Thirty-fourth session
Summary record of the 705th meeting
Held at Headquarters, New York, on Thursday, 19 January 2006, at 10 a.m.
Chairperson:Ms. Manalo
Contents
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)
Combined initial, second and third periodic report of Cambodia
The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)
Combined initial, second and third periodic report of Cambodia (CEDAW/C/KHM/1-3, CEDAW/C/KHM/Q/1-3 and Add.1)
1.At the invitation of the Chairperson, the members of the delegation of Cambodia took places at the Committee table.
2.Ms. Ing (Cambodia) apologized for the delay in submitting her country’s combined initial, second and third periodic report, which had been due to political instability in Cambodia over the previous 10 years and to the recent transfer of institutional responsibility for preparing the reports.
3.From being an isolated nation in the 1980s, Cambodia had become a recognized member of the international community and currently functioned as a multiparty liberal democracy. Despite its significant achievements, it still had to contend with poverty and a high level of unemployment. Women were particularly vulnerable and, because of their limited education and lack of knowledge of their rights, suffered from abuse and discrimination. They were also victims of gender stereotyping; they were considered subordinate to men. However, since Cambodia’s ratification of the Convention, in October 1992, the definition of discrimination against women contained in the Convention had been used as a basis for seeking to ensure equality between men and women in every field. While it was not yet defined as a criminal offence to practise such discrimination, a new draft Criminal Code was currently being prepared that would penalize it in specific cases.
4.She drew attention to several articles in the Constitution that laid down the principles of equality of treatment for women. Accordingly, in the spirit of the Constitution and in accordance with the provisions of the Convention, the Government had adopted strategies to advance the rights of women. It had set up the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, which pursued a policy inspired by the Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention and focused its action on the economic empowerment of women, women and health, women and education, legal protection for women, and women and governance. Other institutional measures included the establishment of the interministerial National Council for Women, the Government Donor Coordination Committee, which comprised a Technical Working Group on Gender, and the Supreme Council of State Reform.
5.The Government of Cambodia, in partnership with national, international and civil society organizations, had been increasingly successful in mainstreaming gender in its policies and programmes over the past decade and had again emphasized its commitment to gender equality in a new policy, adopted in 2004, known as the Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Efficiency and Equity. It gave priority to enhancing the role and social status of women, capacity-building for women and ensuring the equal participation of women in nation-building. In 1995, it had set up the Village Development Committee, 40 per cent of whose members were women. At the commune level, it had established Women and Children’s Committees. In addition, it had made it a requirement that women constitute half the membership of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Commune Councils and count for one in three of the leaders of each village.
6.She went on to highlight the Government’s achievements in various sectors. In a country where one fifth of deaths among women were pregnancy-related, it had developed a number of measures to ensure safe motherhood. Thanks to its action, the maternal mortality rate had decreased; the total fatality rate had declined; the number of women benefiting from antenatal care had increased; there had been a sharp drop in the incidence of HIV/AIDS among adults, including pregnant women; and there had been an increase in condom use among sex workers. In education, recognized by the Government to be a priority sector, primary, lower and higher secondary school enrolments had increased in rural and outlying areas; girls had benefited in particular, thanks to the gender strategy developed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.
7.In the legislative sphere, a number of laws and regulations had been designed to ensure the equal rights of men and women, while under the Rectangular Strategy new laws and regulations were being drafted to promote the status of women. In addition, Cambodia was involved in several programmes in the Greater Mekong Subregion to combat human trafficking and had enacted legislation to eliminate all forms of such trafficking as well as the sexual exploitation of women. In 2005, the National Assembly had adopted the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. In the same year, the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims had come into force. The Government was also seeking to improve labour migration management in order better to assist and protect women migrant workers and had accordingly assigned specific responsibilities in that regard to a number of ministries, including the development of a gender perspective in the treatment of migration issues.
