PRESS CONFERENCE: UNFPA Launches Report On Post-Conflict Gender Issues

With a press conference, the UNFPA Country Office in Timor-Leste will launch the State of World Population report (SWOP) 2010. With the theme "From conflict and crisis to renewal: generations of change", this year the SWOP, for the first time, includes Timor-Leste's case as part of the countries that have experienced conflict or disasters and are on the road to recovery.

The release of the State of World Population 2010 coincides with the 10th anniversary of resolution 1325, the Security Council's groundbreaking move against the abuse of women in conflict and the marginalization of them in peacebuilding.

The publication goes through real experiences where violence and sexual abuses associated with conflict and cataclysmic disasters were not limited to female victims. Men suffered too and began to be heard as they started telling their own stories of abuse and degradation. For women, living through conflict or life as internally displaced people, lives were changing. Many women became the economic lifelines for their families, finding ways to earn enough money for food and other necessities when times were tough. When they returned home, they felt a new sense of confidence and sought to keep their financial independence. However, changes in gender roles have not always been accepted easily. While women contributed in some families to new kind of partnerships, in others, they fuelled an increase in domestic violence, which remains a major problem in countries as Timor-Leste and Liberia.

The report includes comments by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Timor-Leste, Ms. Ameerah Haq; the Alola Foundation founder, Ms. Kirstey Sword Gusmao, among others.