UAE: The idea of human security can be a divisive concept when it is linked to "what has been called the war on terrorism", former president Mary Robinson told an international women's conference in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates yesterday.
Ms Robinson, former UN high commissioner for human rights and current chairwoman of the New York-based Ethical Globalisation Initiative, told an audience of more than 1,000 women from 75 countries, including most of the Arab world, that human security was one of the preoccupations of the 21st century.
"Human insecurity, alas, was a daily reality before the attacks in the United States of 9/11 for the hundreds of millions who live in absolute poverty or in zones of conflict, and it remains so," she said.
"For these people, insecurity is not equated with where a terrorist may strike but with where tomorrow's only meal will come from, how to acquire medicines for a dying child and how to avoid the criminal with a gun."
Ms Robinson, who is also chairwoman of the Council of Women World Leaders, which comprises all current elected women presidents and prime ministers, said the global position in relation to women's rights was worse now for millions of women than a year ago.
"Reports show that the numbers of women victimised by trafficking are on the rise, resources for family planning assistance have been slashed and the scourge of HIV/Aids increasingly strikes women in a growing number of countries.
"Added to this bleak picture, the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the US has cast a shadow on human rights.
"Undemocratic regimes have used the tragedy in the US to pursue their own repressive policies. Democratic governments, including the US itself, have taken measures that run counter to their own commitments under international law."
Ms Robinson said that when she worked as a lawyer before the Irish and European courts she had "learned the value of test cases and the equivalent of class actions at the national level. Today women are using the international human rights framework to engage governments and, where necessary, shame them.
"Whether they are combating poverty and discrimination, insisting on reproductive health or working for peace in zones of conflict the fascinating development is that their approach is increasingly rights-based," she said.
Other speakers at the conference included Queen Rania of Jordan; the UAE minister for economy, Sheikha Lubna Al Qassimi, the first UAE woman cabinet minister; and Barbara Bodine, former US ambassador to Yemen and deputy chief of mission in Kuwait during the Iraq invasion and occupation of 1990.
The conference on the theme Women as Global Leaders was organised and sponsored by Abu Dhabi's Zayed University.