8.She emphasized that Cambodia had the highest percentage in the region of women participating in the labour force, with 74.8 per cent of all women aged 15 and over in employment. The public sector accounted for 2 per cent of female employment; women’s employment was mostly in the informal sector, where they were mainly self-employed and unpaid family workers. In rural areas, the Government was seeking to ensure greater gender equality; in particular, it was planning to use part of a forthcoming loan from the Asian Development Bank to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s gender working group and to encourage equal treatment of women, both in recruitment and for credit. Her own Ministry was just beginning to convert the existing provincial Women in Development Centres into Women’s Empowerment Centres aimed at developing entrepreneurship among women, providing training in literacy and life skills and helping female students to obtain credit.
9.Women played a predominant part in the country’s biggest industry, the garment industry, where they worked under regulated conditions and received a living wage. Tourism and agriculture were two other potential areas of growth in which women would have an important part to play. The Government was taking suitable measures to that end, in particular the provision of training. It was also making significant efforts to promote their active participation in decision-making. The number of women in the National Assembly had increased from 5.38 per cent in 1993 to 18 per cent in 2003; in the Senate from 13.11 per cent in 1998 to 18.03 per cent in 2003; and in the Government from 7.4 per cent in 1993 to 9.58 per cent in 2003.
10.She drew attention to Cambodia’s Land Law, which reflected the Government’s conviction that land policy must be gender-responsive. Under that Law, the title to land was jointly held by husband and wife. In addition, women heads of households were given priority under the social land concessions programme.
11.She outlined the main challenges remaining. Despite considerable efforts, the legal and administrative measures taken had not always been appropriate or effective. Only limited success had been achieved in gender mainstreaming in public institutions and in developing understanding of gender issues; law enforcement was still weak in that area. Greater commitment to the national endorsed policy of gender equality was needed from decision makers in ministries, particularly greater financial commitment. Social values still needed to be changed; and further efforts were required to promote gender mainstreaming in the school curriculum.
12.The Government of Cambodia had clearly recognized its necessary role in ensuring gender equality and gender mainstreaming and understood that responsibility in that area had to be shared by the Senate, the National Assembly, the Government and other institutions. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs had played a significant part in policymaking to that end. For policy implementation, the next step was to ensure training, dissemination and budget allocation. With peace and stability in the country, the Government was better placed to meet the challenges of working for the women of Cambodia.
Articles 1 and 2
13.Ms. Schöpp-Schilling, referring to the delegation’s statement that the new draft Criminal Code would now address direct discrimination against women, pointed out that article 1 of the Convention also prohibited indirect discrimination — in other words, instances where neutrally formulated laws, policies or practices had a more disadvantageous effect on women than on men. The Land Law seemed to be such a law. In that regard, she wondered whether there had been a discussion about the nature of indirect discrimination in Cambodia and whether the definition she had provided would be included in the new Criminal Code. If it had not yet been included, would there be an opportunity to include it via parliamentary debate? She also wondered whether the training programmes and administrative reforms mentioned by the delegation included a discussion of the nature of discrimination.
14.Her second question concerned the separation of responsibilities between the Cambodia Human Rights Committee, which was responsible for preparing reports under the various human rights conventions, and the Cambodian National Council for Women (CNCW), which was responsible for preparing reports to the CEDAW. While she could see the value of such a separation, she also saw a danger. The report referred to “human rights”, on the one hand, and “women’s rights”, on the other. However, the Convention was about the equal enjoyment of women’s human rights with men and separating human rights and women’s rights therefore caused misunderstanding. Her question was whether there would be better coordination between those two bodies in the future concerning their responsibilities regarding the implementation of human rights in Cambodia and reporting procedures.
15.Ms. Pimentel commended Cambodia for enacting the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of the Victims and for giving consideration to civil society’s recommendations that attention should be given to education, as well as to penalties. In that regard, she wished to know what the Government was doing to raise awareness about domestic violence among the police, lawyers, judges and the general public. She also wondered whether the Government planned to give special consideration to Cambodian men and what it was doing to address the fact that domestic violence was determined by stereotypes and harmful traditions, which were particularly strong in rural areas.
16.Her own country, Brazil, had set up women’s police stations, which had proved to be very effective. She suggested that Cambodia might wish to give consideration to adopting a similar practice and said that Brazil’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs would be pleased to provide more information, if requested. In that regard, she wondered whether the Government had taken measures to train female law enforcement officers and legal officials in dealing with victims of domestic violence. Lastly, she wondered whether Cambodia had established or was planning to establish a system to monitor implementation of the new Education Law and the recently adopted law on domestic violence.
