BEIJING
AT 10
ACHIEVING GENDER EQUALITY,
DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE
PRESS RELEASE
United Nations Commission to appraise
worldwide situation of women
(New York, 31 January 2005) Ten years after the Fourth World
Conference on Women took place in Beijing, the United Nations
will offer an opportunity to policy makers and experts from
Governments from around the world to take stock of progress
made in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women
and girls and to recommend concrete steps for future action.
The meeting, known as the Ten-Year Review and Appraisal, will
be held from 28 February to 11 March 2005 at UN headquarters
in New York, as part of the UN Commission on the Status of
Women’s (CSW) forty-ninth session.
The Beijing conference in 1995 culminated in a groundbreaking
Platform for Action that Member States and their UN and non-governmental
partners hope to move towards broader and more systematic
implementation. This meeting will be the first opportunity
since a follow up session of the UN General Assembly five
years ago, for high level Government officials and a wide
spectrum of civil society experts to make in-depth assessments
of the status of women today.
“A lot of progress has been made since Beijing. We are
seeing more equitable laws that protect women from discrimination,
abuse, and violence. However, there is much more that needs
to bedone to put the Platform for Action into practice, especially
in terms of alleviating poverty, improving health, creating
opportunity for economic advancement and political leadership,
and reducing human rights violations,” said Rachel Mayanja,
Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues
and Advancement of Women.
The Commission on the Status of Women will focus on two major
themes during the session:
a review of progress in implementing both the Beijing Platform
for Action and the outcome document that emerged from the
General Assembly session five years ago, as well as current
challenges and strategies. It will discuss action at the national
level and facilitate the sharing of experiences and good practices
in overcoming remaining obstacles. According to the Director
of the Division for the Advancement of Women, Carolyn Hannan,
a large number of non-governmental organizations are expected
to attend the meeting.
“This level of participation by non-governmental organizations
is a testament to the enormous contribution of civil society
to the advancement of women’s rights over the last thirty
years. Their input into the Ten-Year Review and Appraisal
and continued collaboration is a crucial
element in the process,” said Ms. Hannan.
Beijing
at 10 achieving gender equality, development and peace
The outcome of the Ten-Year Review and Appraisal will
be a vital input into the UN General Assembly’s High-Level
Millennium review in September 2005.
The Platform for Action offered a global
framework for countries to end discrimination against women
and close the gender gaps in twelve critical areas, including
health, education, employment, political participation and
human rights. The Ten-Year Review and Appraisal will highlight
current challenges including efforts to:
-
improve access to quality health care, including reproductive
and sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment;
- raise
awareness about human rights of women and enhance implementation
of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women;
-
increase participation of women in decision-making positions
within governments and civil society;
- extend
full economic opportunities to women, including access to
microfinance;
- prevent
violence against women including trafficking, and eliminate
impunity for offenders;
- reduce
armed conflict and increase women’s participation
in peace-building, conflict prevention and resolution.
In the lead up to the Ten-Year Review and Appraisal in the
Commission on the Status of Women, 134 countries submitted
information to the United Nations on what they had done to
promote gender equality and implement the recommendations
of the Platform for Action. Further advance work was achieved
during intergovernmental regional meetings organized by the
UN Economic Commissions in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America,
and West Asia and through interactive on-line discussion groups.
The two-week session will consist of a high-level plenary
meeting, open to all UN Member States and Observers, where
delegates will renew their commitments to women’s equality
and advancement. The session will also feature roundtable
dialogue among high-level representatives from Governments,
including First Ladies and Ministers of Women’s Affairs,
as well as experts on gender equality issues in the UN and
non-governmental organizations and civil society.
In
addition, seven interactive panels will provide opportunities
to examine policy issues in more detail, including gender
perspectives in macroeconomics, the linkages between implementation
of the Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the vision
of young women and men for gender equality in the future.
In addition
to the official events, a variety of side events to raise
awareness about some of the factors that continue to thwart
progress on implementing the Beijing Platform for Action will
be organized by Member States, United Nations bodies and non-governmental
organizations.
For further information on the Ten-Year Review and Appraisal,
including accreditation details for media wishing to attend,
please visit: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/
For media enquiries,
please contact:
Ms. Renata Sivacolundhu
Development Section
Department of Public Information
Tel: 1-(212) 963-2932 Fax: 1-(212) 963-1186
Email: mediainfo@un.org
For NGO enquiries,
please contact:
UN Division for the Advancement of Women
Tel: 1-(212) 963-4714
Email: Csw49@un.org
A
CALL TO ACTION, MOVING THE AGENDA FOR CALIFORNIA WOMEN
DECEMBER 3-4, 2004
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