| United Nations | E/CN.6/1998/12 - E/1998/27 |
Economic and Social Council
Commission on the Status of Women
Report on the forty-second session
(2-13 March 1998)
Economic and Social Council
Official Records, 1998
Supplement No. 7
United Nations - New York, 1998
NOTE
Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined
with figures.
ISSN 0252-0117
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. MATTERS CALLING FOR ACTION BY THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL OR
BROUGHT TO ITS ATTENTION ......................................... 1
A. Draft resolution to be recommended by the Council at its
resumed organizational session for 1998 for adoption by the
General Assembly ............................................. 1
Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full
implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action ................................................... 1
B. Draft resolutions for adoption by the Council ................ 3
I. Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan .............. 4
II. Palestinian women ........................................ 6
III. Mid-term review of the system-wide medium-term plan for
the advancement of women, including the status of women
in the Secretariat ....................................... 7
IV. Conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women on
critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing
Platform for Action ...................................... 9
C. Draft decision for adoption by the Council ................... 32
Report of the Commission on the Status of Women on its
forty-second session and provisional agenda and
documentation for the forty-third session of the
Commission ............................................... 32
D. Matters brought to the attention of the Council .............. 33
Resolution 42/1. Human rights and land rights discrimination 33
Resolution 42/2. Release of women and children taken hostage
in armed conflicts, including those
subsequently imprisoned .................... 35
Resolution 42/3. Violence against women migrant workers ..... 36
Resolution 42/4. Older women and support systems: gender and
caregiving ................................. 39
Resolution 42/5. Fiftieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights ................ 41
Decision 42/101. Documents considered by the Commission on
the Status of Women under agenda items 3
and 5 ...................................... 42
II. COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN ACTING AS THE PREPARATORY
COMMITTEE FOR THE HIGH-LEVEL REVIEW IN THE YEAR 2000 OF THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NAIROBI FORWARD-LOOKING STRATEGIES FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN AND THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION, TO BE
HELD BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY .................................... 44
III. FOLLOW-UP TO THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN ............... 46
IV. COMMUNICATIONS CONCERNING THE STATUS OF WOMEN ................... 57
V. CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION
AGAINST WOMEN, INCLUDING THE ELABORATION OF A DRAFT OPTIONAL
PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION ...................................... 60
VI. PROVISIONAL AGENDA FOR THE FORTY-THIRD SESSION OF THE COMMISSION 61
VII. ADOPTION OF THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON ITS FORTY-SECOND
SESSION ......................................................... 62
VIII. ORGANIZATION OF THE SESSION ..................................... 63
A. Opening and duration of the session ......................... 63
B. Attendance .................................................. 63
C. Election of officers ........................................ 63
D. Agenda and organization of work ............................. 64
E. Consultations with non-governmental organizations ........... 64
Annexes
I. SUMMARIES OF THE PANEL DISCUSSIONS ON THE CRITICAL AREAS OF
CONCERN ......................................................... 65
II. REPORT OF THE OPEN-ENDED WORKING GROUP ON THE ELABORATION OF A
DRAFT OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF
ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN ....................... 76
III. ATTENDANCE ...................................................... 96
IV. LIST OF DOCUMENTS BEFORE THE COMMISSION AT ITS FORTY-SECOND
SESSION ......................................................... 100
Chapter I
MATTERS CALLING FOR ACTION BY THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
COUNCIL OR BROUGHT TO ITS ATTENTION
A. Draft resolution to be recommended by the Council at its
resumed organizational session for 1998 for adoption by
the General Assembly
1. The Commission on the Status of Women recommends to the Economic and
Social Council the approval of the following draft resolution for adoption by
the General Assembly:
The Economic and Social Council
Recommends to the General Assembly the adoption of the following draft
resolution:
"Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and
full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action*
(* For the discussion, see chap. II, paras. 3-8.)
"The General Assembly,
"Recalling its resolutions, in particular resolution 52/100 of
12 December 1997, on follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women
and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for
Action, and agreed conclusions and relevant resolutions of the
Commission on the Status of Women and the Economic and Social Council on
the follow-up to the Conference,
"Reaffirming the commitments made in the Beijing Declaration 1/
and Platform for Action, 2/
"1. Decides that the high-level plenary review to appraise and
assess the progress achieved in the implementation of the Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women 3/ and the
Beijing Platform for Action, five years after its adoption, and to
consider further actions and initiatives, should be held as a special
session of the General Assembly for five days, from 5 to 9 June 2000;
"2. Also decides that the special session should reaffirm the
commitment to the Beijing Platform for Action and further focus,
inter alia, on obstacles encountered in implementation, as well as on
strategies to overcome those obstacles, with a view to fully
implementing the Platform, as well as to taking further action and
initiatives;
"3. Recalls that, in keeping with General Assembly resolution
52/100, the Commission on the Status of Women will serve as the
preparatory committee for the review and will be open-ended for the
purposes of the preparations;
"4. Decides that the preparatory work, which should be supported by
inter-sessional consultations convened by the open-ended Bureau of the
Commission on the Status of Women as needed, will be carried out by the
Commission at its forty-third and forty-fourth sessions in the years
1999 and 2000, respectively, and that the forty-third and forty-fourth
sessions will be extended by five days each to complete the
preparations;
"5. Calls upon the Secretary-General in collaboration with the
regional commissions to develop a standardized questionnaire with a
focused set of indicators on all critical areas of concern as a
framework to assist national Governments in their assessment of and
reporting on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action;
"6. Encourages Governments, especially those that have not yet done
so, to submit their national plans of action to the Division for the
Advancement of Women of the United Nations Secretariat by September 1998
as an input to the start of the review during the forty-third session of
the Commission and, in 1999, to submit information on their
implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, focusing particularly
on positive actions, lessons learned, obstacles, key challenges
remaining and a vision for gender equality in the next millennium;
"7. Invites Governments to prepare their national evaluations on
the implementation of the Platform for Action with the involvement of
civil society;
"8. Requests the Secretary-General to invite all entities of the
United Nations system, including the specialized agencies, funds and
programmes, to be actively involved in preparatory activities and to
participate at the highest level in the special session, including
through presentations on best practices, obstacles encountered and a
vision for the future to accelerate implementation and address new and
emerging trends;
"9. Encourages appropriate regional preparatory activities for the
special session, inter alia, by Governments in cooperation with the
regional commissions, and recommends submission of the results as an
input to the Commission at its forty-fourth session, in the year 2000;
"10. Invites the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission at
its forty-third session, in addition to the documentation already
foreseen in the long-term work programme of the Commission for the
review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for
Action, suggestions on further initiatives and actions that might be
considered during the review, with attention to mainstreaming gender
equality and to common trends and themes across the twelve critical
areas of concern;
"11. Requests the Secretary-General to provide in the report on
emerging issues to be submitted to the Commission at its forty-fourth
session, additional material on further actions and initiatives for the
preparation of the outlook beyond the year 2000;
"12. Invites the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women to provide information in 1999 on implementation of the
Platform for Action, based on its review of reports of States parties to
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women; 4/
"13. Invites the Secretary-General to integrate in his reports
information from relevant treaty-monitoring bodies, within their
mandates, on their efforts to mainstream a gender perspective;
"14. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General
Assembly at its special session a comparative report on how different
categories of projects and programmes of United Nations organizations
include women's interests and gender mainstreaming issues and on
resources allocated in this regard;
"15. Recommends that the United Nations Development Programme and
the World Bank focus on gender issues in the Human Development Report
and the World Development Report for the year 2000;
"16. Requests the Secretary-General to provide by the end of 1999 a
compilation of updated statistics and indicators on the situation of
women and girls in countries around the world by issuing, for example, a
volume of The World's Women;
"17. Calls upon States, the United Nations and non-governmental
organizations to undertake necessary measures with a view to providing
appropriate information to the public on the implementation of the
Beijing Platform for Action and the process of preparations for the
special session of the General Assembly;
"18. Emphasizes the important role of non-governmental organizations
in implementing the Platform for Action and the need for their active
involvement in preparations for the special session as well as the need
to ensure appropriate arrangements for their contributions to the
special session;
"19. Requests the Secretary-General to make available the necessary
resources for the participation of the least developed countries at the
special session in accordance with past practice."
B. Draft resolutions for adoption by the Council
2. The Commission on the Status of Women recommends to the Economic and
Social Council the adoption of the following draft resolutions:
DRAFT RESOLUTION I
Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan*
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 45-50.)
The Economic and Social Council,
Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, 5/ the International Covenants on Human Rights, 6/ the
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, 7/ the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, 8/ the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
9/ the Beijing Declaration 10/ and Platform for Action adopted at the
Fourth World Conference on Women, 11/ and other instruments of human rights
and international humanitarian law,
Deeply concerned by the continuing and substantiated reports of
violations of the human rights of women and girls, including all forms of
discrimination against them, particularly in areas under control of the
Taliban, resulting, inter alia, in restrictions upon movement, denial of equal
access of women to health care, prohibition of most forms of female
employment, restrictions upon education for women and girls, the closing of
girls' schools, and severe limitations upon the enrolment of females in
institutions of higher education and upon their access to humanitarian
assistance,
Welcoming the ongoing work of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission
on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, in particular
his special focus on violations of the human rights of women and girls,
especially in territories under the control of the Taliban faction,
Welcoming also the decision of the Secretary-General to send a gender
mission to Afghanistan, hoping that it will serve as a model for future
efforts to address the gender dimension of crisis/conflict situations, and
encouraging the Secretary-General to continue to send such high-level
missions, when appropriate,
Taking into account the report of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-
General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women on her visit to Afghanistan
in November 1997,
Expressing its appreciation for the international community's support of
and solidarity with the women and girls of Afghanistan, being supportive of
the women of Afghanistan who protest violations of their human rights, and
encouraging women and men worldwide to continue efforts to draw attention to
their situation and to promote the immediate restoration of their ability to
enjoy their human rights,
1. Condemns the continuing violations of the human rights of women and
girls, including all forms of discrimination against them, in all areas of
Afghanistan;
2. Calls upon all parties within Afghanistan to recognize, protect,
promote and act in accordance with all human rights and fundamental freedoms,
regardless of gender, ethnicity or religion, in accordance with international
human rights instruments, and to respect international humanitarian law;
3. Strongly urges all of the Afghan factions to end discriminatory
policies and to recognize, protect and promote the equal rights and dignity of
women and men, including their rights to full and equal participation in the
life of the country, freedom of movement, access to education and health
facilities, employment outside the home, personal security, and freedom from
intimidation and harassment, with special respect to the implications of
discriminatory policies for the distribution of aid;
4. Appeals to all States and to the international community to ensure
that all humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan integrates
gender concerns and actively attempts to promote the participation of both
women and men and to promote peace and human rights;
5. Encourages the continuing efforts of the United Nations,
international and non-governmental organizations and donors to ensure that all
United Nations-assisted programmes in Afghanistan are formulated and
coordinated in such a way as to promote and ensure the participation of women
in those programmes, and that women benefit equally with men from such
programmes;
6. Welcomes the establishment of the ad hoc Inter-Agency Task Force on
Gender in Afghanistan under the leadership of the Special Adviser to the
Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, and encourages
Member States to make particular efforts to promote the human rights of women
in Afghanistan;
7. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that reports of future
gender missions are made available to the Commission on the Status of Women.
