Mister Chairman,

Ambassadors,

Ministers and Authorities in Gender Issues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Government and the people of the Dominican Republic, we are pleased to extend our warmest greetings to all delegations attending  this important meeting, that will contribute to strengthen our common commitments of working for the equality between women and men and to reaffirm the importance that we confer to the development of concrete actions directed to the building of more just, equitable and sustainable societies.

The Government of the Dominican Republic, headed by His Excellency, President Dr. Leonel Fernandez Reyna, works constantly in favor of equality of opportunities for Dominicans of both genders, focusing towards elevating the educational levels, health and worthy employment, as well as the environmental sustainability.

In line with  the priority theme of this session, we want to emphasize the leadership of the Secretariat of State for Women Affairs of the Dominican Republic, which coordinates to join efforts with other instances of the State, the civil society as well as international organizations, in the promotion of guidelines, programs and projects oriented towards the achievement of equality between men and women.

In the context of policies and programs that will enable men and women to reconcile their responsibilities both in the family and at work in order to advance towards a greater equity and equality of gender, we want to emphasize the following:

The Solidarity Program “Solidaridad”, of the Social Cabinet of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic, assists 748,723 poor Dominican households, particularly single mothers. This program include three components, “Comer es Primero”, a financial contribution of food, “Incentivo a la Asistencia Escolar”(ILAE), that provides financial aid to mothers with the commitment of sending their sons and daughters to school and to promote health prevention in their homes and “Bonogas”,  a subsidy to mothers towards the purchase of  liquefied petroleum gas.

The Progressing Program “Programa Progresando” is a social educational program which is implemented by the Office of the First Lady and helps 300,000 families in extreme poverty in its development process through orientation, training and access to goods and services offered by the State and Civil Society, as well as a Nursery Project “Proyecto de Estancias Infantiles” to accommodate the children of college students in order to aid them to further their studies.

To face HIV / AIDS in a more efficient manner, the Dominican Government joins efforts to develop a National Strategy to address the epidemic with a national response, by integrating a gender perspective. National Strategies have been defined to address the inter-relationship of violence against women and HIV / AIDS for the period 2008 - 2011, which is implemented through the national machinery.

A prevention strategy to which we assign great relevance is the program From Youngster to Youngster “Programa de Joven a Joven” by which we have trained thousands of young people to become promoters of strategies and procedures to prevent teenage pregnancy, HIV / AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. As a direct intervention, we have installed over 60 units of Care for people living with HIV / AIDS. Another achievement is the pediatric AIDS unit for children and adolescents, and the Program for the Reduction of Vertical Transmission, which provides special care to mother and child in a vulnerable situation.

Mr. Chairman,

The Dominican Republic, as host country of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), continues to support the substantive work being performed by the Institute and acknowledges its progress in the development of research to create an impact in public policies with a gender perspective in our countries, as well as the work of its Executive Board. We express our concern, however, that for a period of eight months INSTRAW has been operating without a directorship, which greatly affects its operations. We strongly urge the Secretary General, as a priority, to appoint its Executive Director.

Mr. Chairman, we reaffirm our commitment to the Quito Consensus and its’ platform of action as a crucial instrument to advance in the political participation of women in our region as well as to the equitable sharing of responsibilities between men and women.

We are aware that in the Dominican Republic, as well as in other countries, there are still social and educational obstacles for the elimination of violence against women and also many other problems associated with the vulnerable conditions in which men and women live. However, our Country reaffirms its duty to continue making further progress to achieve greater gender equity and gender equality, so we can live in peace, as equals.

Thank you very much!