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Statement By New York, 1 March 2005 Madame Chairperson, On behalf of Indonesia’s Delegation, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Chairperson of the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I am fully confident under your able leadership our meeting will be guided toward a successful and fruitful conclusion. As you are no doubt aware, Indonesia and some parts of Asia, were struck by one of the greatest natural disasters that has occurred in recent times. The earthquake and Tsunami in Aceh and North Sumatera resulted not only in serious loss of lives, the majority of whom were women and children, but also destroyed most of the region. Out of 16 districts, 11 of them were wiped out, almost 200 thousand lives were taken and thousands remain missing. In general, the tsunami brought about a severe blow to our social development process. On this important occasion, allow me to express our appreciation and gratitude to all international and donor agencies and countries that sympathized and provided material support to the victims and to our Government during the emergency phase. We expect that support will continue up to and during the rehabilitation and reconstruction phases so that families can put their lives back together again. Madame Chairperson, The socially distruptive effect of the tsunami and for other reasons linked to Indonesia’s social development, convince all of us to reaffirm our commitment to the goals and objectives contained in the Beijing Declaration, to the implementation of the 12 critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action, and to the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly held in 2000. Since the adoption of the Platform for Action and the Declaration in 1995, Indonesia has undergone several significant social and political changes. It has developed a more democratic political system, made provisions for regional autonomy and put in place measures to guarantee the promotion and protection of the rights of men and women. Let me share with you some of progress and challenges in our efforts to implement the 12 critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action and to the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. The more elaborated report is being distributed. Madame Chairperson, The Government has sought to reduce poverty among women as part of the general amelioration of conditions affecting women’s quality of life. Towards that end, it has drafted the Law on the National Strategy to Alleviate Poverty. This strategy encompasses comprehensive policies and strategies aimed at employment creation, community empowerment, capacity building and social protection for men and women in need. We have sought to empower women economically through the provision of income-generating schemes in the form of micro-credit, technological upgrading, skills development programme and the provision of social safety nets designed to create income earning opportunities for women and to broaden the range of their economic experiences. Poverty alleviation should not be undertaken as philantropic gesture, but as a culturally honorable approach to capacity-building and self esteem. A participatory approach to women empowerment will not be satisfactorily sufficient without being complemented with an emancipatory approach. I We strongly belief that there will be no genuine participation without emancipation. Madame Chairperson, To ensure the education of women, we have revised the Education Law so that men and women have the same rights and opportunities to quality education. We adopted the policy of compulsary primary education for all children regardless gender; made more grants and scholarships available for girl students; initiated widespread revision of textbooks to make them more gender sensistive; and embarked on a programme of activities to build public awareness of gender equality in education at all levels. We are also conducting a campaign to accelerate eradication of female illiteracy and have established many non-formal and informal educational facilities for women within the range, 15 – 44 years. Education and training have empirically proven to be the most effective way to empower women. The test of a succefull empowerment is when it yields a self-empowerment capacity. We have to identify the potential group of educated women to foster the growth of awareness for self-empowerment to prevent women from being latently empowered socio-economically and socio-culturally. Apart from improving the education of women, the Government places high priority on reducing maternal mortality and in providing accessible reproductive healthcare. To accelerate the effort, we have undertaken an intensive public awareness campaign on gender and health and have encouraged the participation of men in family planning, by assisting their wives during pregnancy, delivery and post delivery. We have launched education and information campaigns on HIV/AIDS as well. Madame Chairperson, As an integral part of their physical well-being, women are being protected from violence. The most significant and recent measure has been the passing of Law no. 23 of 2004 on the Elimination of Domestic Violence. The victims of domestic violence can report cases directly to the police for prosecution. Prior to that law, we prepared the National Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Women and established the National Committee on Anti-Violence. We practise zero tolerance for gender-based violence and harmful practices. In politics, avenues for women participation in the political process have also been opened up. Under Law no. 12 of 2003 on General Election, there must be at least 30 percent of women contesting national and regional parliamentary elections. The result of the 2004 General Election, however is far from satisfactory because women make up only 12 percent in legislative bodies. On the other hand, the Law has created an awareness of and for gender equality in power and decision making positions, in particular in the legislative bodies. At the executive level, we have conducted an intensive public awareness campaign on gender equality and equity for the benefit of almost all decision makers in government agencies so that women can enjoy equal opportunity with men for jobs and career development. Madame Chairperson, In conclusion, although considerable work is being done to implement the Declaration and the Beijing Platform for Action, the Government of Indonesia is aware that there are still gaps and challenges affecting implementation. Among the gaps are the insufficient catalytic role of the national machinery for the advancement of women in the national planning and policy making process; the lack of policies, legislation and programmes to protect women migrant workers and their human rights; the lack of reliable and relevant sex and age disaggregated data and gender statistics; and the persisting portrayal of women and girls as sexual objects and commodities by media of mass communication. Our renewed commitment to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action indeed not only strengten but also recharge our energy to work together through enhancing cooperation and partnership for the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action at national, regional and international levels. Thank you.
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