DRAFT RESOLUTION II
Palestinian women*
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 60-62.)
The Economic and Social Council,
Having considered with appreciation the report of the Secretary-General
concerning the situation of Palestinian women and assistance provided by
organizations of the United Nations system, 12/
Recalling the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of
Women, 13/ in particular paragraph 260 concerning Palestinian women and
children, and the Beijing Platform for Action 14/ adopted at the Fourth
World Conference on Women,
Recalling also its resolution 1997/16 of 21 July 1997 and other relevant
United Nations resolutions,
Recalling further the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against
Women 15/ as it concerns the protection of civilian populations,
Concerned about the stalemate facing the Middle East peace process,
including the lack of implementation of the agreements reached in
Washington D.C. between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the
Government of Israel, and the deterioration of the socio-economic conditions
of the Palestinian people as a result of the Israeli positions and measures,
Concerned also about the continuing difficult situation of Palestinian
women in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and about
the severe consequences of continuous illegal Israeli settlements activities,
as well as the harsh economic conditions and other consequences for the
situation of Palestinian women and their families, resulting from the frequent
closures and isolation of the occupied territory,
1. Stresses its support for the Middle East peace process and the need
for speedy and full implementation of the agreements already reached between
the parties;
2. Reaffirms that the Israeli occupation remains a major obstacle for
Palestinian women with regard to their advancement, self-reliance and
integration in the development planning of their society;
3. Demands that Israel, the occupying Power, comply fully with the
provisions and principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 16/
the Regulations annexed to The Hague Convention of 1907 17/ and the Geneva
Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of
12 August 1949, 18/ in order to protect the rights of Palestinian women and
their families;
4. Calls upon Israel to facilitate the return of all refugees and
displaced Palestinian women and children to their homes and properties in the
occupied Palestinian territory, in compliance with relevant United Nations
resolutions;
5. Urges Member States, financial organizations of the United Nations
system, non-governmental organizations and other relevant institutions to
intensify their efforts to provide financial and technical assistance to
Palestinian women for the creation of projects responding to their needs,
especially during the transitional period;
6. Requests the Commission on the Status of Women to continue to
monitor and take action with regard to the implementation of the Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, in particular
paragraph 260 concerning Palestinian women and children, and the Beijing
Platform for Action;
7. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to review the situation
and to assist Palestinian women by all available means, and to submit to the
Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-third session a report on the
progress made in the implementation of the present resolution.
DRAFT RESOLUTION III
Mid-term review of the system-wide medium-term plan
for the advancement of women, including the status
of women in the Secretariat **
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 63-64.)
The Economic and Social Council,
Reaffirming the revised system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement
of women, 1996-2001, and the comments of the Commission on the Status of Women
contained in Commission resolution 40/10 and the annex thereto, 19/
Noting with concern that a number of obstacles have been encountered in
the implementation of the plan,
1. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the mid-term review
of the implementation of the system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement
of women, 1996-2001 20/ and endorses the recommendations contained therein;
2. Urges the Secretary-General to ensure that the obstacles encountered
in the implementation of the plan are dealt with effectively, in particular
through heightened accountability at all levels, particularly that of senior
managers, and by including the necessary training, where appropriate;
3. Emphasizes the need for continued efforts by all areas of the United
Nations system to implement the plan fully;
4. Stresses in particular the importance of mainstreaming a gender
perspective into the formulation and implementation of operational activities
for development of the United Nations system and into the United Nations
Development Assistance Framework, notably at the country level;
5. Welcomes the work of the Administrative Committee on Coordination
Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality, particularly its
coordination and catalytic role in the area of gender mainstreaming, policy
analysis and operational activities in the work programmes of the bodies of
the United Nations system, and its work in compiling good practices,
guidelines and indicators in the area of gender mainstreaming;
6. Urges Member States, when considering the triennial policy review of
operational activities for development of the United Nations system, during
the fifty-third session of the General Assembly, to fully integrate a gender
perspective into those activities;
7. Requests the United Nations Development Group to institute
guidelines and procedures for the implementation of relevant aspects of the
Beijing Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women
21/ into the planning and preparing of the operational activities for
development of United Nations funds and programmes;
8. Recommends that gender equality and women's empowerment goals be
integrated into the continuing United Nations reform process, including in the
work of the executive committees and, in that regard, reaffirms the goal of
50/50 gender distribution by the year 2000 in all categories of posts within
the United Nations system, especially at the D-1 level and above, with full
respect for the principle of equitable geographical distribution, in
conformity with Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations, and also
taking into account the lack of representation or under-representation of
women from certain countries, in particular developing countries and countries
with economies in transition.
DRAFT RESOLUTION IV
Conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women on critical
areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action*
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 67-70.)
The Economic and Security Council
Endorses the following conclusions adopted by the Commission on the
Status of Women with respect to the four critical areas of concern addressed
by the Commission at its forty-second session:
I. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
The Commission on the Status of Women
Reaffirms the Beijing Platform for Action, 22/ notably chapter IV.D on
violence against women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, 23/ and the Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence against Women, 24/
Requests States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women to take into account in their initial
and periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women, general recommendation 19 on violence against women, adopted by
the Committee at its eleventh session, 25/ and the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women,
Requests States parties to international human rights treaties to
compile information and report on the extent and manifestations of violence
against women, including domestic violence and harmful traditional practices,
and the measures taken to eliminate such violence, for inclusion in reports
under the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and to
include such information in reports to other treaty bodies,
Proposes, in order to accelerate the implementation of the strategic
objectives of chapter IV.D:
A. An integrated, holistic approach
Actions to be taken by Governments and the international community:
- Formulate comprehensive and multidisciplinary and coordinated
national plans, programmes or strategies, which will be widely
disseminated, to eliminate all forms of violence against women and
girls and provide for targets, timetables for implementation and
effective domestic enforcement procedures by monitoring mechanisms,
involving all parties concerned, including consultations with
women's organizations;
- Call upon the international community to condemn and act against all
forms and manifestations of terrorism, in particular those that
affect women and children;
- Develop strong and effective national, regional and international
cooperation to prevent and eliminate trafficking in women and girls,
especially for purposes of economic and sexual exploitation,
including the exploitation of prostitution of women and girls;
- Encourage the media to take measures against the projection of
images of violence against women and children;
- Strengthen effective partnerships with non-governmental
organizations and all relevant agencies to promote an integrated and
holistic approach to the elimination of violence against women and
girls;
- Integrate effective actions to end violence against women into all
areas of public and private life, as a means of working to overcome
the violence and discrimination that women face because of such
factors as race, language, ethnicity, poverty, culture, religion,
age, disability and socio-economic class or because they are
indigenous people, migrants, including women migrant workers,
displaced women or refugees;
- Ensure that comprehensive programmes for the rehabilitation of
victims of rape are integrated into global programmes.
B. Provision of resources to combat violence against all women
Actions to be taken by Governments, non-governmental organizations and
the public and private sector, as appropriate:
- Support the work of non-governmental organizations in their
activities to prevent, combat and eliminate violence against women;
- Provide adequate resources for women's groups, helplines, crisis
centres and other support services, including credit, medical,
psychological and other counselling services, as well as focus on
vocational skill training for women victims of violence that enables
them to find a means of subsistence;
- Provide resources for the strengthening of legal mechanisms for
prosecuting those who commit acts of violence against women and
girls, and for the rehabilitation of victims;
- Support and encourage partnerships for the establishment of national
networks and provide resources for shelters and relief support for
women and girls, so as to offer a safe, sensitive and integrated
response to women victims of violence, including the provision of
programmes designed to heal victims of trafficking and rehabilitate
them into society;
- Consider increasing contributions for national, regional and
international action to combat violence against women, including for
the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence
against women, its causes and consequences and the Trust Fund in
Support of Action to Eliminate Violence against Women of the United
Nations Development Fund for Women;
- Develop special programmes that would assist women and girls with
disabilities in recognizing and reporting acts of violence,
including the provision of accessible support services for their
protection and safety;
- Encourage and fund the training of personnel in the administration
of justice, law enforcement agencies, security, social and health-
care services, schools and migration authorities on matters related
to gender-based violence, and its prevention, and the protection of
women from violence;
- Include in national budgets adequate resources related to the
elimination of violence against women and girls.
