GOV”TS ARE MORE EFFECTIVE WHEN WOMEN GAIN POLITICAL RIGHTS — CLINTON

UNITED NATIONS, March 13 (NNN-KUNA) — US Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton late Friday called for women’s political, educational and economic rights and said only that will enable governments to be more effective and nations to be more stable.

Addressing the concluding session of the 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, held here March 1-12, Clinton said that “when women are free to vote and run for public office, governments are more effective and responsive to their people.”

“When women are free to earn a living and start small businesses, the data is clear: they become key drivers of economic growth across regions and sectors. When women are given the opportunity of education and access to health care, their families and communities prosper. And when women have equal rights, nations are more stable, peaceful, and secure,” she added.

Clinton addressed the session attended by hundreds of Government and Non-Governmental Organisations. Kuwait was represented by a three-woman delegation headed by Fatma Al-Bakr, Director of Information at the Kuwaiti Union of Women Associations. The other two are Sheikha Al-Muthun and Dr. Dhoha Al-Shaqath, both members of the Union.

The Commission’s task during the 12-day session was to review the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Clinton urged, “Let us renew our commitment to finishing the job. And let us intensify our efforts because it is both the right thing to do and it is the smart thing as well. We must declare with one voice that women’s progress is human progress, and human progress is women’s progress once and for all.”

The Commission concluded its session with the adoption by consensus of six resolutions on a range of issues concerning gender equality, including a US-proposed text on eliminating maternal mortality and morbidity through the empowerment of women.

One resolution, on Palestinian women, had to be put to a vote. It was adopted by 31 in favour to two against (US, Israel), with ten abstentions. All resolutions were sent to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for adoption.
Deploring the economic and social conditions of Palestinian women and girls in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, ECOSOC would demand that Israel comply fully with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, among other treaties.

ECOSOC would also call on Israel to facilitate the return of all displaced Palestinian women to their homes, and on the global community to continue to provide urgently needed assistance. — NNN-KUNA

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