President's UN post supported

THE President, Mrs Robinson, will be one of several candidates backed, by an international women's group network for the position of UN human rights commissioner. However, the post may be given to Latin America, the US feminist writer and organiser, Ms Charlotte Bunch, has predicted.

Ms Bunch, in Dublin for a women's human rights conference today hosted by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), said yesterday that "the decision will be based on geographical politics rather than ability. It's the way the UN works".

Ms Bunch and Ms Florence Butegwa, a leading Ugandan lawyer, said Mrs Robinson would be an excellent candidate", having shown her ability to fight for women's rights as human rights. They were speaking last night in Trinity College, Dublin.

The main aim of the informal international women's network was to ensure that each regional bloc nominated a woman for the post, now held by Ecuador. However, Latin America would be very keen to retain it, said Ms Butegwa, a founder and former coordinator of Women in Law and Development in Africa.

That women were seeking to influence key UN positions reflected the confidence of the movement, said Ms Butegwa and Ms Bunch. ,No longer were women's rights and human rights divisible. The Platform for Action, drawn up by the 1995 UN world women's conference in Beijing, China, was a very useful tool in this regard, even if flawed.

Beijing had "three tangible results", said Ms Butegwa. "It was the first world conference that really tried to involve women at all levels and to relate international to national needs. Secondly, the experience gained in mobilising and working together across regions and issues was invaluable. And, thirdly, the Platform for Action is a document which governments have to be accountable to."

Ms Bunch, director of the Centre for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, New Jersey, US, said the women's movement had survived a "backlash", having already surmounted the threats at the 1995 UN conference from the "unholy alliance" of the Vatican, right wing US congressmen and the Chinese government.

Since Beijing, coalitions formed by women worldwide had continued to work together. Though unwilling to comment on the Irish situation, the pair noted that the fact the ICCL was holding a conference was symbolic. European women had not been the most active contributors.

Economic globalisation was a key human rights issue that was not gender specific. "Both men and women have been marginalised in the US, for instance, where there is a permanent underclass," said Ms Bunch. Ironically, globalisation was offering women new working opportunities through technology.