C. Creation of linkages and cooperation with regard to particular
forms of violence against women
Actions to be taken by Governments:
- Consider, where appropriate, formulating bilateral, subregional and
regional agreements to promote and protect the rights of migrant
workers, especially women and girls;
- Develop bilateral, subregional, regional and international
agreements and protocols to combat all forms of trafficking in women
and girls, and assist victims of violence resulting from
prostitution and trafficking;
- Improve international information exchange on trafficking in women
and girls by recommending the setting up of a data-collection centre
within Interpol, regional law enforcement agencies and national
police forces, as appropriate;
- Strengthen the implementation of all relevant human rights
instruments in order to eliminate organized and other forms of
trafficking in women and girls, including trafficking for the
purpose of sexual exploitation and of pornography;
- Strengthen gender focal points of the regional commissions, and
further enhance their contributions to gender-balanced development
policies, as they have already made significant contributions by
helping member States to build capacities and as regards gender-
mainstreaming for alleviating gender-based violence against women,
and have contributed actively to promoting the human rights of
women.
D. Legal measures
Actions to be taken by Governments:
- Ensure the gender-sensitive development of an integrated framework
that includes criminal, civil, evidentiary and procedural provisions
and that addresses sufficiently the multiple forms of violence
against women;
- Take all appropriate measures to develop an integrated and
comprehensive legislative framework that addresses sufficiently the
multiple forms of violence against women;
- Promote, where necessary, the harmonization of local legislation
that penalizes acts of violence against women;
- Provide adequate infrastructure and support services to respond to
the needs of the survivors of violence against women and girls, and
to assist towards full recovery and reintegration into society, such
as witness protection programmes, restraining order against
perpetrators, crisis centres, telephone hotlines, shelters,
provisions for economic support and livelihood assistance;
- Develop guidelines to ensure appropriate police and prosecutorial
responses in cases of violence against women;
- Establish and support programmes that provide legal aid and
assistance for women and girls bringing complaints relating to
gender-based violence through various applicable ways and means,
such as non-governmental organization support for women with claims
relating to violence against women;
- Ensure the accountability of relevant law enforcement agencies for
implementation of policies to protect women from gender-based
violence;
- Investigate, and in accordance with national legislation, punish all
acts of violence against women and girls, including those
perpetrated by public officials;
- Implement strategies and practical measures, taking account of the
Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of
Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice adopted by the General Assembly, in its resolution 52/86 of
12 December 1997, and contained in the annex thereto;
- Review national legislation in order to effect complete legal
prohibition of rape and all forms of violence against women and
girls, such as domestic violence, including rape, and to ensure that
legislation that protects women and girls from violence is
effectively implemented;
- Criminalize all forms of trafficking in women and girls for the
purposes of sexual exploitation and penalize all traffickers;
- Take steps to enable women who are victims of trafficking to make
complaints to the police and to be available when required by the
criminal justice system, and ensure that during this time women have
access to social, medical, financial and legal assistance, and
protection, as appropriate;
- Develop and implement national legislation and policies prohibiting
harmful customary or traditional practices that are violations of
women's and girls' human rights and obstacles to the full enjoyment
by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms;
- Ensure that women are safe at work by supporting measures that
promote the creation of a workplace environment free from sexual
harassment or other violence and encourage all employers to put in
place policies designed to eliminate and deal effectively with
harassment of women whenever it occurs in the workplace;
- Encourage the participation of women in law enforcement agencies so
as to achieve gender balance.
E. Research and gender-disaggregated data collection
Actions to be taken by Governments:
- Promote coordinated research on violence against women to ensure
that it is multidisciplinary and addresses the root factors,
including external factors, that encourage trafficking in women and
girls for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation;
- Encourage research aimed at exploring the nature, extent and causes
of violence and collect data and statistics on its economic and
social costs, and its consequences, and conduct research on the
impact of all laws relevant to combating all forms of violence
against women;
- Develop common definitions and guidelines and train relevant actors
for the collection of data and statistics on violence against women
and ensure that all cases of violence against women are recorded
systematically and appropriately, whether they are first reported to
the police or to health and social services;
- Sponsor community-based research and national surveys, including the
collection of disaggregated data, on violence against women, with
regard to particular groups of women, such as women with
disabilities, migrant women workers and trafficked women;
- Support evaluations of the impact of measures and policies,
particularly with regard to legislative, evidentiary and procedural
law reform, to address violence against women with a view to
identifying and exchanging good practices and lessons learned, and
initiate intervention and prevention programmes;
- Promote the sharing of research results, including information on
best practices at national, regional and international levels;
- Explore the possibility of mechanisms such as national rapporteurs,
who report to Governments on the scale, prevention and combating of
violence against women, particularly trafficking in women and girls.
Action to be taken by the United Nations:
- Consider ways to share good practices and lessons learned, including
establishing a readily accessible database of good practices and
lessons learned with regard to all forms of violence against women.
F. Change attitudes
Actions to be taken by Governments and civil society, including
non-governmental organizations:
- Work to create violence-free societies by implementing participatory
educational programmes on human rights, conflict resolution and
gender equality, for women and men of all ages, beginning with girls
and boys;
- Support programmes of peer mediation and conflict resolution for
schoolchildren and special training for teachers to equip them to
encourage cooperation and respect for diversity and gender;
- Encourage innovative education and training in schools to enhance
awareness of gender-based violence by promoting non-violent conflict
resolution, and short- and mid- and long-term strategic educational
goals for achieving gender equality;
- Introduce and invest in comprehensive public awareness campaigns,
such as "zero tolerance", that portray violence against women as
unacceptable;
- Encourage the promotion in media portrayals of positive images of
women and of men, presenting them as cooperative and full partners
in the upbringing of their children, and discourage the media from
presenting negative images of women and girls;
- Encourage the media to create positive images of women and men as
cooperative and crucial actors in preventing violence against women
through the development of voluntary international media codes of
conduct, on positive images, portrayals and representations of
women, and on the coverage of the reporting of violence against
women;
- Raise awareness and mobilize public opinion to eliminate female
genital mutilation and other harmful traditional, cultural or
customary practices that violate the human rights of women and girls
and negatively affect their health;
- Promote the responsible use of new information technologies, in
particular the Internet, including the encouraging of steps to
prevent the use of these technologies for discrimination and
violence against women, and for trafficking in women for the
purposes of sexual exploitation, including the exploitation of
prostitution of women and girls;
- Create policies and programmes to encourage behavioural change in
perpetrators of violence against women, including rape, and monitor
and assess the impact and effect of such programmes;
- Establish legal literacy programmes to make women aware of their
rights and the methods of seeking protection under the law;
- Recognize that women and girls with disabilities, women migrants and
refugee women and girls could be particularly affected by violence,
and encourage the development of programmes for their support;
- Encourage campaigns aimed at clarifying opportunities, limitations
and rights in the event of migration so as to enable women to make
informed decisions and to prevent them from becoming victims of
trafficking;
- Encourage and support men's own initiatives to complement efforts of
women's organizations to prevent and eliminate violence against
women and girls;
- Conduct research on, and create policies and programmes to change,
the attitudes and behaviour of perpetrators of violence against
women within family and society;
- Actively encourage, support and implement measures aimed at
increasing the knowledge and understanding of violence against
women, through gender analysis capacity-building and gender-
sensitive training for law enforcement officers, police personnel,
the judiciary, medical and social workers, and teachers.
II. WOMEN AND ARMED CONFLICT
The Commission on the Status of Women
Reaffirms the Beijing Platform for Action, 26/ notably chapter IV.E on
women and armed conflict;
Proposes the following, taking into account the Commission's conclusions
on human rights of women, violence against women and the girl child, in order
to accelerate the implementation of the strategic objectives of chapter IV.E:
A. Ensuring gender-sensitive justice
Actions to be taken by Governments:
- Ensure that national legal systems provide accessible and gender-
sensitive avenues of redress for victims of armed conflict;
- Ensure that a gender-sensitive perspective is integrated in the
drafting and interpretation of international law and domestic
legislation, including for the protection of women and girls in
armed conflict;
- Support efforts to create an international criminal court that
integrates a gender perspective in its statute and functioning,
enabling a gender-sensitive interpretation and application of the
statute;
- Provide and disseminate to the public in local languages, including
to women's groups and non-governmental organizations, information on
the jurisdiction and procedures for accessing the ad hoc war crimes
tribunals, human rights treaty bodies and all other relevant
mechanisms; this information should be widely and actively
disseminated in cooperation with the United Nations system and
non-governmental organizations;
- Protect children in situations of armed conflict, especially the
girl child, against participation, recruitment, rape and sexual
exploitation through adherence to the applicable principles of
international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and
national legislation;
- Promote a gender balance and gender expertise in all relevant
international bodies, at all times, including the International Law
Commission, the ad hoc war crimes tribunals and the human rights
treaty bodies, having due regard for the principle of equitable
geographical distribution;
- Examine and consider modifying existing legal definitions and
standards to ensure that they encompass concerns of all women and
girls affected by armed conflict, and, in particular, reaffirm that
rape, systematic rape and sexual slavery in armed conflict
constitute war crimes;
- Ensure that where crimes of sexual violence are committed in
situations of conflict, all perpetrators, including those among
United Nations and international peacekeeping and humanitarian
personnel, are prosecuted.
