Politics marked the conclusion yesterday of the Fourth East Asian Women's Forum, despite it being an NGO event, with concerns China may take offense at its resolution which brings attention to the poor conditions of women in Tibet.
After four days of exchanging views and sharing experiences, over 300 delegates from women's NGOs based in Hong Kong, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, and Tibet brought a close to the 2000 Taipei forum yesterday.
Apprehensions were expressed by some delegates, however, as the forum was preparing to announce its resolution and action plan. Their concerns related to a specific paragraph within the resolution, which reads: "Forum participants expressed the sincere concern over the situation of women in Tibet, in North Korea, under military occupation, and for women migrant workers."
Some delegates, citing the sensitivity of Tibet issues in China, worried that the paragraph may offend China and jeopardize future developments for the regional forum of East Asian women.
The delegates also said offending China may result in Taiwan's and Tibet's women's organizations being barred from the next forum, to be held in Hong Kong in 2003. Even some Taiwan delegates agreed to make the Tibet issue as low-profile as possible so as not to deter long-term development of the NGO forum.
However, Susan Chang (
"The truth is we've heard a lot about outrageous human rights violations in Tibet. So why do we have to hide the truth?" she said.
"We all understand how unreasonable China can be when it comes to Taiwan or Tibet issues. But human rights, including women's rights, are transnational, transregional, and a universal concern and shall not in any way be influenced by these political considerations," Chang said.
Chang ultimately succeeded in persuading the delegates to keep the paragraph in the resolution as originally drafted.
China, which has consistently campaigned against Taiwan's participation in any international activities, did not send any of its women's organizations to take part in the Taipei forum.
Apart from the Tibet issue, the resolution addresses various issues, such as domestic violence, human rights of sex workers, women with HIV/AIDS and child prostitution.
On the issue of sex workers, the forum urged governments and related international agencies to conduct research on the conditions of sex industry workers in their countries and make known the problems.
The forum also focused on the negative impact of globalization on women, including lower labor standards, and the growing proportion of women living in poverty, a phenomenon termed the "feminization" of poverty.
Moreover, the participants called for the strengthening of women's participation in politics, having concluded there is inadequate representation of women at all levels of decision-making in the public and private sectors.
The forum topped off its meeting by announcing that the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery will be held in Tokyo in December this year and encouraged participation by anyone who is concerned about the World War II sexual slavery issues.
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