UN
Power, Voice and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific
11 April 2010 - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan today launched in Kabul the UNDP Asia-Pacific Human Development Report identifying three key areas “where policy interventions will produce results for gender equality” – building economic power; promoting political voice; and advancing legal rights.
The launch event at the Government Media Information Centre (GMIC) was attended by UNDP's Resident Representative Robert Watkins who said that “while East Asia and the Pacific are improving, our region, the South Asian sub-region, is lagging behind on major indicators, such as health, literacy, economic and political participation, and discriminatory social practices and behaviours.”
Mr Watkins, who is also the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said “Afghanistan witnesses gender inequalities on the three areas targeted in the report – economic, political and legislative – due to many structural and social restrictions.” Mr Watkins pointed out that “this report presents an opportunity to reconsider Afghanistan’s economic and policy opportunities in terms of gender equality.”
Mr Watkins noted, however, that “while lack of data remains a main challenge for representation of Afghanistan on the regional and global human development assessments, contribution from the UNDP-CPHD (Centre for Policy and Human Development) project has been very valuable as, for the first time, Afghanistan is studied in the regional context from a human development gender-related lens.”
“In conflict settings and post-conflict countries, women’s roles are largely ignored. Women’s inclusion can bring better insights in studying conflicts and reconciliation potentials. Furthermore, post-conflict countries cannot achieve peace, reform and rehabilitation with the exclusion of women from peace agreements and post-conflict development,” said Mr Watkins.
Mr Watkins said the UNDP Report “is an opportunity for Afghanistan to draw lessons learnt from the regional context and address its local gender-related issues presented in the report."
“The UN family stands ready to support the Government of Afghanistan in this regard. We are firmly committed to working together with the Government and people of Afghanistan as well as the international community to ensure that we are successful,” he concluded.
The launching of the UNDP report sub-titled “Power, Voice and Rights – A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific” was also attended by the Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Mushgan Mustafwee, and Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission head, Sima Samar.
By Aurora Verceles Alambra, UNAMA