B. Specific needs of women affected by armed conflict
Actions to be taken by Governments and international organizations:
- Collect and provide information on violations of the human rights of
women under foreign occupation and take steps to ensure the full
enjoyment of the human rights of these women;
- Take account of the impact of armed conflict on the health of all
women and introduce measures to address the full range of women's
health needs, including those of women with disabilities, and the
psychological needs arising from trauma stemming from sexual abuses
and the effects of violations of their rights;
- Address the specific needs and concerns of women refugees and
displaced persons and ensure appropriate training for relevant
bodies to address the specific needs and concerns of women refugees,
who should receive special protection, including the proper design
and location of camps and the adequate staffing of camps;
- Recognize the importance of fully involving women in designing
rehabilitation policies in post-conflict situations and take steps
to assist household economies, including the social and economic
conditions of women-headed households and widows;
- Ensure the physical safety and security of all refugee women and
girls and those internally displaced by, inter alia, adequately
providing for and increasing their access to the right of return to
their country or place of origin, and the participation of women in
the committees responsible for the management of the camp(s), and
ensure that camps are designed in accordance with the 1995
Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women 27/ of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and arrange for gender-
sensitive legal, social and medical services in camps, and for the
talents and capabilities of refugee and displaced women and girls to
be fully integrated in the development and implementation of these
programmes while they are in these camps;
- Provide refugee victims of sexual violence and their families with
adequate medical and psychosocial care, including culturally
sensitive counselling, and ensure confidentiality;
- Take measures in accordance with international law with a view to
alleviating any negative impact of economic sanctions on women and
children;
- Mainstream a gender perspective, as appropriate, into national
immigration and asylum policies, regulations and practices, in order
to extend protection to those women whose claim for protection is
based on gender-related persecution;
- Provide and strengthen assistance to all women and girls in conflict
and post-conflict situations, including through non-governmental
organizations, as appropriate. Refugee women and men must have
equal rights in the administration and distribution of goods and
services in the camps;
- Condemn and bring to an immediate end massive violations of human
rights, especially in the form of genocide, and ethnic cleansing as
a strategy of war, and its consequences, such as rape, including
systematic rape of women in war situations;
- Encourage rehabilitation centres to ensure that the knowledge and
professions of displaced and refugee people are utilized;
- Mainstream a gender perspective into humanitarian responses to
crises and armed conflicts and into post-conflict reconstruction
activities.
C. Increasing the participation of women in peacekeeping,
peace-building, pre- and post-conflict decision-making,
conflict prevention, post-conflict resolution and
reconstruction
Actions to be taken by Governments and international and regional
intergovernmental institutions:
- Increase, including through measures of affirmative action, women's
participation and leadership in decision-making and in preventing
conflict;
- Mainstream a gender perspective into peace-promoting activities at
all levels as well as humanitarian and peace-building policies,
including through gender analysis and the encouragement of the
participation of more female personnel at all levels, in particular
at senior or high levels in field missions, and monitor and review
such policies as appropriate, on the basis of equitable geographical
distribution where applicable;
- Recognize and support women's non-governmental organizations,
particularly at the grass-roots level, in respect of their
preventing conflict, including early warning and peace-building;
- Take note of the Kampala Action Plan on Women and Peace, 28/ as
well as the post-Beijing follow-up Kigali Declaration on Peace,
Gender and Development, 29/ and A Plan of Action for Conflict-
affected Areas, 30/ and if appropriate, convene conferences to
assess progress and promote implementation;
- Regional research and training institutes should carry out research
on the role of women in conflict resolution and identify and analyse
policies and action programmes;
- Create mechanisms to encourage more women candidates with the
appropriate qualifications to apply for judicial, prosecutorial and
other positions in all relevant international bodies, in order to
achieve gender balance on the basis of equitable geographical
distribution;
- Nominate and appoint more women as special representatives in
conflict resolution, taking due consideration of the principle of
equitable geographical distribution;
- Enhance the role of women in bilateral preventive diplomacy efforts
as well as those undertaken by the United Nations in accordance with
the Charter of the United Nations;
- Ensure that the participants in humanitarian missions and in
peacekeeping operations, both military and civilian, are given
specific gender-sensitive training;
- Develop and implement innovative strategies to increase the
participation of women in peacekeeping operations and invite the
Secretary-General to analyse their effectiveness in his reports on
peacekeeping operations, if appropriate, based on an expert group
meeting;
- Mainstream a gender perspective into bilateral and multilateral
peace-building discussions and promotion of social development.
D. Preventing conflict and promoting a culture of peace
Actions to be taken by Governments, the international community and
civil society, as appropriate:
- Integrate a gender perspective into foreign policies and adjust
policies accordingly;
- Support the establishment of women-for-peace networks;
- Discourage the adoption of and refrain from any unilateral measure
that is not in accordance with international law and the Charter of
the United Nations and that impedes the full achievement of economic
and social development by the population of the affected countries,
in particular women and children, that hinders their well-being and
that creates obstacles to the full enjoyment of their human rights;
- Ensure that education, including teacher training, promotes peace,
respect for human rights and gender-sensitivity, tolerance for
diversity, including cultural and religious diversity, and
pluralism;
- Encourage the incorporation of relevant international humanitarian
law principles and their interpretation from a gender perspective
into national legal systems;
- Encourage and support the participation of young people in
programmes, seminars and workshops on conflict resolution and human
rights, negotiations for the peaceful settlement of disputes and the
importance of a gender perspective in the promotion of a culture of
peace, development and human rights of women;
- Strengthen ongoing efforts to train international peacekeeping
forces on human rights and gender-sensitivity, provide training on
codes of conduct and prevention of violence against women, ensuring
that trainers include civilians, women and experts in gender issues,
and monitor the impact of this training;
- Enhance the culture of peace and the peaceful settlement of armed
conflicts, including through mass media, audio and video as
appropriate;
- Draw upon and utilize the expertise of the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, the Division for the Advancement of
Women of the United Nations Secretariat, the United Nations
Development Fund for Women and the United Nations Children's Fund
for the preparation of materials for the training of United Nations
peacekeepers;
- Continue to make resources available nationally and internationally
for prevention of conflict and ensure women's participation in the
elaboration and implementation of strategies for preventing
conflict;
- Recognize and support the work done by national machineries for the
advancement of women and by non-governmental organizations and work
towards mobilizing the action necessary to encourage the achievement
by women of a critical mass at the national cabinet level in key
ministries and departments and in international organizations that
make or influence policy with regard to matters related to
collective peace and security.
Actions to be taken by the United Nations:
- Acknowledge and support the vital work of non-governmental
organizations in the field of peace in efforts towards preventing
conflict and for peace-building;
- Organize programmes and seminars to sensitize community leaders and
women on the important role that women should play in developing a
culture of peace in society.
E. Disarmament measures, illicit arms trafficking,
landmines and small arms
Actions to be taken by Governments:
- In order to alleviate the suffering of women and children caused by
landmines, work towards the objective of eliminating anti-personnel
landmines; and in this regard take due note of the conclusion of the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production
and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction and
its implementation by those States that become parties to it;
- Join international efforts to elaborate international policies to
prohibit illicit traffic, trade and transfer of small arms, and to
control their excessive production, with a view to alleviating the
suffering of women and children in the situation of armed conflict;
- Provide landmine awareness campaigns or classes in close cooperation
with communities and community leaders formally and informally,
making them accessible to women in afflicted areas, and provide
resources and assistance for landmine clearance and share technology
and information so that local populations can engage effectively in
the safe clearance of landmines;
- Support programmes for the rehabilitation and social integration of
women victims of anti-personnel landmines, and demining and mine
awareness activities;
- Encourage as appropriate the role of women in the peace movement,
working towards general and complete disarmament under strict and
effective international control including disarmament of all types
of weapons of mass destruction;
- Work to prevent and put an end to aggression and all forms of armed
conflict, thereby promoting a culture of peace.
III. HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN
The Commission on the Status of Women
Reaffirms the Beijing Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World
Conference on Women, 31/ in particular chapter IV.I on the human rights of
women, and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World
Conference on Human Rights, 32/
Recommends that the Commission on Human Rights give particular attention
to the economic and social rights of women in any discussions it may have at
its fifty-fourth session on the question of the appointment and mandate of a
special rapporteur on economic, social and cultural rights, or a specific
aspect thereof; and invites the Secretary-General to report to the Commission
on the Status of Women in 1999 on decisions taken by the Commission on Human
Rights on this issue, and further recommends that the rapporteur on economic,
social and cultural rights, if appointed, should make his or her reports
available to the Commission on the Status of Women,
Proposes, in order to accelerate the implementation of the strategic
objectives of chapter IV.I of the Platform for Action:
A. Creation and development of an environment conducive to women's
enjoyment of their human rights and awareness-raising
Actions to be taken by Governments, non-governmental organizations,
employers, trade unions, the private sector and other actors in civil
society, as appropriate:
- Ensure universal awareness by all persons, women and men, girls and
boys of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and
children, including the girl child, through comprehensive human
rights education in accordance with the United Nations Decade for
Human Rights Education, and create and promote a culture of human
rights, development and peace;
- Encourage and support broad-based national and community-based
dialogues that include women and men, and girls and boys, from
diverse backgrounds, on the meaning of human rights, on the
obligations thereby created and on gender-specific discrimination
and violations;
- Ensure that work, including, inter alia, work by treaty bodies
within their mandates to develop an understanding of the gender
dimensions of human rights, is compiled and widely disseminated, and
that this gender-sensitive interpretation of human rights is fully
integrated into all policies and programmes of international and
regional organizations;
- Make widely available reports of United Nations mechanisms that deal
with the human rights of women, such as on discrimination and
violence against women, to the public, including the judiciary,
parliamentarians and non-governmental organizations;
- Support, encourage and disseminate research, and collect gender- and
age-disaggregated statistics on factors and multiple barriers that
affect the full enjoyment by women of their economic, social,
cultural, civil and political rights, including their right to
development, and on violations that are particular to women, and
disseminate the findings and utilize the collected data in assessing
the implementation of the human rights of women;
- Develop and implement national legislation and policies prohibiting
customary and traditional practices that are harmful to women and
that are violations of women's human rights;
- Eradicate customary or traditional practices, particularly female
genital mutilation, that are harmful to, or discriminatory against,
women and that are violations of women's human rights and
fundamental freedoms, through the design and implementation of
awareness-raising programmes, education and training;
- Ensure that their personnel periodically receive gender training and
are educated and made aware of all women's, men's and children's
human rights;
- Mobilize the resources necessary and create the conditions for the
full exercise of women's economic, social, cultural, civil and
political rights;
- Establish and strengthen partnerships and cooperation with each
other and with the United Nations system and regional organizations
in order to promote more actively the full enjoyment by women of
their human rights;
- Ensure that indigenous and other marginalized women's special
conditions are taken fully into consideration within the framework
of the human rights of women;
- Mainstream a gender perspective, as appropriate, into national
immigration and asylum policies, regulations and practices in order
to extend protection to those women whose claim for protection is
based on gender-related persecution.
