Statement

 

by

 

H. E. Mrs. Edit Rauh

State Secretary for Equal opportunities

 of the Ministry of Social and Labour Affairs of Hungary

 

at

 

the Fifty First Session

of the Commission on the Status of Women 

  

 

March 2, 2007

 

Madame Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

It is my pleasure to be able to greet the Committee on the Status of Women on behalf of the Republic of Hungary.

Allow me to congratulate you and all the Members of the Bureau for organizing and moderating this really significant event.

 

The Republic of Hungary respects the equality of women and men as a fundamental principle and follows the goals adopted at the fourth world conference on women under the heading of the Beijing Declaration and Action Plan. The CEDAW Convention is an integral part of the Hungarian legal system.

 

Nonetheless, gender differences do exist in all kinds of different areas in everyday life. May I just highlight a few of them:

•          In education, participation of the two genders is not equal

•          Creating balance between work and private life is still the problem and the task of women

•          Participation is not equal on the labor market either.

The Act on equal treatment and creating equal opportunities was promulgated in Hungary in 2003; it is a general anti-discrimination act providing also sanctions, thus complementing some of the already existing legal institutions. Such is, for instance, the institution of ombudsman for the right to education, managing discrimination issues in the area of education.

 

We find the topic of this session especially appropriate because the girls of today will be the women of tomorrow. The girl child has to face discrimination daily.

 

Segregation of women and men can be seen very well in all forms of secondary and higher education, as well as in women’s choice of occupation. The goal of one of the working groups run by our Ministry is to eliminate stereotypes in the area of education and employment.

 

The balanced participation of women and men on the labor market and in private life is a significant issue in gender equality since it is the mentality of people that needs to be changed in order to reach equal sharing of duties at home too.

A number of initiatives are in place in Hungary to change the attitude of men. Such is, for instance, paid parental leave available to both mothers and fathers.

 

Allow me to say a few words on violence against girls: we talk a lot about discrimination and violence against women, but we seldom speak of the girl child in this respect.

Girls remain invisible.

In the course of preventing violence against the girl child in Hungary, we have to pay special attention to girls living in Romani communities, since they are the most vulnerable ones due to their social status.

 

Based on health legislation, local governments provide district nurse services all over the country, in all settlements. The duties of the district nurse include: protection of women, caring for pregnant women, caring for minors/children, caring for families and carrying out public health duties.

 

The law also regulates the running of institutions where battered mothers with their children can flee from their homes, and they can be housed together in the Temporary Home for Families, and we also have a secret shelter.

 

A ministerial decree has been issued with the aim of changing and regulating police behavior; it also states that domestic violence and violence against the girl child cannot be considered as a private affair, action is to be taken in a pro-active manner, decisions are to be taken with the interests of the victim in the focus of attention, and all this is to be achieved via training.

 

We do condemn all forms of sexual exploitation of the girl child, and following international conventions we participate in the American-Hungarian Task Force to combat trafficking in humans, which works successfully.

 

There is a tri-partite Council in Hungary which also has an impact on the issue of gender equality in Hungary; NGOs, government organizations and scientific organizations are represented in such Council. We do our work based on international conventions and based on the European Union RoadMap.

 

 

Madame Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

The Republic of Hungary considers the role the United Nations play in reaching gender equality extremely important. Thus I am confident that the present session will close its work with success.

 

Thank you for your attention.

 

 

 

Commission in Session: Balázs Csuday Vice-Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women chairing the meeting.