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Mizzima: No celebration for women i



No celebration for women in Burma on IWD

March 8, 2000
Mizzima News Group

The United Nations facts show that of the world's 1.3 billion poor
people, it is estimated that nearly 70 per cent are women. Women hold
only 10.5 per cent of the seats in the world's parliaments. Of the
world's nearly one billion illiterate adults, two-thirds are women. In
most countries, women work approximately twice the unpaid time men do.
Women are becoming increasingly affected by HIV. Today about 42 per cent
of estimated cases are women. Whenever there is a war, she is the first
to suffer.

"If the struggle for gender justice and equality is described as the
defining movement of the twentieth century, I have every reason to
believe that coming together of women to wage their struggle to secure
for them a legitimate place in society, will fashion 21st century as
women's century," said India's First Lady Usha Narayanan. She was
speaking at the United Nations Conference Hall yesterday to observe the
International Women's Day organized by UN Information Centre in New
Delhi.

Women all over the world join together on March 8 today to celebrate the
first International Women's Day of the twenty-first century. This is the
day women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by
ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come
together to celebrate their rights to live in dignity and free from
fear. This is also the day for them to assess the progress achieved on
the road to gender equality and for review of tasks that lie ahead. This
year being the International Year for the Culture of Peace, United
Nations has devoted it to the theme of "Women Uniting for Peace".

However, it seems that the celebration is not for the women in Burma at
present. "I think a few women in Burma will have the chance to organize
independently their own celebration because the military regime in Burma
restricts civil society and freedom of people to organize themselves so
much," said Ms. Brenda Belak from Images Asia, a Thailand-based NGO
working on women's rights in Burma.

"At present women in Burma have no constitutional guarantee for equality
and most women have little recourse to the law when their rights are
violated?In many rural areas of the country, especially in ethnic
minority areas, women face daily threats to their physical integrity and
there are well-documented cases of rape by the military. In any of these
areas also women have a little access to reproductive health
themselves," added Ms. Brenda Belak.

On the other hand, Burmese junta, namely State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) claims that women in Burma enjoys full human rights like
other millions of people in the country. It often accuses the Western
media, internal and external destructive elements of making preposterous
accusations and misinformation on women's rights in Burma.

Burma had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997 and also established a
Myanmar National Working Committee for Women's Affairs (MNCWA) to work
for women's welfare in the country.

Interestingly, the government does not allow any budget for the MNCWA.
"It is operating solely on donations from well-wishers," said Daw Khin
Aye Win of the Burmese delegation to the CEDAW Committee at its 22nd
session held in Geneva in January this year.

"This, indeed, tells the lack of political will on the part of Burmese
government to promote women's rights in the country," commented Ms
Brenda Belak.