B. Legal and regulatory framework
Actions to be taken by Governments:
- Guarantee the existence of a national legal and regulatory
framework, including independent national institutions, or other
appropriate mechanisms, that ensure the full realization of all
human rights of women and girls on the basis of equality and non-
discrimination, including their right to be free from violence, in
accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, other instruments
related to human rights and international law;
- Take steps, including a gender-sensitive review of national
legislation, to revoke any laws or legal procedures and eradicate
practices - national or customary - that promote discrimination on
the basis of sex;
- Ensure that women and children have full and equal access to
effective legal remedies for violations, including domestic
mechanisms, which are monitored and revised to ensure that they
function without discrimination, and international mechanisms that
address human rights as provided, inter alia, under the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; 33/
- Promote changes that ensure that women enjoy equal opportunities in
law and in practice to claim their rights through the national legal
systems, including through educating them on these rights as well as
ensuring availability of measures such as free or affordable legal
aid, legal representation and court appeals procedures, and support
existing programmes of non-governmental organizations and other
agencies.
C. Policies, mechanisms and machineries
Actions to be taken by Governments:
- Ratify and accede to and ensure implementation of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 34/
so that universal ratification of the Convention can be achieved by
the year 2000;
- Limit the extent of any reservations to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: formulate
any such reservations as precisely and as narrowly as possible;
ensure that no reservations are incompatible with the object and
purpose of the Convention or otherwise incompatible with
international treaty law and regularly review those reservations
with a view to withdrawing them; and withdraw reservations that are
contrary to the object and purpose of the Convention or that are
otherwise incompatible with international treaty law;
- Create channels of communication to promote information exchange
between national institutions that address the human rights of
women, and non-governmental organizations and relevant policy-making
bodies of Government;
- Create gender mainstreaming mechanisms within all policy-making
bodies so that women's ability to enjoy their rights is strengthened
by all policies and programmes, including through gender-sensitive
budgeting;
- Support efforts to create an international criminal court that
integrates a gender perspective in its statute and functioning,
enabling a gender-sensitive interpretation and application of the
statute;
- Mainstream a gender perspective into all economic and social
policies in order to promote the human rights of women and girls,
including their right to development;
- Adopt measures to ensure by appropriate means that women enjoy equal
opportunities to participate in decision-making processes, including
parliamentary and other elected assemblies.
Actions to be taken by States parties to human rights instruments:
- Promote gender balance in the nomination and election of independent
experts to treaty bodies having expertise and sensitivity in regard
to gender issues in the field of human rights, giving due
consideration to equitable geographical distribution and different
legal systems;
- Take note of the report of the United Nations Secretariat to the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on
reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women 35/ and encourage similar studies by
other treaty bodies, as well as by the Sixth Committee of the
General Assembly, especially with respect to their effect on women's
and girls' enjoyment of their human rights;
- Ensure that their periodic reports to treaty monitoring bodies
mainstream a gender perspective.
Within the United Nations system:
- Urge the Commission on Human Rights to ensure that all human rights
mechanisms and procedures fully incorporate a gender perspective in
their work, within their respective mandates;
- The Administrative Committee on Coordination Inter-Agency Committee
on Women and Gender Equality should, as planned, conduct a workshop
to clarify the understanding of a rights-based approach to women's
empowerment and advancement and to gender equality, drawing on the
work already being done in this regard by the United Nations
Development Fund for Women and others;
- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
and the Division for the Advancement of Women of the Department of
Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat should
strengthen and improve coordination in general human rights
activities within their respective mandates and continue to prepare
the joint annual work plan;
- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
and the Division for the Advancement of Women should continue to
prepare the joint annual work plan and strengthen cooperation and
coordination in human rights activities, in particular:
(a) By collaborating in the writing of reports for the
Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Human
Rights, the first initiative of this type 36/ being welcomed;
(b) Through sharing information systematically on the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, its
sessions and documentation, in order to ensure that its work will be
better integrated into the work of the other treaty bodies and
United Nations human rights activities;
(c) Through capacity-building to implement agreed conclusions
1997/2 of the Economic and Social Council 37/ on mainstreaming a
gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United
Nations system, in particular training and gender-sensitization
especially of human rights monitors;
- Take further steps to increase cooperation and promote integration
of objectives and goals among the Commission on the Status of Women,
the Commission on Human Rights and the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women, as well as the United Nations
Development Fund for Women, the International Research and Training
Institute for the Advancement of Women, the United Nations
Development Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund and other
United Nations funds and programmes;
- Cooperation, communication and exchange of expertise should be
enhanced between the Commission on the Status of Women and other
functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council, including
the Commission on Human Rights, in order to more effectively promote
women's human rights;
- The treaty bodies within their mandates should continue to promote a
better understanding of the rights contained in international human
rights instruments and their particular significance to women;
- Given the importance of general comments in clarifying the
provisions of human rights treaties, the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women is invited to draw up
joint general comments with other treaty bodies, within their
respective mandates, on the universality, indivisibility,
interdependence and interrelatedness of human rights and should
discuss these and other collaborative activities at the annual
chairpersons meeting;
- The treaty bodies should continue to develop working methods that
facilitate communications between non-governmental organizations,
treaty bodies and the States parties;
- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
is commended for establishing a gender team for studying, within the
mandate of the Office, the human rights of women; the team should be
given the necessary support by the most senior levels of management
and decision-making to carry out its work effectively;
- Specialized agencies and other bodies of the United Nations system,
as well as other international financial and national trade
organizations, should develop innovative ways of integrating the
promotion of women's enjoyment of their human rights in all their
policies and programmes.
IV. THE GIRL CHILD
The Commission on the Status of Women
Reaffirms the Beijing Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World
Conference on Women, 38/ notably chapter IV.L on the girl child, the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human
Rights, 39/ the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, 40/ and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, 41/
Proposes, in order to accelerate the implementation of the strategic
objectives of chapter IV.L:
A. Promotion and protection of the human rights of the girl child
Actions to be taken by Governments, local authorities, non-governmental
organizations and civil society and the United Nations system, as
appropriate:
- Promote further the enjoyment by children, particularly the girl
child, of their human rights, by the elaboration of an optional
protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on measures
for the prevention and eradication of the sale of children, child
prostitution and pornography;
- Organize community-based actions, including the setting up of local
committees to create awareness of, and monitor conformity with, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, with a
special focus on the situation of adolescent girls and young
mothers;
- Conduct awareness-raising campaigns designed to mobilize
communities, including community leaders, religious organizations,
parents and other family members, especially male family members,
with regard to the rights of the child, giving special emphasis to
the girl child, and monitor changes in attitudes;
- Conduct awareness-raising campaigns and gender training targeted at
law enforcement and justice system officials with regard to the
rights of children, giving special attention to the girl child;
- Eliminate traditional and customary practices that constitute son-
preference through awareness-raising campaigns and gender training;
- Recognize and promote the contribution of girls and boys to
development;
- Promote non-discriminatory treatment of girls and boys in the family
and, in this regard, adopt measures to ensure equal access by girls
and boys to food, education and health.
Actions to be taken by States parties to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women:
- Include comprehensive information and sex- and age-disaggregated
data on children in their reports to the Committee on the Rights of
the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women, and invite the treaty monitoring bodies to pay
special attention to the rights of the girl child while assessing
those reports;
- Ensure that any reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the
Rights of the Child are formulated as precisely and as narrowly as
possible and that they are not incompatible with the object and
purpose of those conventions, and review the reservations to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child with a view to
withdrawing them.
B. Education and empowerment of the girl child
Actions to be taken by Governments, educational institutions and the
United Nations system, as appropriate:
- Consider drawing upon the findings and recommendations of the United
Nations Expert Group Meeting on Adolescent Girls and their Rights,
held in Addis Ababa in October 1997;
- Consider making primary education compulsory;
- Ensure universal enrolment and retention of girls in school and
ensure the continued education of pregnant adolescents and young
mothers in order to guarantee basic education to the girl child;
- Encourage all levels of society, including parents, Governments and
non-governmental organizations, to support the implementation of
educational policies to enhance gender awareness in the community;
- Provide gender-sensitive training for school administrators, parents
and all members of the school community, such as local
administrators, staff, teachers, school boards and students;
- Review teaching materials, including textbooks, to promote the self-
esteem of women and girls through positive self-images and revise
these materials, highlighting women's effective role in society,
including in decision-making, development, culture, history, sports
and other social, political and economic endeavours;
- Develop programmes of sensitization on the gender perspective for
staff of government offices working on educational issues concerning
indigenous and rural girls, and develop educational materials
adapted to their situation;
- Identify the special needs of girls in difficult circumstances,
including girls from migrant families, refugee and displaced girls,
girls from ethnic minorities, indigenous girls, orphaned girls,
girls with disabilities and other girls with special needs, and
provide the resources necessary to address their needs;
- Involve girls, including girls with special needs, and their
representative organizations in the decision-making process and
include them as full and active partners in identifying their own
needs and in designing, planning, implementing and assessing
policies and programmes to meet those needs;
- Provide training opportunities for girls to develop their skills in
leadership, advocacy and conflict resolution;
- Make visible girls' and boys' unpaid work in the household by
conducting research and documenting gender differences, particularly
in rural communities, note the implications of household work for
girls' equal access to basic and further education and career
development and take measures to redress imbalances and eliminate
discrimination.