17.Ms. Shin said that, while she was pleased that the new draft Criminal Code included offences based on discrimination against women, it was not clear from the list of examples provided by the delegation whether it prohibited all forms of discrimination, in line with the Convention. She had heard, for example, that male public officials received payments for dependants, whereas female public officials did not. Sexual harassment was another key issue. There were many other examples of direct and indirect discrimination that must be included in the new draft Criminal Code, and she therefore urged the Government to review the matter.
18.She also pointed out that the Convention prohibited all discrimination against women, whether by public institutions or by enterprises or individuals. That aspect too should be included in the draft Criminal Code.
19.Her third question concerned the procedure by which women could report discrimination. Legal process should be accessible to women; however, court procedures were usually costly, time-consuming and not woman-friendly. She had heard, for example, that in order to bring charges rape victims were required to provide medical certificates. At $10 each, such certificates were unaffordable for poor women. She wished to know, therefore, what the Government was doing to make procedures more accessible to women. For example, was it considering setting up a fund? Was it considering introducing new legislation to give the Ministry of Women’s Affairs the power to receive complaints and make redress? Such a procedure would, in her view, be less time-consuming and more friendly than the legal procedure.
20.Ms. Saiga said that, according to the report, any laws which were not in harmony with the Convention could not be implemented (para. 313); any laws and provisions which were discriminatory would be automatically null and void (para. 96); and a Constitutional Council had been established to review the constitutionality of laws (para. 313). She would be interested to know: whether the Constitutional Council had conducted such a review; if so, whether it had identified any laws and provisions that needed to be amended or declared null and void; what happened once the Constitutional Council identified such laws and provisions; and how the general public and law enforcement institutions were informed of its decisions.
21.Mr. Flinterman requested further clarification concerning the Convention’s status in domestic law. The Committee had been informed that Cambodia respected the human rights enshrined in the Constitution and international human rights agreements and that the courts must use the principles of the Convention as a basis for their decisions. However, the Convention contained not only principles, but also clear legal norms containing the obligations of States and the corresponding rights of women. In that regard, he would be interested to know whether the Convention could be invoked in a court of law and, if so, whether the court could set aside a national law that conflicted with the Convention.
22.He also wished to know whether it was true that the Convention had not yet been published in Cambodia’s Official Gazette and, if so, whether it would be published.
23.Lastly, referring to article 2 (c) of the Convention, he noted that the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, the Human Rights Committee and Committee against Torture had raised concerns with regard to the independence of the Cambodian judiciary. In that regard, he was very pleased that the Government was in the process of drafting the Law on the Organization of the Court and the Law on the Status of Judges, and he requested further information concerning their significance for the independence of the judiciary.
24.Ms. Gaspard said that she had a number of concerns regarding application of the new law on domestic violence. In particular, she wished to know whether steps were being taken to raise awareness of the new law among women, who were often reluctant to report domestic violence, and among the relevant public actors, such as the police and judges. In that regard, she was concerned by the low percentage of women police officers in Cambodia (report, p. 36). She was not suggesting that male officers could not understand complaints filed by women, simply that women were more likely to report complaints to a female officer. Awareness measures and training were therefore crucial.
25.Various sources indicated that rape was a major problem in Cambodia. Not only were women reluctant to file complaints but when they did they were often not taken seriously. She wondered whether the delegation could provide any statistics in that regard and any information on how the Government planned to ensure that the issue was taken seriously.
26.Ms. Šimonović said that she had a number of questions concerning the status of the Convention in the national legal system. The delegation had stated that, according to the Constitution, the Convention took precedence over national law. It was not clear, however, whether international instruments ratified by Cambodia were directly applicable or self-executing, or whether they needed to be translated into national law through legislation. In any case, she agreed that a definition of discrimination against women should be included in the Constitution and domestic law, and the appropriate sanctions provided. The delegation had mentioned the provisions contained in the new draft Criminal Code; however, criminal law covered only the most serious violations of women’s rights. In order to prohibit direct and indirect discrimination, it was important to have appropriate sanctions in other laws too, in order to cover all fields in which discrimination could exist. Lastly, she wished to know what was being done to inform people about the Convention in Cambodia. For example, was it taught at universities and was it available to the judiciary?
