Economic and Social Council

 
50th plenary meeting
25 July 1996

 1996/34. System-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 1996-2001

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling its resolution 1988/59 of 27 July 1988, by which it requested the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Coordination, to initiate the formulation of a system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women for the period 1996-2001,

Also recalling its resolution 1993/16 of 27 July 1993, by which it endorsed the system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women for the period 1996-2001 as a general framework for the coordination of system-wide efforts, and requested the Secretary-General to revise the draft plan after the Platform for Action and the results of the second review and appraisal of the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women 1/ had been formulated and adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women,

Considering its own role in overseeing system-wide coordination in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, 2/

Bearing in mind that the General Assembly, in its resolution 50/203 of 22 December 1995, invited the Council to consider devoting one high-level segment, one coordination segment and one operational activities segment, before the year 2000, to the advancement of women,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General, submitted in his capacity as Chairman of the Administrative Committee for Coordination, containing the proposed revised system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 1996-2001, 3/ as well as the comments adopted thereon by the Commission on the Status of Women, as contained in its resolution 40/10 and the annex to that resolution, 4/ and by the Committee for Programme and Coordination, 5/

Welcoming the detailed comments adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee for Programme and Coordination on the revised system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 1996-2001,

Welcoming the establishment by the Administrative Committee on Coordination of the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality as a means for enhancing the cooperation and coordination of the United Nations system in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, gender-related recommendations emanating from other recent United Nations conferences and summits and the revised plan itself, and in support of mainstreaming a gender perspective in the work of the United Nations system,

Noting its resolution 1996/6 of 22 July 1996 on the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women,

1. Endorses the revised system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 1996-2001, taking into account the comments of the Commission on the Status of Women contained in its resolution 40/10 and the annex thereto, and the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Coordination;

2. Requests all organizations and bodies of the United Nations system to implement the revised plan in the light of the general and specific comments adopted thereon by the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee for Programme and Coordination;

3. Invites the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality of the Administrative Committee on Coordination to use the revised plan and the comments on it as a basis for monitoring increasing collaboration in and cost-effective approaches to United Nations system activities for the advancement and empowerment of women, including the assessment of methods for mainstreaming a gender perspective in all United Nations activities, ensuring accountability and carrying out impact analyses of gender-sensitive programmes and policies, and the preparation of performance indicators, outputs and other benchmarks for measuring system-wide progress in the implementation of the plan, and also invites the Committee to inform the Commission on the Status of Women and through it, the Economic and Social Council, of progress in its work for the purpose of system-wide coordination;

4. Decides to undertake, in 1998, a comprehensive mid-term review of the implementation of the revised plan as a basis for future programming and coordination of activities for the advancement and empowerment of women by the United Nations system, including a review of the progress made in mainstreaming a gender perspective in all activities of the United Nations system;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Council, through the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-second session, a progress report on the implementation of the revised plan;

6. Requests the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Coordination, to formulate a new system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women to cover the period 2002-2005, to submit a new draft plan to the Council at its substantive session of 2000 in order to provide guidance for the medium-term plans of the individual organizations of the United Nations system, and to submit the draft plan to the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-fourth session, for comments.

Notes

1/ 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.

2/ Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4-15 September 1995 (A/CONF.177/20 and Add.1), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.

3/ E/1996/16.

4/ Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1996, Supplement No. 6 (E/1996/26), chap. I, sect. C.

5/ See E/AC.5/1996/L.5/Add.34.

Date last posted: 5 December 1999 14:44:20
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