“Partnering for a better World” Conference
the Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary  is the first among Hungarian NGOs to have obtained special consultative status with the UN/ECOSOC

The Partnering for a Better World Conference was organized on 10 July, 2009, in Ramada Plaza Budapest Hotel with the aim of celebrating the joyful occasion that the Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary (AWCDH) is the first among Hungarian NGOs to have obtained special consultative status with the UN/ECOSOC, which has given the Association the right to take part in the work of UN/ECOSOC from this year on.
President of the Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary and the Conference’s Chair, Andrea Ferenczi, spoke in her welcome remarks about the most important highlights in the life of the Association, established one year prior to Hungary’s joining the EU,. The AWCDH’s first major conference, Women in Political Decision Making, was held in 2006 in the Parliament. Since then the most prestigious building of the country has been home to four other conferences, serving as the most appropriate location for discussions pertaining to the AWCDH’s most important objectives: creating gender equality and safeguarding women’s interests. “We are also proud of the fact that thanks to our Best Workplace for Women competition, organized in the past two years, we have been able to establish a good relationship with the corporate sphere as well, and have also managed to convince companies that having a good reputation as a good workplace for women creates substantial value for any company”, said Andrea Ferenczi.
The president of the AWCDH said special thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for their invaluable assistance in the past and present endeavours of the Association, including their support for the Partnering for a Better World Conference.

Head of Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Márta Horváth Fekszi, congratulated the AWCDH on being the first among Hungarian non-governmental organizations to obtain consultative status with UN/ECOSOC, then talked about Hungary’s role and participation in the UN.  “The UN is especially important among the forums of multilateral democracy”, the Head of Cabinet said, “because it makes it possible for Hungary to play a greater role in international matters than what its geographical and political power would entitle it to.”
The UN, established in 1945 and numbering as many as 192 member states, was ready to undergo reforms after the 2000 millennium, Amb. Márta Fekszi said. The member states voted for change in 2005 in order to, on the one hand, possess more effective tools with which to work for the universal aims set forth in the Charter of the UN, and on the other hand, to avert disproportionate emphasis placed on membership in the Security Council and veto rights. The Human Rights Council was established in 2006, of which Hungary has been a member for 3 years, Amb. Márta Fekszi stated. Hungary is also taking an active part in helping distressed areas; for instance, our peacekeepers are now working in Cyprus and in Lebanon. Since 2003 Hungary has been a donor country, contributing to the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals through its help in democracy building and in the development of education and health care in developing countries. In addition, Hungary twice hosted the Human Rights Conference series starting in 2008, during which various thematic and regional matters were addressed.
Amb. Márta Fekszi stressed the paramount importance of fighting to promote women’s interests: “It is in the interest of all of us that we achieve gender equality, for which additional economic and political steps are needed, since there are problems that we have been facing for 40 years already. We can’t accept the waning of financial resources needed for the achievement of women’s equality just because we are in the middle of an economic crisis”, the Head of Cabinet added.
Within the UN, ECOSOC itself, which has 3000 non-governmental consultative partners, was reformed in 2005, said Amb. Márta Fekszi. Thanks to the reform, it received a new agenda and additional functions. At a recent ECOSOC conference in Geneva the present and predictable consequences of the crisis were discussed as priorities, with a special emphasis on impacts on health care and social inequality, in connection with which women’s disadvantageous situation was again confirmed. The urgent need for a renewed multilateral system was therefore declared at the Geneva conference.

Chief of the NGO Section of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN and the Conference’s special guest, Dr. Hanifa Mezoui, spoke about the international situation of women, their opportunities in promoting their interests, and their roles in decision making processes. “This international meeting to promote women’s empowerment is even more important in the context of the financial crisis that specially affects women’s employment,”, Ms. Mezoui claimed. The UN representative added: “The current financial crisis has rapidly become a huge economic and social crisis which had been responsible for setting back development goals in many countries and for deeply affecting women’s status in many countries.” The satus of women is among the top priorities of the UN, that is why ECOSOC established the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 1946. The CSW is a global policy making body, dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women. The 53rd session of the Commission which took place on March 2-13 focused on the theme "Equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS".Following the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, the General Assembly mandated the Commission to integrate into its program a follow-up process to the Conference, regularly reviewing the twelve critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action - agenda for women’s empowerment, and to develop its catalytic role in mainstreaming a gender perspective in United Nations activities.
“The status of women is a cross cutting issue which could accept different approaches and that has impact on the areas of health, politics, education and the labor marke”, Ms. Mezoui stated. Health care is especially crucial, the UN expert maintained, because an ineffective health-care system can negatively affect the health of women and girls. “Gender inequalities reduced the potential of women worldwide to access health-care and achieve the best possible level of health. It is an even more important issue because a ‘continuum of care’ exists between maternal health and new born children’s health”, said Ms. Mezoui.
Therefore, as Ms. Mezoui pointed out, women’s status is directly connected to several of the Millennium Development Goals: “Maternal health”, “Child health”, “Gender equality”, “Combat AIDS”, “Universal education” and “End poverty and hunger”. Thus, advancing women’s status is indispensable for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, to which aim the UN, the governments, the civil sphere and the private sector have to cooperate in a coordinated way. “We are facing a severe financial crisis of unprecendented dimensions”, said Ms. Mezoui, “and not only the financial sector but also the social field is seriously concerned, whereas political stability is threatened in many developing countries. Therefore, women need to participate fully in the decision-making processes in order to ensure attention to gender perspectives in policy responses to the financial crisis.” So far there has been limited progress in increasing women’s access to financial and economic decision-making. For example, Ms. Mezoui drew the audience’s attention to the fact that women have less than 5 per cent overall representation in the control of the European financial system. All the governors of central banks in European Union member states are men, while only 17 per cent of women are included in the key decision-making bodies of these organizations.
The UN representative then praised the Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary for advancing the dialogue between legislation, government, the profit- and non-profit spheres and academics, and for providing support to women in order to reach senior leadership positions, as well as offering information, consultation, training, education and all other available means to improve their positions in political decision making and in the labor market. The UN expert also expressed her favorable opinion on the programs implemented by the Hungarian government and those implemented by the EU for the advancement of women’s status.
Among Ms. Mezoui’s recommendations were the implementation of gender mainstreaming policies in financial and political decision making, the elimination of stereotypical views on women’s and men’s roles, and the implementation and tracking of all existing and already ratified best practices.

