Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Seoul, 9 April 1997
N°2

WOMEN LEGISLATORS FROM 75 COUNTRIES MEET IN SEOUL

One hundred women parliamentarians from around the world met in the Korean Parliament today, on the eve of the 97th Inter-Parliamentary Conference, and called for more measures to be taken to reverse the current situation where men dominate political life.

In a resolution adopted by the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians, members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) - the world organisation of parliaments - women legislators from 75 countries urged that "measures are taken, notably by governments, parliaments and political parties, so that politics may better reflect and interpret the national population in its dual composition and is carried out in a spirit of partnership, a consolidating factor of democracy".

The resolution referred in particular to the recent IPU Specialized Conference, held in New Delhi in February, on "Towards Partnership between Men and Women in Politics". The Conference concluded with a Declaration containing a series of proposals on how to achieve more partnership between men and women in politics, including on relations between politicians and the media, on the political and electoral training of women, and on the financing of electoral campaigns.

The resolution said that the New Delhi Conference showed that "political life is still dominated by men and that the majority of parliamentary assemblies is still overwhelmingly or entirely composed of men".

An IPU study, entitled "Men and Women in Politics: Democracy Still in the Making", prepared for the New Delhi Conference, showed that only 11.7% on average of parliamentary seats in the world are occupied by women, only 7.1% of all parliamentary assemblies are presided over by a woman, and 11% of political party heads and less than one-third of party board members are women.

The resolution proposed that a "partnership-watch group", composed of two men and two women MPs, be established within the IPU's Executive Committee in order to ensure that, in all activities of the IPU, "the interests and visions of both parts of the population are taken into account equally". One of the first tasks of this partnership-watch group would be to work on a possible rule according to which countries failing to include women in their delegations to IPU conferences would lose two of their votes (which range from a maximum of eight to 23, according to a country's population).

The resolution also included suggestions for establishing parliamentary committees on women's rights, and for the creation in each country of organisations to encourage and prepare women and men to contribute to national politics in a spirit of partnership and drawing from the talents and experience of trainers of either sex. It also urged those countries where women are barred by law from taking part in the electoral process to remove all such legal obstacles.

The Meeting of Women Parliamentarians also debated in depth the question of "Education as a means to prevent the sexual exploitation of children" - on the basis of the Declaration of the World Congress on the Commercial Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm in August 1996, and the part of the Beijing Platform for Action entitled "The Girl Child".

Among the many recommendations made during the debate were the following: establish national plans of action to prevent such abuses of children; strengthen legislation, both of a punitive and a preventive nature; and generate public stigmatism of the scourge by awareness-building programmes for the general public.

A report on the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians will be presented to the Inter-Parliamentary Council (IPU governing body) on 15 April.

The Meeting was chaired by Mrs Kwon Young Ja, Member of the Korean National Assembly. In her opening remarks, she said that the IPU's efforts in promoting the status of women have not only been "significant", but also have had "a great impact on related fields in all nations".

"The Meeting of Women Parliamentarians, as an international networking group, will have an impact on peace and sustainable development and, as a result, it will play a great role for the development of women," Mrs Kwon said.

The Korean Minister of Political Affairs II (in charge of women's affairs), Mrs Kim Yun-Duk, told the Meeting that "the ideals of the IPU have changed the trends of history".

"We need a global approach to get rid of disparities," she said, stressing that the "status of women is a very important element to measure the standards of society."

"It is very important that we work together as a driving force to enhance equality, development and peace, and the quality of life all over the world," the Minister said.

The Chairperson of the Special Committee on Women in the Korean National Assembly, Mrs Shin Nak-Kyun, said that the low proportion of women MPs in Korea (3% in the National Assembly) meant that "politics and institutions relating to women in society are lacking. Therefore, we need to educate women and work together."

The Chairperson of the IPU's Co-ordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians, Mrs Faiza Kefi (Tunisia), hailed the "outstanding success" of the New Delhi conference: "It definitely showed that the answer is 'yes' to the question of whether partnership between men and women is possible."

The President of the IPU Council, Dr Ahmed Fathy Sorour, told the Meeting that as legislators, "we have to shoulder our responsibilities and adopt laws that make it possible to sanction both those engaged in the trafficking of children for sexual purposes and their clients".

He said this should also apply to "those who abuse children within the family or in their immediate neighbourhood, committing crimes and generating trauma that nothing can repair. This is all the more urgent since we know that a great many of the children who suffer abuse themselves become child abusers. Our action as legislators therefore includes both a punitive and a preventive dimension."

The Women Parliamentarians decided that at their next meeting, in Cairo in September, they would study the question of the impact of armed conflicts on women and children, including sexual abuses in this context.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact in Seoul:

• IPU Press Officer: Robin Newmann, tel: (822) 788-3573; fax 788-3285
• Korean Press Officer: KIM Yong-Koo, Public Relations Officer, National Assembly, tel: 788-3689; fax 788-3284