ISSUE 45: MARCH-MAY 2007
network of research and training centres/programmes
FRONT PAGE | ARCHIVE |
UN agencies in Japan mark International Women's Day
UNU joined with 17 other United Nations
agencies in Japan to commemorate International Women's Day March 8 with a
public forum held in the U Thant International Conference Hall at UN House
in Tokyo. An audience of about 350 persons attended the forum.
The
theme for International Women’s Day this year was “Ending Impunity for
Violence against Women and Girls”. Although most nations publicly
proscribe it, violence against women and girls is often tacitly condoned
by traditional cultural practices and norms while domestic abuse of women
and girls is tolerated or ignored by family, friends and neighbours.
Violence against women and girls is one of the most pervasive of global
human rights violations; it occurs in every country and cuts across
boundaries of culture, class, education, ethnicity and age.
The International Women’s Day public forum in Tokyo began with a video message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a brief history of International Women’s Day presented by UNU Senior Vice Rector Ramesh Thakur and a greeting message by Mayumi Moriyama, a member of the Japan House of Representatives.
The forum’s first keynote speaker,
Sheila Sisulu, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP),
spoke about South Africa, where violence against women continues even
though the constitution proscribes gender discrimination and national
legislation outlaws all forms of violence against women.
Mariko Bando, Vice President of Showa Women’s University and former
Director-General of the Japan Cabinet Office’s Gender Equality Bureau,
said that the problem of violence against women and girls will not be
solved until women achieve social and economic parity with men. While the
status of women in Japan, both in the workplace and in the political
sphere, has improved, progress in achieving gender equality in Japan has
been slow compared with many other developed countries.
The speeches were followed by a panel discussion moderated by Shin-ichi Murata, Director, United Nations Development Programme, Japan. The panellists — Momoyo Ise (Governing Board Member, UN Association of Japan), Andrew Horvat (Visiting Professor/Scholar, Tokyo Keizai University), Douglas Lummis (political scientist), Ronni Alexander (Professor, Kobe University Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies), and Ai Awaji (staff writer, Foreign News Desk) — discussed various topics of gender-related discrimination and violence, including the “comfort women” issue, rape, personal perceptions and news coverage.
© 2007 United Nations University