BUJUMBURA May 23rd (ABP) – The First Lady of Burundi, Mrs. Angeline Ndayishimiye opened, Thursday, May 19, 2022, the third ordinary general assembly of the Regional Women’s Forum of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), a check on site by ABP has revealed.
In her opening remarks, Mrs. Angéline Ndayishimiye said that women are craftsmen and actors of peace and development in households, in the community, in their countries and in the whole region.
Everyone knows, according to her, that by her particular sensitivity as a woman, mother, wife, nurturer, educator, producer and reproducer, women play a leading role before, during and during the restoration and consolidation of peace in society.
Consequently, it remains the pillar of peace and source of development.
Thus, sustainable development is one that must include all social strata, attaching particular importance to that of women because they constitute a large proportion of the people.
Mrs. Ndayishimiye also underlined that the economic activity of women in the region is beginning to cross national borders and radiate all the countries of the region. The development of that economic activity requires peace and stability throughout the region in order to allow the movement of goods and people.
However, she regrets, our Great Lakes region has been and remains the scene of recurrent armed conflicts, the consequences of which affect women and girls disproportionately.
The First Lady of Burundi also mentioned that women’s rights are not only respected in conflict situations, but also they can be violated in peace situations, citing in particular the violation of women’s rights resulting from gender-based violence. gender in the family and in the community, discrimination in all forms leading to poor access to land in particular, poor consideration of the specific needs of women in planning, low participation of women in decision-making bodies decision.
She did not forget to point out their low degree of resilience to shocks resulting from epidemics and climate change.
She commended the fact that the ICGLR, initiated in 2013, has set up the regional women’s forum as a regional mechanism for advocacy and lobbying on women’s specific issues within the framework of the ICGLR pact and other related regional issues including international instruments relating to women’s rights.
Within this framework, the regional women’s forum is a regional mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the pact for security, stability and development in the Great Lakes region.
During that meeting, several personalities took the floor to express their expectations vis-à-vis the regional women’s forum of the ICGLR, namely, the Burundian Minister in charge of Human Rights, the special envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations in the Great Lakes region, the president of the regional women’s forum of the ICGLR, Dr. Athia Mustapha, the executive secretary of the Great Lakes region and the Mayor of the city of Bujumbura.
Note that this two-day meeting will end after the election of new bodies.