The event will be held on Wednesday, March 8, 2000, from 10:00 a.m. until 12 noon in Conference Room 4 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

A call from women around the world for a stronger voice and a role in peace negotiations and peace building strategies will be the focus of a special event "Women Uniting for Peace" at UN Headquarters for International Women's Day on 8 March. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to open the special event, which will take the form of a Town Hall Meeting. Among other eminent speakers are Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and H.E. ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury (Bangladesh), in his role as President of the Security council for the month of March.

The centerpiece of the celebration of International Women's Day 2000 will be the exchange of experiences of women who are making a difference in resolving conflicts in different regions of the world. Participants include such active non-governmental organizations as Women in Black (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia); the women's Media Collective (Sri Lanka); and International Alert (United Kingdom). A UN staff member who was part of the peace-keeping mission in Angola, Rosa Malango, will also speak.

Diljit Dhaliwal, TV anchor at ITN in London, and Carol Jenkins, New York new anchor and talk show host, will moderate the Town Hall Meeting. The forum will promote an exchange of ideas with a view to developing a common agenda for women's participation in peacekeeping and peace-making efforts and strengthening women's networks for peace. It will also highlight this important issue that is part of the agenda of the special session of the General Assembly: "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century" to be convened in New York from 5 to 9 June.