Samráðsfundur UNIFEM félaganna á Norðurlöndum

Siv Friðleifsdóttir, samstarfsráðherra Norðurlanda

Ladies and gentlemen,

let me express my thanks to you for this opportunity to address your meeting where UNIFEM}s activities will be introduced with special emphasis on projects supported by the Nordic countries. UNIFEM, which was established in 1976 to promote the empowerment of women in developing countries, is funded by voluntary contributions from UN member states. The Nordic countries, together with the Netherlands, are among the most committed supporters of the fund, which is now engaged in numerous projects around the world. We especially value UNIFEM}s work as all statistics show that development resources targeted at women are many times more effectively deployed than other kinds of development assistance.

As Sigríður Margrét Guðmundsdóttir, President of UNIFEM in Iceland, said in her introductory remarks, the meetings here will focus on strengthening and formalising cooperation among the UNIFEM organizations in the Nordic countries, in order to increase their influence within UNIFEM as a whole in the battle to alleviate poverty among women in developing countries.

What makes Nordic cooperation such a strong force is how widespread it is – not only do members of parliament and government ministers cooperate within the Nordic Council, and the Nordic countries in almost all the international cooperation in which they are involved, but the same goes for all manner of non-governmental organizations and municipal authorities. Just a week ago, the Nordic Association of Architects held a Nordic Building Day here in Iceland. Nordic farmers' organizations are working together, and the same applies to women's rights groups, medical associations, labour unions and confederations of employers, to name just a few.

The Government of Iceland gives high priority to maintaining and strengthening the informal Nordic cooperation which takes place within United Nations fora. Cooperation among the Nordic UNIFEM organizations is one mesh in that net. By strengthening their cooperation in this field and displaying solidarity, the Nordic countries can exert a weightier presence in the fund. One Nordic voice, representing all the Nordic countries with a combined population of 24 million, is louder than five voices of small nations, which is what the Nordic countries are when they appear separately in the international arena.

It is a sign of the times that the global dimension in intergovernmental cooperation within the Nordic Council has increased substantially in the past decade. Regional cooperation, such as Nordic cooperation, must take the global scenario into account in order to achieve results. Globalisation has brought the nations of the world closer to each other, and by their very nature the most crucial issues for the whole of humankind – a clean environment, equal rights, democracy and welfare – can only be successfully tackled through powerful international cooperation.

The Nordic countries are most effective in combining forces in international fora in those fields where they have the same basic policy, as is the case in the field where UNIFEM operates. Furthermore, the Nordic countries have a far more successful record on issues of gender equality and equal rights than most other countries, so we have a duty to make our experience known to other nations, in order to so make a useful and positive contribution.

One aspect of this role is the international conference which the Government of Iceland will be hosting in Reykjavík next month, on the theme of Women and Democracy. We are proud to have enlisted the US Government and the Nordic Council of Ministers as cosponsors. Besides the Nordic countries and the USA, Russia and the Baltic States will be participating. We emphasize that delegates to the conference should come not only from women's organizations and the academic community, but also from the business and financial sectors, together with non-government organizations, fully aware that equality will never be achieved by legislation alone. Economic independence, as well as health and education for women, are just as necessary preconditions for equality. We wish this conference to be followed up with dynamic global cooperation in order to foster gender equality in the new century.

To remind us of the great amount of work which remains to be done in order to further the empowerment of women in developing countries, I would like to end by quoting the words of Noeleen Heyzer in her Plenary Address to the Fourth World Conference on Women:

"It is not acceptable for women to constitute 70 percent of the world's 1.3 billion absolute poor. Nor is it acceptable for women to work two-thirds of the world's working hours, but earn only one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one-tenth of the world's property. Many fundamental changes must be made."