Beijing Declaration & Platform for Action
The 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action will be marked at the 64th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW64) from March 9 -20 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
It was at the end of the Fourth World Congress where the resolution was adopted, only after some 189 governments, 5,000 representatives and 2,100 NGOs had travelled to Beijing to discuss crucial themes such as the promotion and empowerment of women in the area of human rights, women and poverty, women and their decision-making power, violence against women, etc. The Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted after two weeks of debate by government representatives resulting in the most comprehensive global policy framework and plan of action ever issued to achieve gender equality and women’s human rights in the world. It covers 12 areas of concern that are still relevant today. For each of these issues (poverty, education, health, violence, economy, human rights, etc.), strategic objectives have been identified and associated actions have been listed for governments and other stakeholders.
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
Soroptimist International is one of the few NGOs with Consultative status at the Commission on the Status of Women, working under the United Nations Economic and Social Council “to prepare recommendations and reports to the [Council] on promoting women’s rights in political, economic, civil, social, and educational fields”.
The Commission meets once a year and issues agreed conclusions on priority themes are set for each year. The agreed conclusions include an assessment of progress, gaps and challenges, as well as concrete recommendations, addressed to Governments, international organizations, civil society and other stakeholders. The Commission also adopts resolutions on a variety of women’s rights-related issues.
Throughout its history, the Commission has played a key role in promoting women’s rights, actively contributing to landmark international legal and policy instruments, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
In this years’ Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, it will be addressed the current challenges that affect the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action.
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SIE Delegation to CSW64
SIE Vice President, Rita Nogueira Ramos, will lead more than 20 SIE delegates. The delegation consists of Soroptimist members from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. Some 100 Soroptimist from the four Federations will gather in New York around President Sharon Fischer, who looks forward to “working to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and sharing experience with Soroptimists around the world.”
For the main achievements, latest news and updates follow the event live on UN Web TV (webtv.un.org) and on SIE social networks (website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin)!