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a role to play in peace building and constitution making With 135 participants from more than 25 countries sharing their experiences and knowledge on issues ranging from women, conflict, peace negotiations to truth reconciliation, the conference provided a forum for the exchange of ideas among women committed to a similar cause. Among the conclusions arrived at the conference were the call for justice for female victims of war and the full participation of women in efforts to maintain and promote peace and security. Published here are excerpts from interviews with three participants. Cheryl Saunders "I believe it is important that constitutional reforms should be written and enacted in an inclusive manner. Policy makers should be careful in considering what would be the framework and who would be involved in setting up this framework. "It is imperative that legislators also strike a balance between personal laws and universal standards of human rights, which on account of their universality, should ultimately be made to prevail," she said. Ms. Saunders also stressed the importance of ensuring that all laws were consistent with the Bill of Rights provision contained in a constitution. "Otherwise it becomes a huge problem for the rule of law," she said. "The courts also should play a significant role in this context and it is vital that members of the judiciary are progressive in their attitude towards disputes involving gender discrimination. In this respect, the Australian government has initiated a training programme for judges. In my country, as in most, the judiciary is largely made up of male judges who are products of a different age. So there is a strong need for some form of jurisprudential reorientation," Ms. Saunders said. On the question of allocating a quota for female legislators, Ms. Saunders observed that Australia did not have a parliamentary quota for women but political parties had allocated their own quotas, contributing towards an increase in the number of female representatives. "Maybe the introduction of such a quota in Sri Lanka would go a long way in remedying the paltry five percent female representation currently found in the Sri Lankan parliament," she said. Milena Pires Preoccupied by a revolution at home, Portugal abdicated responsibility for its poorest overseas possession in 1975, only to see it occupied by Indonesia whose military has been accused of killing more than 200,000 people. "The struggle
against the Indonesian forces was at three levels - diplomatic,
clandestine and military and women played a key role in all three.
They contributed in various ways for the cause, be it by transporting
provisions hidden in vegetable baskets or at times by prostituting
themselves to military commanders to gain information. It was a
devastating experience right throughout," she said. "We have no choice but to build from scratch. It is important that women participate in the nation-building process from the very beginning. Their participation is also important in the context of guaranteeing human rights which, I believe is not going to be handed to us on a platter," Ms. Pires said. The East Timorese Constituent Assembly has a 27 percent female representation but Ms. Pires said this was less than the 30 percent quota which they lobbied to be introduced in all sectors. "Like in Sri Lanka, ours is a traditional male-dominated culture. Females most often do not participate directly. We are just consulted but the leadership is predominantly male. But it is up to us to change this. Women have to mobilise and organise themselves, formulate their own agenda and make use of the space and opportunity available," she said. East Timor is to gain autonomy on May 20 when the UN interim administration formally hands over the reins to president-elect Xanana Gusmao. "But the United Nations lists East Timor as a non-self-governing territory under the administration of its former colonial power, Portugal. So we would not be fully autonomous until we are struck off that list," she said. Sara Saba RAWA was established in 1977 in Kabul, primarily to advance women's rights and democracy but things changed with the Russian invasion, which forced RAWA to begin its struggle against fundamentalism. An independent feminist organization with more than 2000 members, RAWA remained until recently an underground organization due to its uncompromising stance on the right of women to participate in all spheres of decision making. "People say that Afghan women should be given education but they should not get involved in politics. But RAWA does not agree with such limitations and so we remain a political and social organization with a political agenda," Ms. Saba said. "RAWA focuses on the root of the problem, which is the domination of fundamentalists who use Islam as a tool to achieve their goals. That is why RAWA believes in a secular state because Islam or any other religion must not be used for other purposes and religion should essentially be a personal matter." Commenting on the female dress code of Burqa enforced on Afghan women by the hardline Taliban rulers, Ms. Saba said the issue was far more complex. "The dress code is not the only issue to plague Afghan women and it is really sad that despite all the world attention Afghanistan drew after September 11, little has changed for the Afghan woman. If you go to Kabul, you find thousands of women still wearing Burqa simply because they fear the consequences if they stop wearing Burqa, because the root cause of fundamentalism is still not eliminated." "Although some women might say they wear Burqa by choice, except for some of the elderly most young women would prefer not to wear Burqa because it is very hard to walk and breathe in it. But they know if they don't wear it, then their fathers and brothers would be angry with them or their husbands might beat them. So in the end it is not by choice but due to a lack of choice that they get used to the idea of wearing it," she said. "People think the Taliban was the biggest threat to women and freedom but few realize that the Taliban mentality is still present, but this time around in the form of the Northern Alliance. "The Northern
Alliance is no different from the Taliban. It is just a group of
power hungry people. Thus the threat of fundamentalism still exists
in Afghanistan and besides there is no assurance that the Taliban
has fully collapsed. But the world must understand that you cannot
change people's mentality by putting bombs, and that is why RAWA
was against the air campaign carried out by the United States,"
she said. "So in
the end we still find women are being used as mere tools. The solution
to this is dependent on how positive a role women would play, but
at the same time we have to remember that these are people who are
dying of hunger. Therefore we cannot expect them to put up a strong
resistance. So the role of the international community is vital
towards ending the tragedy." |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
concluded
last week, it was "oneness of purpose". 
