Closing Remarks
by
Hon. Leticia Ramos-Shahani
Senate President Protempore, The Republic of the Philippines


Mr. Maeda, Mr. Palan, all of the distinguished members of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development -- and I'm glad to see that there's still a majority of us left this afternoon, all of the members of the APDA -- my colleagues in the Philippine Congress, and the members of the Secretariat. I am pleased and honored to join the Closing Ceremony of our Meeting this afternoon, that is the 12th Asian Parliamentarians' Meeting on Population and Development. I, therefore, am happy to participate In these closing meetings on behalf of the Philippine Government, the host government of this event, as well as on behalf of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development.

I believe Mr. Maeda has already given you a background to the two main themes of this meeting, that is on women and food security.

Let us have the opportunity, with your permission, to go back to the background of the Manila Resolution on Women, Gender, Population and Development. I think, it is important for us to be clear about this because we have arrived to be proud in being able to be part of the mainstream of international and regional conference, and at the same time, be able to take initiative on our own.

It will be recalled that two years ago in the historical meeting in Cairo on population and development, representatives of one hundred eighty (180) states agreed that empowering women and providing them with more choices through expanded access to education and health and health services, skills development and employment, and through their full involvement in policy and decision-making processes at all levels, was the key to improving the quality of life for everyone.

Last July in Manila, women parliamentarians from ten Asian countries -- and I'm glad to see that some of our sister parliamentarians are present also at this meeting today and yesterday -- we all assembled here and sounded the call for increased advocacy and regional cooperation in the area of women's concerns,

In the subsequent gathering of world leaders in Beijing last September 1995, for the 4th World Conference on Women, the entire world community committed itself to the broadening of women's economic opportunities, promoting education for all, particularly for the girl-child -- which was very much welcomed in the Asian region -- improving girls' and women' s health, and protecting the human rights of women to enable them to participate in decision-making in the family and society. The declaration, which was made in the Vienna conference on human rights when it was said that women's rights are human rights -- and human rights are women's rights -- was again affirmed in Beijing.