Therefore, a clarification was sought from the Gabonese Government.

The situation of Gabonese women had improved in several ways.

Gabonese men were also strictly prohibited from hitting their wives.

His Excellency El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, President of the Gabonese Republic

Under the law, a woman married to a Gabonese man could not work outside the home.

In November, Gabon had also hosted the sixth conference of the Network of Gabonese Women Ministers and Parliamentarians, which aimed to increase women's representation.

The Gabonese delegation believed it was important to manage the escalation of extra budgetary funding in order to respect the multilateral nature of the Organization.

It had also stated that the provision in the Gabonese Civil Code defining the husband as the head of the family contradicted the provisions of the Convention.

The information in the report submitted by Gabon and the follow up questions raised the issue as to how that machinery tied in with other Gabonese institutions.

I pay a warm tribute to your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Jean Ping, Minister of State and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Francophonie of the Gabonese Republic.

I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, President of the Gabonese Republic and Co Chairperson of the High level Plenary Meeting.

The Co Chairperson of the High level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly, H.E. Mr. El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, President of the Gabonese Republic, made a statement.

There was also the problem of a dowry being paid upon marriage, which the report stated was banned under Gabonese law, but which persisted as a custom in the country.

Joseph Serugendo, former technical director and founding member of the notorious Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), was arrested in Gabon with the assistance of the Gabonese law enforcement authorities.

Concerning the lack of women in posts where decisions were taken, Gabonese women had to make sure that decision makers, whoever they were, saw things from a woman's point of view.

The fact that the current President of the General Assembly was Gabonese provided a unique opportunity to raise awareness throughout Africa and obtain maximum results both at the national and international level.

The Gabonese delegation applauded the budget's smaller format, and the clarity and precision of its sections, established under the principles of results based budgeting, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 55 231.

I should like also to express our appreciation to the President of the Gabonese Republic for the efforts made by his country in guiding the work of the previous session of the General Assembly.

Lastly, the Gabonese delegation applauded the fact that appropriations requested for information and communication technologies and for staff training were at an appreciable level, and stated that it would address these aspects in detail during the official consultations.

The position fell vacant after senior officials, many of them Gabonese, were discredited in an embezzlement scandal that erupted in October 2009. Major fraud at the Paris office cost the bank around 28 million, showing the weakness of audit and control mechanisms.

I am confident that the Gabonese and Swedish co chairpersons of this important meeting will assist in the achievement of the desired goals and that recommendations will be issued that will consolidate the foundations of security, stability and sustainable development throughout the world.

The Committee had expressed concern that the Gabonese Penal Code did not provide legislation to prevent prostitution, but the definition of procurer contained in the Code was part of the country's efforts to prevent it and punish those in violation of the law.

With regard to the transformation of certain temporary posts into permanent positions, the Gabonese delegation believed a correlation needed to be established between the level of the post and the degree of effectiveness achieved, in order to significantly improve the quality of services.

The Gabonese delegation considered that the three United Nations peace missions operating in Africa in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Côte d'Ivoire could not be ended until programmes on disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration and reinstallation or repatriation had been effectively implemented.

Senegal s first president, Léopold Sédar Senghor, was a strong believer in white supremacy who once wrote that reason is Helennic emotion is Negro. Leon Mba, the first Gabonese president, was such a Francophile that he bequeathed his personal fortune to France in order to finance the construction of a hospital in Paris.

I cannot conclude without wishing every success and good luck to President Eliasson and to convey once again my profound gratitude to all those who directly or indirectly contributed to the smooth functioning of the Gabonese presidency throughout the fifty ninth session of the General Assembly, which in effect was also an African presidency.

He wished to know what special measures the Gabonese Government was undertaking in that respect, if it was possible to bring class action lawsuits in that regard, and whether the Observatory for Women's Rights and Equality could act on behalf of women, a particularly important point in the light of the Government's recent accession to the Optional Protocol.