The Harri Holkeri Lecture “Reflections on Women and Peacebuilding” by President Tarja Halonen the Queen's University, 9.5.2017
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CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY The Harri Holkeri Lecture “Reflections on women and peacebuilding” by President Tarja Halonen The Queen's University, 9.5.2017 Ladies and Gentlemen, Excellencies, Distinguished participants, It is a wonderful pleasure to be here at the Queen’s University in Belfast. Thank you very much for the invitation. I am honored to have this opportunity to speak as part of the Harri Holkeri Lecture series. I have great memories from visiting Northern-Ireland when I was young. I have always also appreciated much the friendship between Finland and the Britain and Ireland. For example in the EU context both countries have been very helpful since we joined the Union in 1995. I have a lot of respect for our late Prime Minister Harri Holkeri. He was a pragmatic politician who built bridges across political party lines. The coalition government he led was actually the government in which I held my fist ministerial posts first as Minister of Social Affairs and later as Minister of Justice. I am sure that his personal characteristics also played a role here in Northern Ireland as he helped to shepherd the talks that led to the historic 1998 peace agreement. When Mr. Holkeri served as the President of the United Nations General Assembly in 2000- 2001, I had been elected for my first term as President of the Republic of Finland. As that period coincided with the Millennium celebrations, I had the honor of co-chairing the Millennium Summit at the UN in September 2000. It was a memorable and very special assignment that later led me to being involved actively with the United Nations. During my time as President of the Republic I co-chaired the ILO’s World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization (2002-2004) and the UN Panel on Global Sustainability (2010-2012). Since I left office I have continued to work particularly with the UN, but also with many other international organizations and networks. My main focus has been on sustainable development, gender equality, health and human rights and issues of social justice. Ladies and Gentlemen, The optimistic atmosphere of the turn of the millennium has somewhat faded. Our societies seem more divided than before. There is an increasing number of people and popular politicians that want their countries to turn inward and be more protective of their self-interests even at the expense of others. The dissatisfaction that has been growing under the surface has come to light. Democratic elections bring results that were not necessarily anticipated. Globalization has brought a lot of good during the last decades, but it has also brought problems and affected people negatively. However, globalization is here to stay and expand. There is a serious need to address the problems caused by change that is at times too rapid. The questions asked are usually not wrong, the answers unfortunately sometimes are. This time of uncertainty is both the reason and a consequence of the contradictions and inequalities that we have not been able to solve. It is somewhat paradoxical as we have advanced so much in so many sectors. There is plenty of science and knowledge and resources to do better. The importance of openness and cooperation is increasingly necessary in our world. Our most pressing problems and threats cannot be solved by individual countries and politics of withdrawal. The problems are complex and challenging, and so are the solutions, but they are not impossible. Now this is anyhow the world in which we live in. It is the world in which we have to build the foundations for the future. On that path the adoption of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations in September 2015 was a remarkable moment. All nations came together to agree on a new holistic framework which aims for a more prosperous, socially just and ecologically sustainable future for our planet. That brought a lot of hope. It is a framework that now guides the work of the global community despite the tensions and some forces that draw us a part. Implementing the Sustainable Development Agenda will succeed if we are ready to use resources wisely and work together. We know what to do. Now it is a matter of political will. Sustainable development is about and it directly contributes to the fight against climate change, degrading environment, loss of biodiversity, desertification, the roots causes of uncontrolled migration, prolonged conflicts, unemployment, lack of opportunity and the many inequalities that exist in our world. Ladies and Gentlemen, During the years that I have followed and worked with global development issues, including conflict resolution and peace building, maybe the one most transformative new realization has been an understanding of how gender inequalities affect our societies and the opportunities for development. The role and status of women and girls is absolutely the key to a sustainable future be it at the global or very local level, or there in between. Wherever we look, women and girls are at a disadvantaged position – be it in the aftermath of disasters, armed conflicts, education sector, access to health care, the labor market or property law. Gender disparities are not a matter of opinion, but hard facts. Social and cultural norms and stereotypes have kept women from reaching an equal standing with men and boys. We have come to understand that sustainable development is not possible without gender equality. It is a human rights question, a moral question, but also a question of smart economics and a good development strategy. It was at the Rio+20 Summit where we said that we have overused our natural resources, but underused the human potential of especially women – but also the poor and the youth. Now let’s turn to some reflections on gender and peace, Unfortunately crises and armed conflicts in the world are not disappearing. The nature of conflicts has changed and crises are prolonged. In many regions, crisis management and crisis resolution attempts last from one decade to another. Again here, the role women can play is not fully understood or used for the benefit of peace. 2 Women and girls suffer disproportionately during and after war. Women are particularly vulnerable, not because of their gender, but because of social, political, cultural and economic factors. As women are more likely to suffer from poverty, exclusion and discrimination during times of peace, they are even more likely to suffer during armed conflict. In my work as UN Global Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction I have come across the statistic many times, that women and children are 14 times more likely to die during and after natural disasters than men. Wars are disasters, and the non-combatant deaths are also disproportionate. Wars have always been violent, but civil wars are especially harmful to the civilian population. Today the acts of war are more and more targeted at civilians. The purpose of those atrocities is to hurt and degrade the population as a whole. The most vulnerable targets are sought – women and children. The war in Syria is a terrible example. People living very far from the scenes of war are also increasingly targeted through terrorist attacks. Unpredictability of where and when and how terror is committed threatens the feeling of security of everyone. The usage of women and children as weapons of war tells its own terrible story about how civilians are being used in wars. During armed conflict, women and girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation. Although sexual crimes are also targeted at men, the effects on women are different and longer, not just in terms of health, but also in social consequences. Because women are able to give birth to a child conceived from rape and bear responsibility for this child, it also demands more from families and communities in dealing with post-crisis traumas. Due to the changed nature of armed conflicts, the rehabilitation of victims is an ever more demanding task in economic, social and cultural terms. In this context I should also mention the importance of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights as crises and conflicts considerably worsen the situation of women and girls. SRHR lies at the core of everybody’s opportunity to chart their own lives and to have control over the most personal decisions of their lives: about sexuality, health, relationships, love, marriage and childbearing. If people cannot decide for themselves on their most private matters, how could we expect them to be able to take broader responsibility for their communities and the rebuilding of societies? I have worked with SRHR and with broader health issues as a member of the Steering Committee of the Every Woman Every Child movement. I am also the co-chair of the Health and Human Rights Working Group set up by the WHO and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report of our working group with key recommendations will be published during the World Health Assembly on the 22nd of May and later in connection with the Human Rights Council in June. Health is not just about physical health – it is about the overall wellbeing of people. It is about human rights, and also about economic prosperity and eventually the security of nations. One aspect that we should also keep in mind is that men and boys need to be kept involved in our work to fight gender inequality. It is important to allow boys and men to have new types of role models and chances in life to pursue careers, lifestyles and family roles that lead to greater sharing and equality in life and change attitudes and social norms.