50th Session Issues
Recommendation for the Review of the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women
by
Barbara Morgan-Steiner
In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, China. The event drew thousands of participants from around the world to consider various issues regarding women’s rights in political, economic, civil, social, and educational fields. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted at the conference (September 4-15, 1995) by representatives from 189 countries. The Platform reflects a new international commitment to the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere. It built on commitments made during the United Nations Decade for Women, 1976-1985, including at the Nairobi Conference, and on related commitments made in the cycle of United Nations global conferences held in the 1990s.
Twelve critical areas of concern were identified at Beijing. They were: Poverty, Education & Training, Health, Violence, Armed Conflict, Economy, Decision Making, Institutional Mechanisms, Human Rights, Media, Environment, and the Girl Child. The Platform for Action defines strategic objectives and spells out actions to be taken by Governments, the international community, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
Following the conference, the General Assembly gave responsibility for reviewing and implementing the Platform to the Commission on the Status of Women, a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council, which was established by Council resolution 11(II) 1946. The commission’s initial mandate was expanded in 1987 by Council resolution 1987/22. Since then, the main focus of work of the CSW has been to follow up on those areas and the implementation of the of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. At its 40th session, the Commission adopted the following timetable to address those issues.
1997: Education and training of women; women and the economy; women in power and decision-making; women and the environment
1998: Violence against women; women and armed conflict; human rights of women; the girl child
1999: Women and health; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; initiation of the comprehensive review and appraisal of the implementation of the Platform for Action
2000: Comprehensive review and appraisal of the implementation of the Platform for Action and emerging issues. Among the emerging issues which have previously been considered by the CSW include aging and gender mainstreaming.
In 1999, the CSW focused on women's health and institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women.
Five years after Beijing, the Special Session in June 2000 will provide an opportunity for all concerned to share and compare experiences, to renew old commitments and make new ones and to examine obstacles encountered as well as good practices in implementing the Platform for Action. Last year's meeting of CSW included a meeting of the preparatory committee for a that special session, which will be titled, "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", which will review and appraise the implementation of the Beijing outcomes.
On "women and health", the focus was on mainstreaming gender into the health
sector. The expert group meeting also addressed reproductive health and a number of specific health concerns of women such as mental health, environment and occupational health, and infectious diseases. The expert group meeting adopted specific recommendations with regard to these sectoral women's health issues and problems, and developed a framework for a gender-sensitive health policy.
Discussion about "institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women" included the role of national machineries in mainstreaming gender in all programs and policies at the national level. The expert group also addressed the relationship of national machineries with civil society and the accountability of governments for gender mainstreaming. It endorsed a sample project to strengthen national machineries, to be carried out by the Division for the Advancement of Women. It also requested the Secretariat to summarize the best practices described in the experts' papers, in order to provide governments and national machineries with practical examples.
During the session, the Commission discussed mainstreaming in organizations of the United Nations. Among the topics considered were mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all policies and programs in the United Nations system; the situation of Palestinian women; the release of women and children taken hostage in armed conflicts; improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat; violence against women; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the situation of older women; and the 1999 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development.
The commission considered reports of the Secretary-General: follow-up to and implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (document E/CN.6/1999/2 and Add.1); the differential impact of population aging on men and women (document E/CN.6/1999/3); and progress in improving the status of women in the Secretariat (document E/CN.6/1999/5).
It also discussed a note by the Secretary-General transmitting information provided by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 50/166 (document E/CN.6/1999/6). By that resolution, the Assembly emphasized the importance of taking holistic, coherent and coordinated actions to eliminate violence against women at the national region and international levels.
The General Assembly, in resolution 52/100, called for a high-level plenary review to appraise and assess progress in implementing both the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the Beijing Platform for Action, and to consider further action and initiatives. Preparatory work for the special session was done during the CSW's 1998 and 1999 sessions.
Beijing +5 will be a Special Session of the General Assembly entitled "Women: 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century." It will be held in June 2000 at UN Headquarters in New York.
The Special Session will review and assess the progress achieved in the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, adopted in 1985, and the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. It will also consider further actions and initiatives.
In its resolutions 52/100 and 52/231 the General Assembly decided to convene the Special Session and requested that UN Member States, the United Nations system and NGOs provide information to assist in the review and appraisal.
Participants in the session will include UN Member States; associate members of regional economic commissions; UN Specialized Agencies; NGOs and IGOs in consultative status with the ECOSOC as well as NGOs that were accredited to the Fourth World Conference on Women.
A draft resolution was prepared by the CSW recommending actions to be taken by governments, UN Regional Commissions and the United Nations System.
There are 45 members of the CSW, elected to four-year terms on a geographical allocation. There are thirteen from African states; eleven from Asian states; four from Eastern European states; nine from Latin American and Caribbean states; and eight from Western European and Other states. The current members are Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Chile, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Senegal, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States.