The Commission on the Status of Women, at its forty-ninth session in March 2005, held its 10-year review and appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. It adopted 10 wide-ranging resolutions on improving women’s status, including six new texts on gender mainstreaming in national policies and programmes, the possible appointment of a special rapporteur on discrimination against women, trafficking, integrating a gender perspective in post-disaster relief, particularly in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, indigenous women and women’s economic advancement. It also adopted four traditional texts on: women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS; the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW); the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan; and the situation of and assistance to Palestinian women.
The 45-member functional body of the UN Economic and Social Council earlier in the session, which focused on gaps and challenges in implementing the Beijing agenda, also held a ministerial-level debate that culminated in the consensus adoption of a declaration by which Governments emphasized that the full implementation of the Beijing documents was essential to achieving internationally agreed goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In a comprehensive draft text on mainstreaming gender perspective into national policies and programmes, the Commission reiterated that gender mainstreaming was a tool for effective policy-making and not a substitute for targeted, women-specific policies and programmes. Under a draft resolution on a special rapporteur on laws that discriminated against women, it urged Governments to intensify their efforts to revoke any remaining laws that discriminated on the basis of sex.
The Commission also called on Governments to conclude bilateral, sub-regional, regional and international agreements to address the problem of trafficking in persons, especially women and girls, and to adopt specific measures aimed at reducing demand, as appropriate, to complement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. On indigenous women, the Commission recommended that Governments, intergovernmental agencies, the private sector and civil society adopt measures that ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous women in the implementation, follow-up work and monitoring of the Beijing Platform for Action and the MDGs.
By a new draft text on integrating a gender perspective in post-disaster relief efforts, particularly in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean, the Commission urged Governments to integrate a gender perspective in disaster preparedness, while a draft on economic advancement for women had the Commission, among others, called on Member States to eliminate discrimination, provide equal access and encourage women’s and girls’ participation in education at all levels.
In one of the four traditional texts adopted, on women, the girl child and HIV/AIDs, the Commission stressed that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls were fundamental elements in reducing their vulnerability to the disease, and emphasized that their advancement was key to reversing the pandemic. Another draft text would have the Commission welcome the active participation and contribution of INSTRAW to the review and appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the 2000 General Assembly special session. It also invited voluntary financial contributions to the United Nations Trust Fund for INSTRAW and stressed the importance of such contributions to enable it to carry out its mandate.
A draft text on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan would have the Commission welcome the Government’s commitment to the full enjoyment by women and girls of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, the restoration of the active participation of Afghan women in political, economic and social life, the education of both girls and boys, and the opportunity for women to work outside the home. The Commission also welcomed the provisions of the new Constitution, the ongoing security sector reform processes, the peaceful and successful presidential election of 9 October 2004, the candidacy of Afghan women in both the presidential and vice-presidential ballots, and the recent publication of a report on transitional justice.
However, not all resolutions were adopted without a vote. The text on Palestinian women, sponsored by Jamaica on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, had a recorded vote of 38 to 1 (United States), with 2 abstentions (Canada, Iceland). By it, the Commission reaffirmed that the Israeli occupation remained a major obstacle for Palestinian women with regard to their advancement, self-reliance and integration in the development planning of their society. It called for measures for the tangible improvement of the difficult situation on the ground and the living conditions faced by these women and their families. —Vikram Sura
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