C. Health needs of girls
Actions to be taken by Governments, civil society and the United Nations
system, as appropriate:
- Protect the girl child from all forms of sexual exploitation and
sexual abuse by taking appropriate measures, including, for example,
designing and implementing legislation;
- Encourage parents, coalitions of concerned organizations and
individuals, especially political leaders, popular and community
figures and the media, to advocate for children's health, including
adolescent girls' reproductive and sexual health;
- Eradicate all customary or traditional practices, particularly
female genital mutilation, that are harmful to or discriminate
against women and girls and that are violations of women's human
rights and obstacles to the full enjoyment by women of their human
rights and fundamental freedoms, through the design and
implementation of awareness-raising programmes, education and
training, as well as programmes to help the victims of such
practices to overcome their trauma;
- Develop and implement national legislation and policies prohibiting
customary or traditional practices that are violations of women's
human rights and obstacles to the full enjoyment by women of their
human rights and fundamental freedoms and prosecute the perpetrators
of practices that are harmful to the health of women and girls;
- Make widely available information and counselling to adolescent
girls and boys, especially on human relationships, reproductive and
sexual health, sexually transmitted diseases and adolescent
pregnancy, that are confidential and easily accessible and emphasize
the equal responsibility of girls and boys;
- Improve the health care for adolescent girls by health personnel and
provide the latter with appropriate training, and encourage health-
care personnel to work with girls to understand their special needs;
- Recognize and protect from discrimination pregnant adolescents and
young mothers and support their continued access to information,
health care, nutrition, education and training;
- Support the activities of non-governmental organizations in the area
of reproductive health and health orientation centres for girls;
- Enact laws concerning the minimum age for marriage and raise the
minimum age for marriage when necessary in order to ensure respect
for the rights of the child, as stipulated in the Convention on the
Rights of the Child. 42/
D. Girls in armed conflict
Actions to be taken by the United Nations and Governments:
- Incorporate information on the rights of the child in the mandates
and operational guidelines of peacekeeping forces, the military and
humanitarian workers and provide them with gender-sensitive
training;
- Encourage girls and other individuals and communities to play a key
role in reporting violations of rights of girls in armed conflict to
the appropriate authorities and ensure adequate, accessible and
gender-sensitive support services and counselling;
- Protect the girl child in situations of armed conflict against
participation in armed conflicts, recruitment, rape and sexual
exploitation, in particular through the adoption of an optional
protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 43/ as
recommended by the General Assembly;
- Take measures to address the special needs of girls for protection
and for gender-appropriate support and counselling centres in
refugee camps, and in resettlement and reintegration efforts;
- Create and respect zones of peace for children in armed conflict.
E. Trafficking, including for purpose of prostitution
and other forms of sexual exploitation
Actions to be taken by Governments, international organizations and
civil society:
- Collect information and raise public awareness on the issue of
trafficking, physical and psychological abuse, and sexual
exploitation of girls in order to better design and improve
preventative programmes;
- Consider implementing the recommendations of the Declaration and
Agenda for Action of the World Congress against Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children, 44/ held in Stockholm in 1996;
- Establish recovery programmes for children who have been abused or
sexually exploited, with specially trained personnel to provide a
safe and supportive environment.
Actions to be taken by Governments:
- Enact and enforce laws that prohibit sexual exploitation including
prostitution, incest, abuse and trafficking of children, paying
special attention to girls;
- Prosecute and punish persons and organizations engaged in and/or
promoting the sex industry, sexual exploitation, acts of
paedophilia, trafficking in organs, child pornography and sex
tourism involving minors, and condemn and penalize all those
offenders involved, whether local or foreign, while ensuring that
children who are victims of those practices are not penalized;
- Design mechanisms and strengthen international cooperation to better
protect girls and bring to justice the perpetrators of such crimes;
- Adopt measures that ensure that judicial and legal processes are
sensitive to the specific needs of abused girls to prevent further
traumatization or victimization.
F. Labour and the girl child
Actions to be taken by Governments, international organizations and the
private sector:
- Consider ratifying and implementing international agreements that
are designed to protect children, including conventions of the
International Labour Organization, and bring national legislation
into conformity with those agreements in order to protect the girl
child;
- Ensure that girls who work have access to education and vocational
training, health, food, shelter and recreation on equal and
favourable conditions, and are protected from economic exploitation,
sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace;
- Pay special attention to girls in the informal sector, such as
domestic workers, and develop measures to protect their human rights
and fundamental freedoms and prevent their economic exploitation,
ill-treatment and sexual abuse;
- Raise government and public awareness as to the nature and scope of
the special needs of girls employed as domestic workers and of those
performing excessive domestic chores in their own households, and
develop measures to prevent their economic exploitation and sexual
abuse;
- Actively contribute to efforts at the 1998 session of the
International Labour Conference to draw up a new international
convention to eliminate the most abhorrent forms of child labour;
- Consider the implementation of the actions identified in the Agenda
for Action 45/ of the 1997 Oslo Conference on Child Labour.
G. General recommendations
Actions to be taken by Governments and the United Nations system:
- Prepare programmes for the girl child as part of national action
plans in order to fully implement the Beijing Platform for Action
adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women; 46/
- The organizations of the United Nations system, in particular the
United Nations Children's Fund, as the agency mandated to deal with
the rights and concerns of children, should give greater attention
to the girl child through Fund country programmes, using its
goodwill ambassadors for raising awareness on the situation of the
girl child on national, regional and international levels;
- The Secretary-General should report on the girl child to the
Commission on the Status of Women prior to the five-year review of
the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action;
- Base programmes and policies for the girl child on the rights of the
child, the responsibilities, rights and duties of the parents and
the evolving capacity of the girl child, in accordance with the
Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. 47/
C. Draft decision for adoption by the Council
3. The Commission on the Status of Women recommends to the Economic and
Social Council the adoption of the following draft decision:
Report of the Commission on the Status of Women on its forty-
second session and provisional agenda and documentation for
the forty-third session of the Commission*
(* See chap. VI.)
The Economic and Social Council takes note of the report of the
Commission on the Status of Women on its forty-second session and approves the
provisional agenda and documentation for the forty-third session of the
Commission set out below.
PROVISIONAL AGENDA AND DOCUMENTATION FOR THE FORTY-THIRD SESSION
OF THE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
1. Election of officers.
2. Adoption of the agenda and other organizational matters.
3. Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women:
(a) Review of mainstreaming in organizations of the United Nations
system;
Documentation
Report of the Secretary-General on the measures taken and the progress
achieved in the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and in
mainstreaming a gender perspective within the United Nations system
(b) Emerging issues, trends and new approaches to issues affecting the
situation of women or equality between women and men;
Documentation
Report of the Secretary-General on the differential impact of population
ageing on men and women, as a contribution to the International Year of
Older Persons
(c) Implementation of strategic objectives and action in the critical
areas of concern.
Documentation
Analytical report of the Secretary-General on the thematic issues before
the Commission in accordance with the multi-year work programme,
including, as far as possible, progress made in national implementation,
based on available existing data and statistics
4. Initiation of the comprehensive review and appraisal of the
implementation of the Platform for Action and preparation for the high-
level plenary review in the year 2000.
5. Communications concerning the status of women.
Documentation
Lists of confidential and non-confidential communications concerning the
status of women
6. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, including the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the
Convention.
7. Provisional agenda for the forty-fourth session of the Commission.
8. Adoption of the report of the Commission on its forty-third session.
D. Matters brought to the attention of the Council
4. The following resolutions and decision adopted by the commission are
brought to the attention of the Council:
Resolution 42/1. Human rights and land rights discrimination*
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 38-42.)
The Commission on the Status of Women,
Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 48/ the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 49/ the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 50/ the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 51/ the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on
Human Rights, 52/ and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of
the Fourth World Conference on Women, 53/
Noting that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibits
discrimination and proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights, and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and
freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, including
distinction based on sex,
Noting also that the States parties to the International Covenants on
Human Rights have the obligation to ensure the equal right of men and women to
enjoy all economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, and
concerned, however, that despite these various instruments extensive
discrimination against women continues to exist,
Gravely concerned that in many countries the treatment accorded to
women, whether in terms of property rights, land rights, rights of
inheritance, laws related to marriage and divorce or the rights to acquire
nationality, manage property or seek employment, reflects the inequality
between women and men,
Concerned that in situations of poverty, women are disproportionately
affected and have the least access to productive resources, food, health,
education, training and opportunities for employment and other needs,
Recognizing that land is a valuable resource, and that secure land
rights are key rights for the economic empowerment of women,
Recognizing also that the full and equal participation of women in all
spheres of life is essential for the full and complete development of a
country,
Reaffirming the equal rights of women and men, as enshrined, inter alia,
in the Charter of the United Nations and the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women,
1. Stresses the need for full and urgent implementation of the rights
of women, as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;
2. Urges all States to take all necessary measures, including
legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women for the
purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of all human rights
and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men, and to take
effective action against violations of those rights and freedoms;
3. Calls upon States:
(a) To set goals and develop and implement gender-sensitive strategies
for addressing the rights and needs of women;
(b) To generate social support to change the social and cultural
patterns of conduct of women and men with a view to achieving the elimination
of prejudices and customary and all other practices that are based on the
inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles
for women and men;
(c) To develop innovative activities at all levels, including human
rights education, to increase women's awareness of their human rights and the
mechanisms that are available to protect and enforce women's full enjoyment of
them, inter alia, through the translation, production and dissemination of
information materials on these rights to all sectors of society;
(d) To ensure women's equal rights with men in the areas of education,
health and nutrition, and to provide equal access to programmes of continuing
education, including adult and functional literacy programmes;
4. Urges States to pay particular attention to women and their rights
and needs in designing and implementing development programmes, and
specifically to address the feminization of poverty and its root causes,
including secure land tenure;
5. Also urges States to design and revise laws to ensure that women are
accorded full and equal rights to own land and other property, including
through the right to inheritance, and to undertake administrative reforms and
other necessary measures to give women the same right as men to credit,
capital, appropriate technologies, access to markets and information;
6. Calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in
the exercise of her mandate, to increase awareness that land rights
discrimination is a violation of human rights and that in addressing the right
to development secure land tenure for women should be taken into account;
7. Requests the Secretary-General, as Chairman of the Administrative
Committee on Coordination, to ensure that all organizations and bodies of the
United Nations system, individually and collectively, in particular the United
Nations Development Programme, take into account land rights discrimination
and its negative impact on women in all poverty eradication programmes and
policies;
8. Calls upon all States and all relevant organizations and bodies of
the United Nations system to report to the Commission on the Status of Women
at its forty-third session on initiatives related to the present resolution.
