I think by this speech ole offoumou just made themselves apostates. Notice the concluding comment, "Peace requires the equal and effective participation of women at all levels and in all fields, as well as human rights and justice." The GB will nevergo for that.
Plenary speech: Kaudjhis-Offoumou
WOMEN'S PEACE PLATFORM
Over the past few years,several resolutions and recommendations have emerged from various international fora to address issues which will enhance human progress and development . The Earth Summit, the Population Conference, the Social Development Summit and the Human Rights Conference, among others, require huge amounts of resources for their implementation. The Global Platform for Action, to be approved at the BeijingUs WomenUs Conference in the next few days, will also need billions of dollars for its implementation. But where will all this money come from? The WomenUs Peace Platform insists that the only place to find these funds to carry out the demands of all these meetings is from the $2 million per minute the world is currently spending on the military. According to UNICEF, children and women bear the severe brunt of war, civil strife and ethnic conflict. Available statistics indicate that during the past decade, more than 1.5 million children were killed, over 4 million permanently disabled, about 12 m illion left homeless and an estimated 10 million traumatised by conflict. Countless numbers of women and girls have been raped. Presently, the world is witnessing untold misery and suffering in several countries affected by armed conflicts. These incl ude the former Yugoslavia in Eastern Europe and Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. The WomenUs Peace Platform calls for the creation of a culture of peace world-wide and an end to the arms trade. It stongly advocates an immediate halt in the production, testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons as well as the reduction of ever y nationUs military budget by 5% a year for 5 years, transferring the savings directly to support womenUs and human needs. Seen through womenUs eyes, Peace is not only the absence of war, but the presence of justice, caring and harmony. Women activists who will be organising several Peace Workshops during the NGO Forum this week emphasise that as long as inequities exist in our societies, there can be no peace, as Peace requires the equal and effective participation of women at all levels and in all fields, as well as human rights and justice.
