasingly egalitarian, free and democratic for men and women both in Chile and worldwide."
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