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Leaders asked Join drive for gender equality
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Posted on Feb 14 2001
AUCKLAND — Women and men who want to push for action on the elimination of practices in their countries that discriminate against women, need to work on decision makers if they want real change – and those decision makers include political leaders.
That’s the belief of Haikiu Baiabe, the Permanent Secretary of Youth, Sports and Women in the Solomon Islands.
Speaking at the formal welcome ceremony tonight for the NZ-based CEDAW report-writing meeting, Baiabe reminded more than 60 participants and officials that they needed to take the outcomes of this meeting back to decision makers in their countries if they want to see follow-through action.
And he plans to make it clear during the workshop talks beginning Tuesday that it’s important for information to be passed on to senior officials by those attending briefing and training workshops on human rights issues such as CEDAW, the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
“There has to be a greater involvement at all levels,” he says of the challenge of aiming for widespread consultation on CEDAW. Haiabe says in the Solomon Islands and other parts of Melanesia, “most of the chief executives tend to be men, and it can make it difficult for CEDAW to move forward because people will stall an issue when they haven’t been involved in the process, when they don’t understand it.”
He says senior decision-makers can remain unconvinced of the importance of CEDAW reporting, and plans to raise this as one reason for the failure of most Pacific Islands nations who have taken on the human rights document for women, to follow through with reports to the UN CEDAW Committee.
Baiabe is one of only three Pacific Island men amongst the 39 participants from 14 Pacific Island nations attending the meeting, which ends on Thursday afternoon. Vanuatu’s State Counsel Arthur Faerua and Tonga’s Foreign Affairs Officer Suka Mangisi are also attending the CEDAW workshop.
