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The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth
World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
Secretariat.
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AS WRITTEN


	BEIJING REPORT

                                        No.1, 31 August 1995

The Beijing Express rolled into the Beijing main train station at 8:47 pm, 28
August, bringing some 200 participants from Eastern Europe and the
Commonwealth of Independent States to the Fourth World Conference on Women and
its parallel NGO Forum. Travellers were welcomed by Arthur Holcombe, Resident
Representative in China, to sounds of Chinese children's marching band and
blinding cameral lights of CNN, BBC and other networks and Chinese TV. The
train provided unique opportunity for women to prepare for Conference and
strategize on their concerns. During travel Greek and Turkish Cypriot women
called for settling disputes between their communities, Bosnians and Croatians
appealed for peace in former Yugoslavia, while travellers also demanded a
prominent role for women in preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution. Trip
was conceived and managed by Leueen Miller, UNDP Chief for Eastern Europe and
Baltics.

NGO Forum Opened 30 August. Accepting a Peace Torch from UNIFEM Director
Noeleen Heyzer and the Kampala Committee of Women for Peace in Africa, NGO
Forum Convenor Supatra Masdit declared the Forum open. Madame Chen Muhua,
Chairperson of the All China Women's Federation challenged participants to
work together to address gender equality issues. Gertrude Mongella, Secretary-
General of the Conference on Women, said it was "a moment to affirm that the
power, rights and contributions of women can no longer be denied."
	
UNDP's Action Plan at Conference on Women outlined by Rosina Wiltshire, Gender
in Development Programme Manager, aims to: consolidate and build on gains made
at recent UN conferences; advance policy dialogue on gender and sustainable
development, and support governments' commitment to translate Conference
recommendations into concrete action. UNDP delegation will be led by UNDP
Administrator James Gustave Speth, who addresses Plenary on 6 September.

"Stop the Clock" screams a banner across the Poverty Clock mounted at Huairou
NGO site, ticking away the births of children into poverty. The clock
dramatizes the neglect that results in 47 people being born into poverty each
minute, 52 percent of them girls. The clock was inaugurated by Arthur Holcombe
at 11:15 a.m. Beijing time on 31 August, and will count poverty births until
the end of the conference. Mr. Holcombe pledged UNDP action to halt poverty
and to pay particular attention to the needs and contributions of women.

The Human Development Report was cited several times by Nobel Peace Prize
winner Aung San Suu Kyi in a videotaped opening keynote address at the NGO
Forum on 31 August. She singled out the 1994 report for noting that human
security is not one of weapons -- "it is a concern with human life and
dignity." She also highlighted the report's call for empowerment, "development
by the people and not only for them." She added, "And people include women who
make up at least half of the world's population."
	

	(The Beijing Report will appear periodically from 31 August to the end
of the Fourth World Conference on Women. It is intended to inform staff of
UNDP news of the conference.)



Editor: Hilda Paqui
Director of Public Affairs: Djibril Diallo