distinguished delegates and guests: I would like to thank the dean of international relations administrativ and politic stince,

V.Cujba for inviting me to be part of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. This is truly a celebration - a celebration of the contributions women make in every aspect of life: in the home, on the job, in their communities, as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, learners, workers, citizens and leaders. It is also a coming together, much the way women come together every day in every country. We come together in fields and in factories. supermarkets. In living rooms and board rooms. In village markets and

What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations will flourish. Women are the primary caretakers for most of the world's children and elderly. Yet much of the work we do is not valued - not by economists, not by historians, not by popular culture, not by government leaders. At this very moment, as we sit here, women around the world are giving birth, raising children, cooking meals, washing clothes, cleaning houses, planting crops, working on assembly lines, running companies, and running countries. Women also are dying from diseases that should have been prevented or treated; they are watching their children succumb to malnutrition caused by poverty and economic deprivation; they are being denied the right to go to school by their own fathers and brothers; they are being forced into prostitution, and they are being barred from the bank lending office and banned from the ballot box. Those of us who have the opportunity to be here have the responsibility to speak for those who could not. We need to understand that there is no formula for how women should lead their lives. That is why we must respect the choices that each woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to realize her God-given potential.

The international community has long acknowledged - and recently affirmed at Vienna - that both women and men are entitled to a range

of protections and personal freedoms, from the right of personal security to the right to determine freely the number and spacing of the children they bear.
No one should be forced to remain silent for fear of religious or political persecution, arrest, abuse or torture. Tragically, women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated. I believe that, on the eve of a new millennium, it is time to break our silence. It is time for us to say here in Moldova, and the world to hear, that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights.

The voices of this conference and of the women at from all over the world be heard loud and clear: It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls.
It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution. It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes. It is a violation of human rights when young girls are brutalized by the painful and degrading practice of genital mutilation. If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, it is that human rights are women's rights - and women's rights are human rights. Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely - and the right to be heard.

Now it is time to act on behalf of women everywhere. If we take bold steps to

better the lives of women, we will be taking bold steps to better the lives of children and families too.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the international dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all of us are created equal." I have a dream that one day even the state of Somalia, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my future children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

I recently learned of a poll showing the worst places in the world to be a woman. To my surprise, Somalia was ranked 5th. For me, the situation of women in Somalia stands as the worst in the world.

Mogadishu is a living hell for women struggling to feed their children amid war, drought, famine and utter devastation. No matter how hard I try to describe the situation, you could never imagine the reality on the ground. Indeed, nothing could have prepared me

for the destitution and destruction that I saw when I returned to Somalia's capital last year.

Somalia is often described as the world's original failed state a lawless country that has been engulfed in conflict for more than 20 years. But as I work with women on the ground, I find that one of the greatest risk to women's lives is not war, but birth. One of the most dangerous things a woman in Somalia can do is to become pregnant. When she does, her chances of survival drop considerably due to the nonexistent antenatal care, nonexistent medical supplies, the extraordinarily poor healthcare available and the lack of infrastructure. A woman's lifetime risk of dying from maternal causes here is 1 in 14. This is one of the highest rates in the world, second only to Afghanistan. When a woman is due to give birth, she just waits for delivery, praying she doesn't die in the process.

Add to this the constant risk of getting shot or raped, as well as the ubiquitous practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) something 95% of girls aged 4 to 11 face make women's lives in Somalia almost unlivable.

Fortunately, however, we're making progress albeit one step at a time. The opening of the recent women's centre in Mogadishu, as well as the frequent radio broadcast programmes on women's issues, help raise the subject of FGM and its dangers to a national audience. We find that the more women and men are educated about FGM and the difficulties it causes during labour and its contribution to the high maternal death rates; as well as the religious rulings against it, the more people are responding positively. With every mother that says no to FGM, with every wife-seeking husband that says no to FGM, we're making progress. Currently, around 1.4 million people, mostly women and children, are displaced within Somalia after being forced to flee their homes. Many young girls and women are at risk of rape every minute of every day. I've seen girls as young as 5 who had been raped; the inability to enforce law in several areas allows for savages to kill and rape with impunity. I urge the international community not to forget the people of Somalia, especially the disproportionately affected women and children, because they need you. We hope here in Somalia that one day, we too can better speak up for the women and girls of the world.