Socialist International’s regional convention in Yerevan

Yerkir.am
March 23, 2007

The Women’s Organization of Socialist International held its regional
convention in Yerevan upon the invitation of the ARF Supreme Body’s
Women’s Committee.

The regional convention covered the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle
East, the Caucasus, Central and Eastern Europe. Representatives of
countries from this region discussed in Yerevan issues related to
gender aspect of international migration.

Chairwoman of the Socialist International Pia Locatelli thanked ARF’s
Women’ s Committee represented by Maria Titizian. Stressing the ARF’s
important role in creating a socialist society and empowering women,
Locatelli noted in her opening remarks that Armenia is a transition
country where Armenian women suffer from domestic violence,
trafficking, and have to survive in very difficult conditions. The
issue of women’s participation in politics is of special concern.

Locatelli stated that only 7 out of 131 members of the parliament are
women. Only 19 out of 900 community heads are women, there is only
one female minister, etc.

Armenian women participating in the convention learned that their
rights are violated in what concerns healthcare services,
reproduction, women in Armenia were presented to be victims.

Despite this statement, Locatelli stated that the Socialist
International would help us eliminate our traditions and conservative
customs, and will help us bring up a new generation in which it will
not be men who will be doing barbeque, carrying heavy weights and
ruling the country¦

Representative of ARF’s Supreme Body, National Assembly deputy Armen
Rustamian welcomed the participants of the convention and stressed the
importance of integration with European standards and protection of
women’s rights.

`We worship women as mothers, sisters, daughters but are not very
happy about their presence and representation outside the family. We
must eliminate this discrimination. Family is the cell of the society
and the women’s role should be equally important in the family and in
the public and political life,’ Rustamian said. He noted the topic of
the convention is very important since Armenia is a country with a
high rate of migration.

Socialist International unifies the women throughout the world

Secretary General of the Socialist International’s Women’s
Organization Marlene Haas is visiting Armenia for the forth time in
the past five years. She has a good understanding of the overall
situation in the country and the role of women.

Last year Haas participated in the conference organized by the ARF
Supreme Body’s Women’s Committee. She spoke with appreciation of the
education level of Armenian women. Haas believes that cooperation
between women NGOs, political parties and authorities will gradually
yield positive results and increase the number of women at all levels
of decision making.

Haas presented a brief overview of the Socialist International, `The
Socialist International is a non-governmental organization that is a
member of the UN Council on Economic and Social Affairs and an
associate member of the Council of Europe. Currently, SI has 148
member organizations. An international secretariat was formed in 1907
in Stuttgart by 58 delegates from European and other countries headed
by Klara Tsetkin. SI has contributed to liberalization of women which
in its turn resulted in a struggle for women’s rights.’