Stability Pact Gender Task Force meeting to be held in Zagreb on April 26

ZAGREB, 25 April 2000 - On 25-26 April 2000, the Second Regional Meeting of the Stability Pact Gender Task Force will be held in Zagreb under the auspices of the OSCE. This meeting is a follow-up to the November 1999 Inaugural Meeting held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and is hosted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia. The Gender Task Force, an OSCE and Central and East European Network for Gender Issues sponsored initiative, was born out of an Appeal to the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe- July 29, 1999. This Appeal was signed by prominent individuals and organisations from the ten countries of South Eastern Europe and recognised by Stability Pact Special Coordinator, Minister Bodo Hombach.

This Second Regional Meeting of the Gender Task Force (GTF) will be a forum for planning and exchange of information regarding implementation of GTF Projects regionally and nationally. The four regional Gender Task Force Priority Projects were proposed to the Stability Pact Funding Conference in Brussels at the end of March 2000 and address a common approach to women's political empowerment throughout South East Europe.

As Sonja Lokar (Slovenia), Chair of the Gender Task Force states, "throughout the Stability Pact Region, women have remained significantly under-represented in their countries' legislatures and governments. Without a voice in politics, women have suffered from war and the ensuing social, economic, and political destabilisation throughout the region."

The Gender Task Force aims to promote political empowerment of women and encourage joint action and exchange of good practice among Governments, women's NGOs and international organisations. The Second Regional Meeting in Zagreb will have participants from all three groups.

Representatives of the media are invited to attend the formal opening of the meeting in the Hotel Intercontinental on 26 April, at 9.00 - 9.30, as well as a Press Conference, to be held from 13.30-14.00 on the same day, also in the Hotel Intercontinental. Participants in the meeting will include:

GTF Chair, Sonja Lokar, Executive Director of the CEE Network for Gender Issues GTF Co-Chair, Lone Dybkjaer, Member of the European Parliament, Kingdom of Denmark Zeljka Antunovic, Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Croatia Ambassador Bernard Poncet, Head of Mission, OSCE Mission to Croatia, and Ambassador Robert L. Barry, Head of Mission OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina