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Statement by Ms. Zhang Meifang Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN at the Third Committee of the GeneralAssembly at its 57th Session On the Issue of Women

2002-10-09 00:00
Mr. Chairman,

Since the Special Session of the General Assembly on Women was held in 2000, the United Nations has been paying attention to the issue of women in a more practical and in-depth way.  Last March, the Commission on the Status of Women had dynamic discussions on two thematic issues, namely poverty eradication and environmental management. They stressed that eradicating poverty among women was an important task for sustainable development and that environmental management and mitigation of natural disasters represent a fundamental guarantee for sustainable development.  It was fully recognized that women had been playing an irreplaceable role in disaster mitigation, post-disaster rehabilitation and management of natural resources.  The Chinese Delegation supports the adoption of the agreed conclusions.

We are pleased to note that at the International Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development held this year, some important recommendations and opinions were put forward on bringing about gender equality, poverty eradication for women and the role of women in economic and social sectors.  We hope that the international community will make concerted efforts to achieve the goals set in the Millennium Declaration, Monterrey Consensus and Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development.

Mr. Chairman,

As pointed out clearly in the Secretary-General's Report on the trafficking in women and girls, violence against and trafficking in women and girls are still rampant today.  The international community should enhance legal system to prevent and prohibit all forms of violence and crimes against women.  The Chinese Delegation supports the conclusions and proposals in the Secretary-General's Report.  We believe that the international community should make further efforts at law enforcement and monitoring and fight against all kinds of crimes violating the rights of women and girls.

Mr. Chairman,

Over the years, the Chinese Government has been attaching great importance to the protection of women's personal freedom and health.  It has made tremendous efforts in protecting women's rights by cracking down on crimes such as rape, trafficking in or violence against women and bringing to justice perpetrators who have severely violated women's rights.  Remarkable progress has thus been achieved.  At the same time, China has set up an effective management system integrating crackdown, prevention and education so as to tackle the root causes of this issue.

China is a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, half of which are women.  In order to better safeguard the rights and interests of the Chinese women, the Chinese Government promulgated in May 2001 "Guidelines for the Development of Chinese Women 2001-2010", which contain comprehensive planning for the development of the Chinese women in this decade and sets out clear-cut measures and new targets for women's participation in politics, employment, education, health and poverty alleviation.  Effective implementation of the Guidelines will immeasurably improve the well-being of the Chinese women in the new century.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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