Madame Chair:
I am honored to take the floor on behalf of the members and associated States of MERCOSUR.
MERCOSUR countries align themselves with the statements made by Algeria on behalf of the Group of 77 and China and by Chile on behalf of CELAC, and we would like to share some additional thoughts regarding the situation of women in our region.
First of all, we would like to congratulate you and the rest of the table on your election and wish you the best of success in your work.
For the MERCOSUR countries the Fourth Conference on Women and the documents that emanate from it, the Beijing Declaration and its Platform of Action are a landmark without precedent for the future evolution of our women. Beijing meant a fundamental starting point not just for the launching of specific policies in women's issues by our governments, but also for a greater participation of civil society in these processes. These advances coincided with the consolidation of democratic institutions and liberties, which were reestablished in several of our countries. The militancy of women which was decisive in the return of democracy continued with the militancy for gender equality that produced important results.
In this sense, one of the highlights is the significant increase of the political participation of women in all spheres of the political and institutional life. In MERCOSUR for example, today two women, one in Brazil and one in my own country, Argentina occupy the highest national judgeships and we have to mention with pride that the first Executive Director of UN Women was the President of Chile.
Furthermore, in all our countries the participation of women has increased considerably in the legislative and judiciary power in provincial, departmental and municipal governments, as well as in such nontraditional areas, as the Ministries of the Economy, Defense, Security and other areas that only fifteen years ago were only held by men.
In several cases the greater presence of women in parliaments has made it possible to adopt such rules that respond to the necessities and to the historic discrimination of the female population. Thus, in this period most of our countries enacted laws dealing with subjects like violence against women, trafficking in persons, child prostitution and the right to work and to health, including sexual and reproductive health.
These advances of women accompany a significant turnaround in the countries of our region that, through joint and individual action in the past decade have adopted development models that reinsert centrality in politics where conflicts are being solved.
In this respect, we have to point out the work of more than ten years by the Specialized Meeting on Women of MERCOSUR that has recently been ranked within the institutional structure of our block by being elevated to the level of Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities and one that is considered to be the principal forum of debate for issues on gender in the region.
Madame Chair,
In a region that is characterized by inequities, we the women want to participate as protagonists of a new development model that consolidates the social and macroeconomic processes that are taking place within MERCOSUR in the face of the challenges of the global economic and financial crisis that is also being felt in our countries.
In particular, we have received with enthusiasm the recognition given by this Commission to the question of empowering rural women and their role in the eradication of hunger and poverty, an issue that is of priority of this session that is meeting today. From MERCOSUR we would like to highlight the role of women as privileged agents of rural development and food security since they are producers of food and often are the pillars of small scale agriculture. At the same time, we understand that our principal challenge currently is to achieve empowerment of these women as an indispensable requirement to increase their participation and protagonism in the decision making and an equal access to resources, to the possession of land and the circuits of credit and commercialization.
We the MERCOSUR countries recognize the special situation of rural women and therefore we salute the election of this topic for the debate of this meeting. As the Secretary General pointed out in his reports, the women who work in the fields have to deal with an excessive work load, part of which is not even paid for. On the other hand they usually have less access to basic public services such as means of production and commercialization.
Therefore a central role must be guaranteed for rural women, first of all as beneficiaries of legislation and specific public policies and then as participants of the decision making process. It is fundamental that central and local governments incorporate this perspective in their political agenda, but that non governmental organizations also can and must contribute. The support of associations and cooperatives for example is an area where the joint action of both is very important.
On the other hand, the fulfillment of the MDGs is another goal that unites our countries that have put in place social inclusion policies, programs to fight poverty and national plans of equal job opportunities, all of them with a strong gender perspective that had not previously existed.
Even if quantitative indicators show the achievement of the gender equality goals, inequality still crosses through all sectors and dimensions of development. Women are still overrepresented among the poor and often are the first ones to feel the economic crisis due to their vulnerable situation. They entered the labor market most notably in the 80's but often in the informal sector with the least pay. Still today they suffer the consequences of a market that is affected by a sexual labor division and an important gap in salary and they try to make their productive tasks compatible with the reproductive ones that society requires of them.
Our goal is to work to achieve the empowerment and economic autonomy of all women in the region so that they may live a dignified life and exercise their fundamental rights and liberties and that they be in a condition to face violence in all its forms.
On this line, our countries have actively adhered to the Campaign of the Secretary General "United to end violence against women" and in this framework a series of actions have taken place that commit the highest authorities and the mass media. Also, we continue working for the full implementation of the Interamerican Convention to prevent, sanction and eradicate violence against women, the Convention of Belén Do Pará.
Madame Chair,
The fight against the trafficking in persons is a permanent subject on the MERCOSUR agenda because we are aware that it is necessary to work together to eradicate this transnational crime.
The majority of our countries has special services in place for the attention of victims of trafficking in persons and maintain housing specializing in these cases. Legislation and important national policies have been developed that impulse both bilateral and multilateral cooperation in this field.
Madame Chair:
Even though in the past years we have reached important achievements, we are aware that there are still lots of challenges ahead but we know that we are not alone in addressing them.
In this sense, the creation of UN Women that has already been functioning for more than a year has meant a crucial advance for gender equality and the empowerment of women in the whole world.
Therefore, we would not like to miss this opportunity to reiterate one more time the wish that this new entity strengthen its presence in our sub-region giving sufficient timely and quality support to Member States in line with the priorities that they establish.
Madame Chair,
Let me conclude by reiterating the commitment of MERCOSUR and associated states to continue working for gender equality and empowerment of women towards the goal of a true parity that will allow them to convert into protagonists of a more just and inclusive society.
Thank you very much.
27 de febrero Misión Permanente ante Las Naciones Unidas