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| Sunday, 7 March 2004 |
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International Women's Day : President urges focus on women's rights President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in her message to mark the International Women's Day on March 8 (tomorrow) has urged that serious consideration should be focused on women's rights in the formulation of policies and action plans. Quoting Kenyan Bishop Naimbe, she said: "Train a man, you train an individual, train a woman, you build a nation." The President, in her message, has further said: "A Presidential Task Force was first set up to formulate policies way back in 1996. This was followed by the setting up of a separate Ministry for Women's Affairs in 1997. While my government was working to empower women in Sri Lanka, we went a step further and became a signatory to the SAARC social Charter to re-affirm that discrimination against women is incompatible with human rights and dignity and that it prevents women from realising their social and economic potential and their participation on equal terms with men in the political, social, economic and cultural life of country." "In conclusion, my best wishes go out to all women of Sri Lanka and to all efforts that are being made for the advancement of women." New bills will help women - Minister Minister of Women's Affairs Amara Piyaseeli Ratnayake, in her International Women's Day message, was confident that the Domestic Violence Bill presented to the Legislature and the Women's Rights Bill, presently made available for public comments, would facilitate women's ability to face challenges. The Minister's message further states: "The advancement and progress of Sri Lankan women is obvious in the fields of education and health. In contrast, the challenges faced by women in economic and political spheres are innumerable. We need to promote equal partnership of women and men in such spheres to facilitate gender equity.... "The gravest and most serious barriers and challenges to the free and full advancement of Sri Lankan women is the violation of their human rights by the increasing incidents of violence against women. "Women would also be more successful in protecting their rights when they become more conversant with their rights. "Thus, on this Women's Day my appeal to the entire community is to treat the rights of women as sacred and to respond with sensitivity and responsibility." Support women fighting AIDS - UN Sec. Gen. Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, in his message to mark the International Women's Day, stressed the need for supporting women's groups and cooperatives doing remarkable work on the prevention of HIV/AIDS. The UN Secretary General further said: "What is needed is positive, concrete change that will give more power and confidence to women and girls, and transform relations between women and men at all levels of society. "Change that will strengthen legal protection of women's property and inheritance rights, and ensure they have full access to prevention options - including microbicide and female condoms. "In most countries and communities I have visited around the world, it is women who have been the most active and effective advocates and activists in the fight against AIDS. Everywhere that the epidemic is taking a severe toll, there are heroic women's groups and cooperatives doing remarkable work on prevention and care. Supporting these women, and encouraging others to follow their example, must be our strategy for the future. It is among them that the real heroes of this war are to be found. It is our job to furnish them with strength, resources and hope". |
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