UNESCO SUPPORTS WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN IN THE YEAR 2000

Paris, April 1999, 14 {No.99-78}

- UNESCO, the lead agency of the International Year for a Culture of Peace proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, voiced its support for the World March of Women in the Year 2000, an initiative launched by the Fédération des femmes du Québec (Quebec Women's Federation) to combat poverty and violence against women, in a press conference at Organization Headquarters today.

The idea for a world-wide march in the year 2000 was born of the highly successful Women's March Against Poverty, Du pain et des roses (Bread and Roses), which was held in 1995 in Quebec (Canada). The World March of Women in the Year 2000 is intended to rally women - as well as men - world-wide.

Following the international preparatory meeting which brought together 140 delegates from 65 countries from October 16 to 18, 1998, in Montreal, an international liaison committee was created. The list of committee members and information required to join the movement are available on the March Web site, www.ffq.qc.ca . More than 1,600 groups in 121 countries have joined the March.

Marie-France Benoît of the Fédération des femmes du Québec gave details about the March: "Events connected to the March will commence on March 8, 2000, International Women's Day, and end on October 17 of that year, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, and will be organised on three levels: support for the global demands of the March through the collection of supporters' signatures; national actions on the specific demands reflecting the struggles and preoccupations of women's movements in each country; and, finally, an international rally in New York at the Headquarters of the United Nations where the signatures collected will be handed in on October 17.

Awa Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso, a member of the international liaison committee, insisted on the importance of the March for her country and for the entire African continent: "The countries of the continent have signed [all] international conventions but this has changed nothing. Poverty, notably that affecting women, is still progressing. Thus, this March will allow for the establishment, on the local level, of birth certificates and cards of identity and, consequently, will enable women to say 'I am'."

Anne Leclerc, of the French Co-ordination for the World March, stressed that France and Europe owed it to themselves to take part in the March, because even in privileged countries, "the differences between men and women are growing and solidarity is increasingly indispensable." She recalled that representatives from thirteen European countries will meet next weekend (April 17 and 18) to take stock and discuss details concerning the March.

Breda Pavlic, Director of the Unit for the Promotion of the Status of Women and Gender Equality, explained the Organization's support for the event: "We support the March because it coincides with UNESCO's priorities: to act in favour of women and girls and of gender equality; to fight poverty and help women fight poverty; finally, to ensure peace through the construction of a culture of peace."

Recalling that one of UNESCO's missions is to help women fight poverty through better access to education, and to favour women's access to positions of responsibility from the community to the international level, Ms Pavlic concluded: "This World March of Women in the Year 2000 is a fine example of well organised action, which starts at the grass-root level to reach the entire world in full respect of the divergences of all the movements' components. At a time when we might wonder whether women can propose another way of exercising power, the March is an example of the implementation of democracy."