| Asia
Women’s Conference on a Culture of Peace
The
Regional Conference, Asian Women for a Culture of Peace,
held at Hanoi, from 6 to 9 December 2000. The Conference
was organized jointly by ESCAP and UNESCO at the invitation
of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to celebrate the International
Year for the Culture of Peace and to usher in the International
Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children
of the World (2001-2010), as well as the International Year
of the Dialogue among Civilizations and the International
Year of Mobilization against Racism, Xenophobia, and other
related Intolerance (2001).
The
Conference was attended by 150 delegates and observers from
35 countries in Asia and the Pacific, from intergovernmental
organizations, governments, NGOs, academia, and UN agencies.
Sponsors of the Conference were Canada, Japan, Norway, Republic
of Korea, UNICEF, UNFPA, and UNESCO and ESCAP. Messages
were received from Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Permanent
Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations and Ms
Angela King, Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement
of Women, United Nations.
At the
opening session, the Conference heard addresses by Mme Nguyen
Thi Binh, the Vice President of the Socialist Republic of
Viet Nam, Mr Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO,
and others.
The
Conference welcomed recent progress in promoting women’s
concerns and actual and potential contributions to building
and maintaining peace, including the adoption of the Security
Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security
(30 October 2000) and the reaffirmed governments’
commitments made at the Global Review of the implementation
the Beijing Platform for Action at the General Assembly
23rd Special Session (5-9 June 2000).
|