27.The Chairperson, speaking in her capacity as a Committee member, said that she wished to know whether the set of morals expected of women known as “Chbab Srey” was a secular law or customary law and what steps the Government was taking to eradicate that code or to establish another code of conduct applicable to both men and women.
28.Ms. Ing (Cambodia), responding to the questions put by Committee members, pointed out that Chbab Srey was customary law, not statute law. Although it was on the school curriculum, the intention was not that children should learn it by rote but that they should discuss and analyse it. Custom and tradition, which were part of the identity of the country, needed to be debated and could be changed if they failed to keep up with its evolution. Discussions were being held with the Ministry of Education and the monks of Cambodia, guardians of tradition, on how best to adapt Chbab Srey and the equivalent code of conduct for men to the needs of a changed society. The codes of conduct could not simply be abolished by a ministerial decision, without a referendum, but in any case they were not the chief obstacle to achieving equality for women.
29.As for the status of the Convention, it obviously had priority over domestic law, whose most fundamental expression, the Constitution, already took into account international conventions on human rights and the principles of international law. Domestic legislation needed to be adapted, since issues like discrimination and sanctions for discrimination were not stipulated in all domestic laws. A new Criminal Code had already been drafted, under which direct discrimination was punishable, an improvement on the wording of the current Code. The Government, the Ministry of Justice and the courts were revising existing domestic law to bring it into line with the Convention.
30.Even though it was hard for judges to punish discrimination before it was expressly forbidden by the Code, women were not without redress: they could take their complaints to NGOs, with which the Ministry of Women’s Affairs worked closely to take action on complaints and monitor the follow-up on outcomes. A new decision by the Prime Minister allowed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to bring cases of discrimination to court. Another conduit for complaints was via the relevant Commission (one of nine) of the National Assembly or the Senate, which received complaints from women, as did the National Council for Women, whose Executive President was the Minister of Women’s Affairs. The issue of rape was a very serious aspect of violence against women, and an anti-rape unit had been set up in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs; this office received all complaints of rape and initiated prosecutions. A complaint about rape was indeed a long procedure, requiring the medical certificate so important for a successful prosecution; the Ministry was aware that $10 was more than the poor could afford to pay, so they were released from the fee. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was discussing with the Ministry of Health the abolition of fees for any medical certificates to do with violence against women, as part of the Government’s policy priority to make recourse to justice easier for women.
31.The Law on Domestic Violence had been adopted in October 2005, and a three-year plan of action, with a public information campaign, was now being drafted in concert with other ministries to raise awareness of the content of the law, so that society would understand that domestic violence was a crime, and not merely a family issue as many still considered. The campaign was also targeted at police, judges, prosecutors and civil servants; future judges had it as an element of their curriculum, and for incumbent judges there were training sessions to help them understand that the law on domestic violence was more than just a criminal law, but contained provisions for preventing crime, and for counselling victims, targeting not only the immediate family but all those who lived under the same roof in a typical Asian extended-family structure. Among the special measures it contained for timely protection of potential victims were allowing the chief of the local village the power to intervene, and the courts authority to issue a two-week protection order, along with giving perpetrators two chances to admit their guilt and correct their own actions rather than serve a jail term, which would break up the family. As for direct and indirect discrimination, only the former was mentioned in the wording of the law, but negotiations were under way to include the latter as well, either in review with the Ministry of Justice, or else later during the debate in the National Assembly.
32.Whether it was enshrined in legislation or not, the Government’s policy was to promote equality, with a strong emphasis on the issue of specific measures to respond to the problem. There was now a better database, giving a clearer picture of where the disparities lay, and monitoring of the implementation of the education campaign for the law on domestic violence. Cambodia acknowledged that its monitoring mechanisms were not working effectively, and that it needed clear targets, indicators and benchmarks. The Ministry of Education was using its inspection unit to monitor those aspects of the campaign being implemented in the education system. One member of the National Council for Women was ex officio a member of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee, to make sure that human rights in general were taken into account in implementation, evaluation and monitoring of women’s rights issues.
