Source: Indiaeducationdiary.com
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smt. Krishna Tirath signed the fifth India Brazil South Africa (IBSA) Women's Forum Resolution, here today. Also signing the resolution were Mrs. Lulama Xingwana, Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities Republic of South Africa, and Mrs. Maria do Carmo Godinho Delgado, Secretary of Evaluation of Policies and Economic Autonomy of Women, on behalf of the Minister, Chief of the Secretariat of Policies for Women, Presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

The joint resolution stated that the three countries are committed to recognizing the key role of government with the support of civil society to ensure and accelerate all efforts towards achieving gender equality and empowerment of women. It also acknowledges the Forum's shared commitment to various international conventions on rights of women and girls. The resolution recommends the following- to end violence against women and girls; to work towards economic empowerment of women, especially rural and marginalized women; to promote gender responsive budgeting, and equitable and sustainable development.

Speaking at the signing of the Resolution, Smt. Tirath stated that the three countries of the southern continent have a shared legacy of struggle for peace and democracy to which women have contributed immensely. She stated that through this Resolution the three countries commit to working for women's empowerment and for fighting gender-based discrimination and violence against women in all forms. The Minister said that this forum constitutes a platform for sharing of ideas and best practices and for strengthened partnerships. She said that ending violence against women must be the goal for a more equitable society. She mentioned that the 'Stop Rape Campaign' of South Africa is particularly appreciable for its intrinsic value in gender sensitizing school children. Also, the social programs such as Bolsa Familia of Brazil has popularized model for effective delivery of financial benefits to poor families. She further said that the Indian Government has recently passed the legislation to prevent women from sexual harassment at workplace, which indicates the seriousness of these issues where women feel insecure at their workplaces. This legislation will go a long way to ensuring the full participation of women in the economy and nation building exercises which are so important.

Speaking at the occasion, the Minister from South Arica Mrs. Lulu Xingwana stated that the platform of the IBSA is for enhanced efforts for continuously engendering the policies and programmes of the three countries and for mainstreaming the marginalized sections. She said that this aligns with the broader mandate of the South African government. The Minister said that violence perpetuates discrimination against women, and there are increasing instances of growing violence against women, which strengthens the need for concerted efforts to fight such discrimination and injustice. She said that the Government of South Africa has implemented several programmes for economic empowerment of women with particular focus on the marginalized and rural women. She emphasized the need to share best practices between the three countries.

Mrs. Godinho Delgado, Secretary from Brazil stated that the IBSA platform has the three largest democracies from the southern continent and their joint efforts through this forum will go a long way in mainstreaming the debate of women's issues. She stated that we cannot think of an equitable society without equality of women and equal opportunities for them to enable their participation. She said that the long-term programme of Brazil was to remove women from poverty as 'the face of poverty in Brazil is women", she stated. Removing poverty means changing the life of women, she said.

Also present at the signing were Sh. Nilanjan Sanyal, Special Secretary, M/o WCD and other senior officials from the Ministry along with members of the delegation from the South Africa and Brazil.

• South Africa