Resolution 42/2. Release of women and children taken hostage in
armed conflicts, including those subsequently
imprisoned*
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 51-52.)
The Commission on the Status of Women,
Recalling its resolutions 39/2 of 31 March 1995, 40/1 of 22 March 1996
and 41/1 of 21 March 1997,
Recalling also the relevant provisions contained in the instruments of
international humanitarian law relative to the protection of women and
children in areas of armed conflict,
Welcoming the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action by the Fourth World Conference on Women, 54/ including the
provisions regarding violence against women and children,
Expressing grave concern at the continuation of armed conflicts in many
regions throughout the world and the human suffering and humanitarian
emergencies they have caused,
Emphasizing that all forms of violence committed against the civilian
population, including women and children in areas of armed conflict, including
capturing them as hostages, seriously contravene international humanitarian
law, in particular the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, 55/
Expressing its strong belief that the rapid and unconditional release of
women and children taken hostage in areas of armed conflict will promote the
implementation of the noble goals enshrined in the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action,
1. Condemns violent acts in contravention of international humanitarian
law against civilian women and children in areas of armed conflict, and calls
for an effective response to such acts, including the immediate release of
such women and children taken hostage, including those subsequently
imprisoned, in armed conflicts;
2. Strongly urges all parties to armed conflicts to respect fully the
norms of international humanitarian law in armed conflict and to take all
necessary measures for the protection of these women and children and for
their immediate release;
3. Urges all parties to conflicts to provide unimpeded access to
specialized humanitarian assistance for these women and children;
4. Requests the Secretary-General and all relevant international
organizations to use their capabilities and efforts to facilitate the release
of these women and children;
5. Requests the Secretary-General to prepare, taking into account the
information provided by States and relevant international organizations, a
report on the implementation of the present resolution, for submission to the
Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-third session.
Resolution 42/3. Violence against women migrant workers*
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 53-57.)
The Commission on the Status of Women,
Recalling all resolutions relevant to women migrant workers adopted by
the General Assembly, in particular Assembly resolution 52/97 of 12 December
1997, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Human Rights
and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, as well as the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 56/
Recalling also the outcome of major world conferences, specifically
those pertaining to women migrant workers,
Emphasizing the need for objective comprehensive, broad-based
information and a wide exchange of experiences and lessons learned by
individual Member States and civil society in the formulation of policies and
strategies to address the problem of violence against women migrant workers,
Noting the large numbers of women from developing countries and some
countries in transition who continue to venture forth to more affluent
countries in search of a living for themselves and their families as a
consequence of poverty, unemployment and other socio-economic conditions, and
acknowledging the duty of the sending States to work for conditions that
provide employment and security for their citizens,
Acknowledging the economic benefits that accrue to sending and receiving
countries from the employment of women migrant workers,
Recognizing the importance of continued cooperation at the bilateral,
regional and international levels in protecting and promoting the rights and
welfare of women migrant workers,
1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the thematic
issues before the Commission on the Status of Women; 57/
2. Invites concerned Governments, particularly of sending and receiving
countries, to include in their national action plans information on the
problems of women migrant workers;
3. Encourages concerned Governments, particularly of sending and
receiving countries, to avail themselves of the expertise of the United
Nations, including the United Nations Statistics Division and other relevant
bodies such as the International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women, to develop appropriate national data-collection
methodologies that will generate comparable data on violence against women
migrant workers as bases for research and analyses on the subject;
4. Invites Governments, in cooperation with relevant United Nations
bodies, other intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental
organizations, to undertake further research on the causes and consequences of
violence against women migrant workers;
5. Invites concerned States parties, particularly of sending and
receiving countries, to include in their periodic reports to relevant human
rights treaty bodies, updated and comprehensive information on actions they
have taken to address the problem of violence against women migrant workers;
6. Invites Member States and non-governmental organizations to
contribute to the proposed database of good practices and lessons learned on
all forms of violence against women, information on bilateral and multilateral
agreements, national experiences and lessons learned, initiatives and projects
that have proved viable and effective in evolving national strategies and
strengthening bilateral, regional and international cooperation for dealing
with violence against women migrant workers;
7. Calls upon concerned Governments, particularly of sending and
receiving countries, if they have not done so, to put in place penal and
criminal sanctions to punish perpetrators of violence against women migrant
workers and, to the extent possible, to provide victims of violence with the
full range of immediate assistance, such as counselling, legal and consular
assistance, temporary shelters and other measures, that will allow them to be
present during the judicial process, as well as to establish reintegration and
rehabilitation schemes for returning women migrant workers;
8. Encourages Member States to consider ratifying and complying with
International Labour Organization conventions and to consider signing and
ratifying or acceding to the International Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; 58/
9. Encourages the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women to consider developing a general recommendation on the situation
of women migrant workers;
10. Encourages concerned Governments, in particular those of sending and
receiving countries, to adopt measures to regulate the recruitment and
deployment of women migrant workers, as well as consider adopting appropriate
legal measures against intermediaries who deliberately encourage the
clandestine movement of workers and who exploit women migrant workers;
11. Requests the United Nations Development Programme, the United
Nations Development Fund for Women and other relevant organizations of the
United Nations system, within the context of the country cooperation and
development assistance framework, to support national measures, in both
sending and receiving countries, designed to strengthen preventive action, in
particular education and information campaigns to increase awareness of the
issue of violence against women migrant workers, and to ensure adequate
briefing and training of prospective women migrant workers on the laws,
culture, working and living conditions, possible problems, coping mechanisms
and support services in the receiving countries;
12. Requests the Secretary-General to take into account the relevant
provisions contained in the present resolution in preparing, for submission to
the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session, the report on the problem of
violence against women migrant workers requested by the Assembly in paragraph
10 of its resolution 52/97.
Resolution 42/4. Older women and support systems: gender
and caregiving*
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 58-59.)
The Commission on the Status of Women,
Aware that gender difference in life expectancy rises with age and that
therefore two thirds of the very old are women,
Aware also that, traditionally, women are relied upon as caregivers at
all ages and that they make an essential but often unrecognized and
unremunerated contribution to society and the economy,
Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General on older women and
support systems: new challenges, 59/ based on the report and
recommendations of the Expert Group Meeting on Caregiving and Older Persons:
Gender Dimensions, held in Malta from 30 November to 2 December 1997, which
underscored that:
(a) Changes in the traditional support systems affect women and men
differently;
(b) Urbanization has weakened the traditional support systems for older
persons;
(c) There are growing numbers of women who, as the primary caretakers,
are entering the labour market;
(d) Because women live longer than men, they are more likely than men to
live alone in old age: in most countries, widows outnumber widowers;
(e) Older women are more likely than men to be poor;
(f) Older women face a higher risk of chronic illness and disability;
female advantage in life expectancy is often offset by disability;
(g) Older women's contributions to the well-being of their families,
communities and the economy are widely overlooked,
1. Takes note of the recommendations made in the report of the
Secretary-General;
2. Invites Member States to consider implementing, at the national
level, as appropriate, the recommendations contained in the annex to the
present resolution, which are based on the report of the Secretary-General and
the views expressed in the Commission by Member States;
3. Requests the Secretary-General to take into account these
recommendations when preparing his report to the Commission at its forty-third
session, as requested in its resolution 41/2, on key global issues regarding
the differential impact of population ageing on men and women.
Annex
RECOMMENDATIONS ON CAREGIVING AND OLDER PERSONS:
GENDER DIMENSIONS
A. Research
So far, there is a lack of expertise and research on support systems for
older persons from a gender perspective. National and international
statistical and research institutes should:
(a) Disaggregate all data by age and sex;
(b) Analyse the needs of older persons and caregivers from a gender
perspective;
(c) Pay special attention to the situation of older women and men in
developing countries and carry out research on how support systems affect
women and men differently;
(d) Analyse the consequences of changes in pensions and health care
based on gender and age;
(e) Develop a methodology to measure the value of women's unpaid labour.
B. Economic security
Women in all parts of the world are more likely than men to be poor.
Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental institutions should:
(a) Ensure that women at all stages of life have access to employment,
social protection systems and income equal to that of men;
(b) Value the important contributions older women make to development;
(c) See that particular attention is paid to efforts to eliminate the
gender gap in income;
(d) Eliminate discrimination against women in pension funds that are
based on the principle of continuous employment;
(e) Ensure that older women have access to credit and income-earning
possibilities;
(f) Involve men and women equally at all levels when designing and
implementing economic policies that affect older persons.
C. Education and empowerment
The level of formal education and participation in public life of older
women is much lower than that of men. Governmental, intergovernmental and
non-governmental institutions should:
(a) Ensure that throughout their lives, girls and women have equal
access to education and vocational training, and promote women's self-esteem
at all stages of life;
(b) Promote lifelong learning on the part of women, provide
possibilities for training and retraining, and equip older women with
knowledge of modern and traditional technologies so they remain in the
mainstream of society;
(c) Promote a positive image of older women in political and economic
decision-making through mass media and education in order to ensure older
women's autonomy and productivity;
(d) Give special attention to the situation of older women in the
context of the International Year of Older Persons (1999).
D. Well-being of caregivers
Women as caregivers are in demand. In order to support caregivers,
Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental institutions should:
(a) Attach higher value to unpaid caregiving labour and be aware that
caregiving is not in unlimited supply;
(b) Ensure that the demand put upon women as caregivers does not
increase disproportionately in relation to that put upon men;
(c) Provide caregivers with opportunities for occasional respites from
their duties and provide caregivers with various services, such as
housekeeping help, self-help groups, specialized counselling and training;
(d) Promote an equal sharing and better reconciliation of working,
employment and caregiving responsibilities between men and women;
(e) Consider providing financial assistance to informal caregivers;
(f) Support women and men who combine paid work and elder care with
measures such as flexible working arrangements, family leave for the care of
older dependent family members, and reintegration of caregivers after a career
break;
(g) Offer a variety of alternative services to older people, such as
home care and day-care centres.
