Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen.

It is with great pleasure that I join the Women’s Legal Rights Initiative team to present the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Assessment Report on Albania.

President Bush has said, "respect for women is both a non-negotiable demand of human dignity and a foreign policy imperative of the United States."

The fact that in the 21st century, slavery, in the form of human trafficking and forced prostitution, exists; that there are girls who are deprived of educational opportunities; and there are women who don’t feel safe in their own homes -- in other words, that some members of half the world’s population are kept from realizing their full potential -- tells us there is still much work to be done in order to assure fundamental freedoms for women and their families.

Increasingly, the international community has recognized that women’s rights equal human rights, and are essential for the development of society.

The issues addressed by the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women -- women’s political representation, education, access to healthcare, economic opportunity, and family relations -- cut across a variety of sectors of society.

It is precisely for this reason that ensuring women’s rights and gender equality cannot be treated as a separate goal, but should be part of all policy-making. Ensuring women’s rights should also include greater awareness of how women are portrayed: in the media, popular culture, and school textbooks, for example.

Progress toward gender equality will only be achieved when everyone realizes that "women’s" issues belong not just to women but also to men, to the society as a whole: when a woman’s potential is not realized, the potential of society as a whole is not realized.

As noted in the report, Albania has made some progress in the area of gender equality. However, considerably more remains to be done.

This report is not only a requirement for each of the 140 countries signatory to the Convention, but should be used as a tool – a tool to improve the situation of women.

I hope that policy-makers, civil society organizations, the media, and citizens, will work together and use the findings of this report to develop ways to advance women's rights in all spheres of society, because, as the American Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (Ellen Sauerbrey) has said, "guaranteeing the human rights of women and children is essential to the creation of stable, democratic, and prosperous societies."

In my time here as Ambassador, I have met both women and men whose commitment to improving the situation of women and children has been touching and inspiring. I want to applaud them, and also groups like the Women’s Legal Rights Initiative, and express my personal support for their efforts to ensure women’s rights are not only safeguarded, but championed.

Thank you.

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