Pages
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Topic Discussion III
Participation in
Democratic Decision-Making:
The Vital Voices of Women, Civil Society and
Pluralism
Room 3
(10 of 16 pages)
Where did this idea come from? From the needs which they have analyzed and which
will be submitted by this forum so that the electors can look into that and we would hope that we are able to generalize
this project throughout the whole country. We are talking of small villages and small cities or cities which are
relatively large. I am putting before you a certain anxiety which we feel the necessity that we should draw in
our respective countries a national plan which we should abide by to work on doing away with the reasons of isolation
and marginalization.
Thank you, Madame Chairperson.
Ms Amelia Zambeze: I am from Mozambique. I represent a non-government organization. I want to say, and believe
it is not only in Mozambique, that the NGOs are playing a very important and vital role. I want to highlight that
I believe that if you take that into account it will help everybody to participate in that imagined democracy in
our countries. I know that sometimes before elections many times they're giving civil education in a short time.
I think it's not enough. Civil education should be longer and again we are marginalized on that civil education
as women and mostly in rural areas. When the woman is busy looking for water, for firewood, she doesn't have time
to be thinking why it's important to vote, because her priority is food to feed her family. So we can give civil
education but also we need more support to empower those women to have conditions where they can feed their families
and have enough time to participate in other activities. Also, when we look at statistics, we will find that the
women have less education. Why? Because she's always busy. Can we find a mechanism, can we put in place one mechanism
and believe that it will work, where we can provide education, more information for that woman so that she'll be
able to vote and to participate in democracy. When I'm saying that it's too short a time training in civil education,
is that before elections, they will come for a very short time and say it's important to vote and so on, and that
is the end. Then they forget about that woman and she's still there, but because they need her vote they will come
back at the election, but the NGO is always there trying to help them find solutions for the many difficulties
she is facing in her life. So I think it's not only short-term support, but long-term support she needs.. As the
gentleman from El Salvador said, the NGOs are playing a very important role. We can find a way to continue to support
them so that they are strengthening those women and youth, whatever, and they will have a link in how to pass their
voice to participate in their nation.
We know the impact of women, what is being done in our countries, especially in African countries. I will talk
more about the African countries generally. That is where she has been in agriculture in those traditional systems
and she is making a big impact. We want to see her participating not only on feeding her family but also in democracy.
How she can be in the decision-making place, because those are very important issues, but she has been left out
of the decision-making. She is supposed to participate only in production. We want to change this and then I believe
we can find a way to help her pass that way.
Thank you.
Maria Sierra: I come from Guatemala. I wish to start on an idea. We cannot call emerging democracies a full
democracy. This is the system which gives us the possibility of participation of the citizens in decision-making
and when women are among the minorities, how can we look at the constitution of appropriate means so that as citizens
we can have politicians. We should exert great energies and efforts in that respect and by strengthening our institutions
we can then carry out that task successfully. Therefore I agree with what Luis Felipe of El Salvador said, that
we should abide not only to find the reasons which were, and are still, behind the kind of isolation at a national
level, so that we are able to find these reasons and find a remedy for them. The position of women in Latin America
is the same as the women's status in Africa and the role played by politicians and political parties is essential
in this respect. Each celebrate special events and have problems and suggest solutions to these problems for women,
but in any case, they consider that we are a minority although we are 50% of the citizens. But what is important
is the plan and determination of government, or the authority, and we ask what is this democratic system which
is related to the executive authority and this could be found at two levels. Citizens ask what are the necessary
things and try to generalize these ideas, solutions and proposals. What is the kind of state in which in its constitution
we notice, and therefore we have to define the role which is of concern to women and which is defined for women.
Those who attribute to us in a special way the education and bringing up of children, to allow us to participate
with them democratically, and this is what we cannot do. We can do it only with the assistance of a husband. We
need therefore a colleague and his participation and his support and of course the judiciary must have this very
important channel so that they could absorb this political tendency and to the ombudsman who faces not only any
violation for human rights but also to help the change and the understanding of citizens and also the change and
improvement of the authorities and to bring certain reforms to the management and the administration.
|
[ Introduction ] [ Worldwide Activities ] [ What We Do ] |