Putrajaya Declaration and Programme of Action on the advancement of women in member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
7-10 May 2005, Putrajaya, Malaysia
From 7-10 May 2005, 380 delegates, representing 84 member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), gathered in Malaysia to discuss “Empowering Women in Facing the Challenges of Globalization”. Under this overarching theme, delegates discussed six sub-themes: Women, Poverty and Economic Development; Women in Power and Decision Making; Women and Education; Women and Health; Women, the Media and ICT; Women and Armed Conflict; Violence against Women; Women and Disaster Situations; and Gender Mainstreaming. On 10 May, the delegate adopted the Putrajaya Declaration and Programme of Action.
Featured below are some excerpts from the Declaration and Programme of Action:
1. We, the Ministers and other Heads of Delegation from Member Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) met in Putrajaya, Malaysia, from 9 to 10 May 2005, to discuss issues faced by women in the era of globalization recognise that the participation of women and the integration of their perspectives, in all sectors and at all levels, are essential to their empowerment and to the achievement of gender equality and equity…
B. Women in Power and Decision Making
19. We hereby commit ourselves to:
b) Adopt affirmative action policies to increase the proportion of women at the decision-making level, at least to a minimum 30percent in both public and private sector bodies including in the legislatures;
F. Women and Armed Conflict
35. We hereby commit ourselves to:
b) Develop mechanisms that affirm and promote the role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building and stresses the importance of their full and equal participation in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security and the need to increase their role in decision- making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution and the rebuilding of post-conflict societies;
e) Put in place mechanisms and programmes for the protection of women and girls in refugee and Internally Displaced Persons camps against violence and all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation and to ensure the enforcement of action against the perpetrators in accordance with the law;
f) Provide humanitarian assistance including the health needs, especially reproductive and sexual health of women and girls in conflict, refugee, and IDP situations;
g) Increase and hasten, as appropriate, subject to national security considerations, the conversion of military resources and related industries to development and peaceful purposes;
i) Encourage, by all means, education on human rights and peace and to promote non-violence;
G. Violence against Women
38. We hereby commit ourselves to:
a) Review and amend all laws in order to identify and eliminate negative traditional and customary practices that discriminate against women;
i) Establish appropriate national monitoring mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating implementation of measures taken to eliminate violence against women and girls;
j) Support development at the national level, of a collaborative relationship with relevant non-governmental and community-based organizations and other relevant actors of civil society aimed at the development and effective implementation of provisions and policies relating to violence against women and girls;
m) Assist governments of war-affected countries, upon their request, in the confiscating and disposal of small arms and light weapons used to inflict harm and violence in particular against women and children.
…45. We, the Ministers and other Heads of Delegation from Member Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement hereby:
46. Agree to recommend to the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement that the issue of the advancement of women be integrated into the mainstream programmes and activities of NAM and that the NAM Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women be convened on a biennial basis; and
47. Welcome the proposal of Malaysia to initiate the establishment of a centre on gender and development for NAM in Malaysia, which will serve as an international institution dedicated to women‘s development and empowerment through a lifelong learning approach…
-->> See full Declaration and Programme of Action.
-->> See more information about the NAM Ministerial Meeting.
In a message sent to the NAM Ministerial Meeting, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan remarked:
“…Sixty years have passed since the founders of the United Nations inscribed, on the first page of our Charter, the equal rights of women and men. Since then, study after study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, or to reduce infant and maternal mortality. No other policy is as sure to improve nutrition and promote health -- including the prevention of HIV/AIDS. No other policy is as powerful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation. And I would venture that no policy is more important in preventing conflict, or in achieving reconciliation after a conflict has ended.
Whatever the very real benefits of investing in women, the most important fact remains: women themselves have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and freedom from fear. I commend the Non-Aligned Movement for its commitment to that cause, and wish you a most successful meeting”. See the full message, doc format.
RELATED INFORMATION
-->> Women in armed conflict emerge stronger
May 10, 2005 - (Bernama) On the final day of the Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women here Tuesday, delegates from war-torn countries shared their women's experiences of picking up the pieces now that peace begins to dawn upon their land.
-->> Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement on the Advancement of Women
"Empowering women in facing de challenges of globalization", 7-10 May, 2005, Malaysia.
