Womens Minister addresses UN forum

Submitted by TemoL on Mon, 08/03/2010 - 9:54am

Minister for Women Dr Jiko Luveni addressed the 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York on March 2nd.

In her address, Minister Luveni said that the implementation of Commission’s “Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action” was central to her Ministry’s work in Fiji.

She said the Beijing Declaration had provided the Government of Fiji with a blueprint for the empowerment of women.

Dr Luveni laid out the Fiji Government’s recent introduction of new laws to protect women and enhance their status. She highlighted the Domestic Violence Law, the provision for gender equality in the Employment Relations Law, and the penalties for sexual exploitation of women contained in the new Crimes Law.

In the course of her programme at the United Nations, Minister Luveni also attended the Pacific Islands Forum’s meeting on “Pacific Women Decision-Makers in Action.”

Last week, Dr Luveni attended a reception hosted by the Australian Ambassador to the UN Gary Quinlan. Accompanying her to the reception was Fiji’s Ambassador to the UN Peter Thomson.