33.As for the implementation of the Convention, the text would be published in the Official Gazette in 2006, and there would be training and awareness seminars for police, judges, court staff and civil servants from the relevant ministries on the Convention along with dissemination through the media for society at large. The task of the Constitutional Council was to review all general laws to ascertain their constitutionality, reporting back to the two chambers of the legislature and the Ministry of Justice, rather than to society at large.
34.Ms. Chan Sotheavy (Cambodia), speaking on legal and judicial issues, said that a draft law was being developed in the Ministry of Justice, to provide four chambers — commercial, civil, administrative and criminal — and more appeal courts, Cambodia currently having only one such court. A draft law on working conditions, aimed at giving higher priority to women judges, was ready to be tabled at the Council of Ministers. As to education, study of the Convention had been on the university curriculum since a pilot project had been conducted in 2005.
35.Ms. Ing (Cambodia) added that the Government was aware that the courts were not completely independent of the executive branch and was implementing reforms. A Code of Conduct for all judges was being drafted, failure to respect which would result in prosecution under the Law on the Status of Judges. It was proposed to make prosecutors staff of the Ministry of Justice, on the one hand, and judges staff of the court system, on the other, in order to provide a better balance of power between the legislative and the executive.
Article 3
36.Ms. Shanti Dairiam said that she was concerned about how a consistent understanding of gender mainstreaming would be maintained across the many development plans and strategies which the Government had devised. It would be very useful to hear what lessons had been learned from the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the Rectangular Strategy and the poverty eradication strategy and an evaluation of the institutional arrangements for gender mainstreaming.
37.Ms. Tavares da Silva asked what the Government envisaged as effective mechanisms for gender mainstreaming. She would also like to know how women who were members of minority ethnic groups or disabled were taken into consideration in access to employment, education and equal rights.
38.Ms. Ing (Cambodia) said that, as a result of the country’s protracted political crisis, gender mainstreaming mechanisms had not existed before 2000, when the Government had acknowledged that they were needed to achieve equality in sectoral ministries. As for the mechanisms, gender focal points had been established in 2000, but they had not proved ineffective because they were not at the policy and decision-making level. In 2004, the Government had established gender mainstreaming action groups in the line ministries that were headed by officials at the policymaking level. Those action groups were modelled after a very successful gender working group created within the Ministry of Education that was replicated in other ministries, with great effectiveness.
39.Each institution had its own mission. The National Council on Women monitored the implementation of government gender policy and had been given responsibility for reporting to the Committee and to other international bodies. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was the implementation agency which drafted sectoral policy and designed gender mainstreaming activities. The Technical Working Group had been established by the Government and donors to harmonize policy and programmes. It was chaired by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and was composed of representatives of line ministries, donors, NGOs and international organizations to mobilize resources, give technical advice and monitor obstacles. Finally, the Supreme Council of State Reform, presided over by a High Commissioner and six Deputies, was responsible for implementation of reform, including the gender equality policy.
40.Among lessons learned from implementation of the national poverty reduction strategy were the need to be good advocates and negotiators, the success of a participatory approach and the need for good analysis before making policy decisions. An obstacle in moving from policy commitment to action was the lack of financial commitment, and consequently her Ministry had worked with the World Bank on gender budgeting and had sent experts to coordinate with the line ministries by including a gender perspective in their budgets.
41.The needs of disabled or ethnic minority women had not been among recent Government priorities, but they had been considered, especially in the area of education and literacy programmes for ethnic and minority girls.
Article 5
42.Ms. Morvai said that violence against women was still an integral part of the culture, and the Government and the educational system maintained women’s second-class status. She was concerned at the apparent lack of awareness of the function of violence against women in Cambodian society. Violence had a function in society, which was to keep women in their place, and, through such instruments as the code of conduct for women, the power to enforce that status was delegated to the head of household through his right to use violence to “discipline” women. She would like to hear more about how laws against domestic violence would be enforced, given that background.
43.Ms. Arocha Dominguez said that associating maternity with femininity might not be helpful in overcoming gender stereotypes, but rather might result in indirect discrimination. She would like additional information on whether improvements in access to education for women and girls were a result of a gender perspective or of overall improvement in that sector.