Resolution 42/5. Fiftieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights*
(* For the discussion, see chap. III, paras. 65-66.)
The Commission on the Status of Women,
Recalling, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, 60/ that the Universal Declaration reiterates
the principle of the equal rights of women and men contained in the Charter of
the United Nations, and entitles everyone to the rights and freedoms set forth
in the Universal Declaration without distinction on the basis of sex,
Recalling also that gender mainstreaming is a key strategy for achieving
equality between women and men and the full enjoyment of all human rights by
women,
1. Calls upon the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council,
the Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations system as a whole to
ensure that the human rights of women form an integral part of all activities
in the commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and are
also especially addressed through targeted activities;
2. Recommends that all activities for the commemoration should address
the human rights of women, with a view to achieving common understanding and
awareness on the promotion and protection of all human rights of women by, for
instance, inviting gender experts to participate or contribute and devoting
specific attention to the theme "Human rights of women";
3. Also recommends that specific activities be undertaken to highlight
the human rights of women such as the analysis of obstacles in the realization
of their rights;
4. Encourages Member States, as well as other actors in the human
rights field, to also mainstream a gender perspective into their commemorative
activities.
Decision 42/101. Documents considered by the Commission on the
Status of Women under agenda items 3 and 5
At its 13th meeting, on 13 March, the Commission on the Status of Women
took note of the following documents:
(a) Report of the Secretary-General on a high-level plenary review in
the year 2000 to appraise and assess the progress achieved in the
implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement
of Women and the Beijing Platform for Action, containing options for convening
the review as contained in General Assembly resolution 52/100; 61/
(b) Synthesized report of the Secretary-General on national action plans
and strategies for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action; 62/
(c) Report of the Secretary-General containing an annotated comparison
of the draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and the amendments proposed thereto with
the provisions of existing international human rights instruments; 63/
(d) Report of the Secretary-General on the improvement of the status of
women in the Secretariat; 64/
(e) Note by the Secretariat on the high-level plenary review in the year
2000; 65/
(f) Report of the Secretary-General on women's real enjoyment of their
human rights, in particular those relating to the elimination of poverty,
economic development and economic resources. 66/
Notes
1/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13),
chap. I, resolution 1, annex I.
2/ Ibid., annex II.
3/ Report of the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of
the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace,
Nairobi, 15-26 July 1985 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.85.IV.10),
chap. I, sect. A.
4/ General Assembly resolution 34/180, annex.
5/ General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).
6/ General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
7/ General Assembly resolution 39/46, annex.
8/ General Assembly resolution 34/180, annex.
9/ General Assembly resolution 44/25, annex.
10/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. 96.IV.13), chap. I,
resolution 1, annex I.
11/ Ibid., annex II.
12/ E/CN.6/1998/2/Add.2.
13/ Report of the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of
the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace,
Nairobi, 15-26 July 1985 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.85.IV.10),
chap. I, sect. A.
14/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. 96.IV.13), chap. I,
resolution 1, annex II.
15/ General Assembly resolution 48/104.
16/ General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).
17/ See Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Hague Conventions and
Declarations of 1899 and 1907 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1915).
18/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973.
19/ Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1996, Supplement
No. 6 (E/1996/26), chap. I, sect. C.2, resolution 40/10.
20/ E/CN.6/1998/3.
21/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap.
I, resolution 1, annex II.
22/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13),
chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.
23/ General Assembly resolution 34/180, annex.
24/ General Assembly resolution 48/104.
25/ See Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-seventh Session,
Supplement No. 38 (A/47/38), chap. I.
26/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap.
I, resolution 1, annex II.
27/ Geneva, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 1995.
28/ Document E/ECA/ATRCW/ARCC.XV/94/7, April 1994.
29/ A/52/720, annex, sect. 4.
30/ Ibid., sect. 3.
31/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap.
I, resolution 1, annex II.
32/ A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III.
33/ General Assembly resolution 34/180, annex.
34/ Ibid.
35/ CEDAW/C/1997/4.
36/ E/CN.4/1998/22-E/CN.6/1998/11.
37/ See A/52/3, chap. IV, sect. A, para. 4.
38/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap.
I, resolution 1, annex II.
39/ A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III.
40/ General Assembly resolution 34/180, annex.
41/ General Assembly resolution 44/25, annex.
42/ General Assembly resolution 44/25, annex.
43/ General Assembly resolution 44/25, annex.
44/ A/51/385, annex.
45/ A/53/57.
46/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4-15 September
1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution
1, annex II.
47/ General Assembly resolution 44/25, annex.
48/ General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).
49/ See General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
50/ Ibid.
51/ General Assembly resolution 34/180, annex.
52/ A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III.
53/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. 96.IV.13), chap. I,
resolution 1, annexes I and II.
54/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing,
4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap.
I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.
55/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973.
56/ General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993.
57/ E/CN.6/1998/5.
58/ General Assembly resolution 45/158, annex.
59/ E/CN.6/1998/4.
60/ General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).
61/ A/52/789.
62/ E/CN.6/1998/6.
63/ E/CN.6/1998/7.
64/ E/CN.6/1998/8.
65/ E/CN.6/1998/10.
66/ E/CN.4/1998/22-E/CN.6/1998/11.
Chapter II
COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN ACTING AS THE PREPARATORY
COMMITTEE FOR THE HIGH-LEVEL REVIEW IN THE YEAR 2000 OF THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NAIROBI FORWARD-LOOKING STRATEGIES
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN AND THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR
ACTION, TO BE HELD BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 52/100, the Commission,
during its forty-second session, met also as the Preparatory Committee for the
High-level Review in the Year 2000 of the Implementation of the Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the Beijing
Platform for Action, which is to be held by the General Assembly.
2. The Preparatory Committee held five meetings (1st to 5th) and a number
of informal meetings, on 4, 6 and 11 to 13 March 1998. It had before it the
report of the Secretary-General on the high-level plenary review in the year
2000 (A/52/789) containing options for convening the review and a note by the
Secretariat on the review (E/CN.6/1998/10).
ACTION TAKEN BY THE COMMISSION
Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
3. At the 3rd meeting, on 11 March, the Preparatory Committee had before it
a draft text for a resolution (E/CN.6/1998/L.11) entitled "Follow-up to the
Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action", submitted by the Chairperson on the
basis of informal discussions.
4. At the 4th meeting, on 12 March, the Chairperson made a statement with
regard to the draft resolution.
5. At the 5th meeting, on 13 March, the Commission had before it a
statement of the programme budget implications of the draft resolution,
submitted by the Secretary-General in accordance with rule 31 of the rules of
procedure of the Economic and Social Council (E/CN.6/1998/L.14).
6. At the same meeting, the Chairperson drew the attention of the
Commission to an informal paper containing revisions to the draft resolution
resulting from informal consultations.
7. The Commission then adopted the draft resolution, as revised (see
chap. I, sect. A, draft resolution).
8. Before the draft resolution was adopted, statements were made by the
representatives of Indonesia (on behalf of the States Members of the United
Nations that are members of the Group of 77 and China) and Co^te d'Ivoire and
the observer for Pakistan.
Report of the Secretary-General containing options for a high-level plenary
review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the year
2000
9. At the 13th meeting, on 13 March, the Commission took note of the report
of the Secretary-General on a high-level plenary review in the year 2000 of
the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women
(A/52/789) containing options for convening the review (see chap. I, sect. D,
Commission decision 42/101).
Chapter III
FOLLOW-UP TO THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN
1. The Commission considered item 3 of its agenda at its 1st to 10th, 12th
and 13th meetings, from 2 to 6 and on 12 and 13 March 1998. It had before it
the following documents:
(a) Report of the Secretary-General on the high-level plenary review in
the year 2000 on the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World
Conference on Women (A/52/789), containing options for convening the review;
(b) Report of the Secretary-General on the follow-up to and
implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(E/CN.6/1998/2 and Add.1 and 2);
(c) Report of the Secretary-General on the mid-term review of the
implementation of the system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of
women, 1996-2001 (E/CN.6/1998/3);
(d) Report of the Secretary-General on older women and support systems:
new challenges (E/CN.6/1998/4);
(e) Analytical report of the Secretary-General on the thematic issues
before the Commission (E/CN.6/1998/5);
(f) Synthesized report of the Secretary-General on national action plans
and strategies for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action
(E/CN.6/1998/6);
(g) Report of the Secretary-General on the improvement of the status of
women in the Secretariat (E/CN.6/1998/8);
(h) Note by the Secretary-General transmitting information provided by
the United Nations Development Fund for Women on the implementation of General
Assembly resolution 50/166 on the role of the Fund in eliminating violence
against women (E/CN.6/1998/9);
(i) Note by the Secretariat on the high-level plenary review in the year
2000 (E/CN.6/1998/10);
(j) Report of the Secretary-General on women's real enjoyment of their
human rights, in particular those relating to the elimination of poverty,
economic development and economic resources (E/CN.4/1998/22-E/CN.6/1998/11).
2. At the 1st meeting, on 2 March, the Commission heard an introductory
statement by the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
3. At the same meeting, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on
Gender Issues and Advancement of Women made a statement.
4. Also at the 1st meeting, statements were made by the representatives of
Indonesia (on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are
members of the Group of 77 and China), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland (on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that
are members of the European Union), the United States of America, Chile and
the Dominican Republic and the observers for Zambia (on behalf of the States
Members of the United Nations that are members of the Southern African
Development Community) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
5. The representative of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific also made a statement.
6. The Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women made a
statement.
7. At the 2nd meeting, on 2 March, statements were made by the
representatives of Brazil, Japan, Co^te d'Ivoire, Ghana and China and the
observers for Ecuador, Spain, South Africa, Bangladesh, Israel, Liechtenstein,
Singapore, Namibia and Botswana.
8. Statements were made by the representatives of the Economic Commission
for Europe and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbe