CENTRAL AFRICAN CONFERENCE ON PROTECTING WOMEN, CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT TO BE HELD IN KINSHASA, 14-16 NOVEMBER

7 November 2001





NEW YORK, 7 November (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa is organizing a subregional Conference on the Protection of Women and Children in Armed Conflict in Central Africa. The Conference, which will be held from 14 to 16 November 2001, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a follow-up to the subregional Conference on the Problem of Refugees and Internally-Displaced Persons, also organized by the Committee, in August 2000. At that Conference, participants noted that women and children represented the majority of refugees and displaced persons in Central Africa and that they faced a situation even more tragic than other refugees because of their vulnerability.

Stressing the need for better protection of women and children in the context of the wars and conflicts in Central Africa, participants called for the convening of a subregional conference on the protection of women and children in armed conflict and the establishment of specific reception centres in various countries of Central Africa to provide medical and psychological care to refugee women and children. Accordingly, at its 14th ministerial meeting the Committee decided to convene, during the course of 2001, the proposed conference. The objectives of the Conference are as follows:

-- To promote awareness of the vulnerability of women and children caught up in armed conflict situations in Central Africa and the urgent need to assure them specific and appropriate protection;

-- To promote the need to take into account the role and specific needs of women and children in the process of conflict and crisis resolution in Central Africa and in the reconstruction of countries emerging from conflict;

-- To examine ways and means of providing appropriate protection to women and children in armed conflict situations in Central Africa; and

-- To adopt a plan of action for the appropriate protection of women and children in armed conflict situations in Central Africa and to take into account their role and specific needs in the reestablishment and consolidation of peace.

Participants at the Conference will include senior government officials from the member States of the Committee, representatives of major donor countries, Specialised United Nations agencies, international organizations and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as representatives of civil society and youth organizations from member States of the Committee.

The United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa was established by the Secretary-General on 28 May 1992, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 46/37 B of 6 December 1991. The objectives of the Committee are to promote arms restraint, disarmament and confidence-building measures, in the Central African subregion, in the fields of preventive diplomacy, peace-building, peacemaking and peacekeeping, including the training of military and security personnel of Member States in the areas of good governance and peace operations.

Contact: Pamela Maponga, (212) 963-5521. Also visit the Web site
< http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/Regional/SACSQCA.html >




* *** *