44.Ms. Simms would like to know how judges, who were mostly male, were appointed, and if there had been any recent changes in the pattern of such appointments. The report referred to widespread corruption among members of the judiciary, and she would like to hear how the Government planned to address that problem.
45.Mr. Flinterman welcomed the establishment of the anti-rape unit and asked whether cases of rape brought before the law were monitored, whether the judiciary received training to deal with rape cases and whether rape in marriage was punishable under criminal law.
46.Ms. Shin stressed the importance of changing the recently established patriarchal culture in order to restore traditional respect for women. Moreover, a nationwide media campaign should be undertaken to combat the culture of discrimination and inform women of their rights. Lastly, a course in women’s studies should be included in the university curriculum.
47.Ms. Ing (Cambodia) acknowledged the difficulties involved in implementing the new code of conduct and the legislation on domestic violence but noted that the nationwide awareness campaign was designed to convince society that domestic violence was a crime and would not be tolerated.
48.However, progress could be achieved only slowly, and the local context must be taken into account. In Cambodia all the decision-making positions were held by men, and they could easily feel threatened by the changes being sought and could hamper progress. All of society must be involved in curbing domestic violence; her Ministry needed partners in that endeavour.
49.Referring to judicial corruption, she stressed that her Government’s concern about the problem was reflected in efforts to reform the courts. Also, the Ministry of Justice was seeking to recruit women judges, for example, by providing scholarships and special accommodations to enable women to pursue studies to become a judge. The Ministry of the Interior had agreed to recruit more women police officers, in particular to deal with cases of rape. Material was being prepared for an awareness campaign in urban and rural areas on the problem of domestic violence and rape. Organized trafficking in persons had tragic dimensions in rural areas, and efforts were focused on convincing society that that crime would not be tolerated.
50.With regard to education, she explained that the Ministry of Education had been asked to change the image of women in textbooks, to show women in the outside world not just in the kitchen, and to include gender, human rights and social issues in the school curriculum at an earlier, more impressionable age. While universities were being asked to review their programmes, gender studies per se had not yet found a place in the curriculum.
Article 6
51.Ms. Saiga recalled that trafficking in women and children was increasing, despite the 1996 law to combat it. The judicial system was not functioning properly and should be reformed to put an end to the culture of impunity. Moreover, the Government and civil society should join together in a massive campaign to inform the public about the dangers of trafficking for women and children.
52.Ms. Coker-Appiah agreed with Ms. Saiga and suggested that more resources should be devoted to the reintegration of victims of trafficking.
53.Ms. Tavares da Silva drew attention to paragraphs 156 and 162 of the report and to the measures listed in response to questions concerning trafficking, but she noted the lack of information on the effectiveness of such measures. She asked whether women were warned of the dangers of trafficking, were rescued from traffickers and were rehabilitated, and whether traffickers were prosecuted.
54.Ms. Morvai read out paragraph 162 of the report but stressed that in no case was prostitution voluntary. She condemned the euphemisms used by international donors, which referred to prostitutes as “sex workers” when they were really just slaves. She asked what the Government’s position was on prostitution and its connection with trafficking.
55.Ms. Ing (Cambodia) said that her Government considered trafficking to be the worst form of violence against women. Prostitution was unacceptable, and women should not be sold by their families. Her Ministry, together with others, was trying to address the problem, and new, more comprehensive provisions were being drafted with special emphasis on the protection of women and children and on their reintegration.
56.Responding to comments about the effectiveness of existing mechanisms, she stressed that her Government was committed to fighting trafficking, as reflected in the implementation of the necessary legislation and the establishment of a special ministerial unit for juvenile protection. Moreover, the data on successful arrests and prosecution showed an increase in the number of cases brought to court.
57.In combating prostitution, her Ministry’s policy was to provide decent alternative work for women. She emphasized the importance of women’s access to education and mentioned the establishment of literacy programmes and vocational training. The Women in Development Centres were becoming business centres, providing training and help in finding employment. The Government was being encouraged to provide additional financing so that such activities could be extended throughout the country, and it was therefore important to attract investors, not only for gender-related projects but for economic reasons, with a view to creating employment opportunities.
The meeting rose at 1 p.m.