Vice-Chairwoman of the Committee of Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament, Dr. Zita Gurmai, could not take part in the Conference due to official commitments elsewhere. Her message to the Conference was delivered by her Chief of Cabinet Attila Benedek, in which Ms. Gurmai encouraged a more active partnership with countries outside the European Union. In her message she also expressed her wish to cooperate with the Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary towards the aforementioned objective. Finally, Ms. Gurmai’s message included an invitation for the Association to take part in the European Parliament’s opening plenary.

Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, President of the UN Association of Hungary Prof. Dr. Mihály Simai spoke about the nature of the current worldwide economic crisis and its effects on the status of women. He stated that we are experiencing multiple crises at the same time: financial, ecological, food, energy, and a deep and permanent social crisis. These crises have set back the pace of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, concluded Mihály Simai along the same lines as Ms. Hanifa Mezoui. “The world is facing a financial loss amounting to thirty thousand billion dollars”, the acclaimed professor said, “which is approximately the same amount as half of the world’s total gross product in 2008.” An unemployment crisis is also part of the long-term social crisis, since only a small percentage of those born between 2000 and 2050 will be able to enter the labour market, he added. According to the International Labour Organization, fifty million work opportunities will vanish owing to the crisis, almost half of which have already disappeared in China. “Even if some kind of positive development begins, it won’t have an immediate positive effect on employment because that needs an extra 5-6 years”, Mihály Simai asserted. As regards Hungary, so far more men have lost their jobs than women as the majority of companies that have had to make workers reduntant are suppliers of traditional industries that employ mostly men. Besides, the rate of women’s employment in Hungary is very low in the first place: only about half of work-age women are employed. In the present situation it must be very difficult for young people, too, in the labour market, said Mihály Simai, and young people without appropriate qualifications have the least chances. Mihály Simai added: young women are especially vulnerable in this respect, therefore now it is even more important for them to get a good education, on which the future of their families depend to a great extent. The professor also drew attention to the numerous tasks ahead of us in relation to the equal opportunities of women, including trainings and education for roma women.

Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, Edit Rauh, focused her speech on the projects of the Ministry in harmony with the gender programs of the UN. It is the duty of the state to create security of law and equal opportunities, as well as to integrate the disadvantaged into society, said Edit Rauh in the beginning of her speech. In the Under-Secretary of State’s opinion, special politic’s main duty is to achieve systemwide changes, which may later become norms. In the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour the Department for Women’s and Men’s Equality addresses the gender issue, whose work groups are working on the implementation of the equal opportunities roadmap for 2006-2010, as defined by the European Commission. One of the priorities of the Department for Women’s and Men’s Equality is the introduction of a gender mainstreaming strategy at all government levels in the decision making processes. “We have had some imperfections in this regard, for example, we still cannot implement it in polity in a horizontal fashion”, said Edit Rauh, “but we have started to hold trainings so that this may become the norm.” One example for the systemwide change is that if someone now would like to be a civil servant they will come across a separate section on social equality in the examination. Another priority is domestic violence, pertaining to which some real advances have been made: the establishment of regional crisis centers and secret shelters, and the availabilityof a 24/7 emergency line. “The practice of keeping the perpetrator away from the victim is still not functioning perfectly”, Edit Rauh added. With regards to the prevention of human trafficking, the Ministry follows the recommendations of the New York Convention, and promotes prevention in connection with the issue of prostitution. The Department for Women’s and Men’s Equality abides by the regulations of the 2003 law on equal treatment, and also has to report regularly on the achievements regarding the 12-point action plan drafted at the 4th World Conference on Women. Additionally, it has to prepare a report every four years on its progress in implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Following the speeches, managing director of Hungarian International Development Assistance Non-profit Co. (HUN-IDA), Mrs. Ibolya Bárány, delineated the duties of HUN-IDA, which functions as an implementative body of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the global dissemination of best practices and the organization of related trainings. She then called on Dr. Hanifa Mezoui to shed light on the opportunities and duties that go with the newly won UN/ECOSOC consultative status for the Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary and its partners.
“Winning the satus is like a birth certificate for a non-profit organization: it attains a new, more elevated level of legitimacy”, said Ms. Mezoui. Thanks to the status, a civil organization becomes entitled to peruse various UN-related information sources, a whole new range of opportunities open up for it to exchange information with member states and other non-profit organizations, and it may also participate in prestigious intergovernmental conferences, at which it can form action groups with other NGOs. In addition, ECOSOC also relies upon its accredited NGOs in creating national and international action plans and in preparing regular reports. The Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary will have to address its reports to the Commission on the Status of Women every four years. The consultative status also entitles accredited NGOs to participate in and make statements, which are translated into six different languages, at the general assemblies in Geneva.

The Partnering for a Better World Conference ended with a beautiful singing performance by Izabella Széles, member of the Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary. A closed-circle reception was held after the Conference, which was opened by an exotic belly dancing performance by Eszter Simon, a teacher and soloist at Serena Belly Dancing School.