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Previous Page Briefing Notes Home | Introduction | Child Summit | Earth Summit How to Order National Level As stipulated by the World Conference, Governments are expected to take the lead in coordinating, monitoring and assessing national progress in the advancement of women. Governments, with financial and advisory assistance from regional and international organizations, are moving to improve the effectiveness of national machineries for the advancement of women at the highest political level, appropriate intra- and interministerial procedures and staffing, and other institutions with the mandate and capacity to broaden women’s participation and integrate gender analysis into policies and programmes. Many Governments are developing implementation plans for the Platform for Action. National planning is expected to be broad-based and participatory, comprehensive and time-bound, and should include proposals for allocating or reallocating resources for implementation. The UN resident coordinators at the country level in cooperation with other entities in the United Nations system have a key role in assisting Governments in these efforts. A range of commitments World conferences provide a forum where UN Member States can adopt common approaches to shared problems. But a key function of the longer-term conference process is to highlight the progress of individual nations by reviewing their national plans, policies and commitments. Aware of such scrutiny – and the opportunity to draw attention to their efforts regarding women in particular – over one hundred countries promised specific actions in Beijing. These national commitments have become an intrinsic part of the follow-up, providing the UN, Governments, NGOs and society at large with benchmarks to gauge progress in the advancement of women. These commitments also serve as powerful advocacy tools that NGOs in each country can monitor and discuss with their country representatives. Some examples of government commitments – reflecting on the broad range of actions – made in Beijing follow: Mauritius Develop a holistic approach to the health and welfare of women and girls; Implement a country-wide breast and cervical cancer detection campaign; Enact a domestic violence act; Conduct a survey to identify impediments to the implementation of laws aimed at ensuring women’s human rights India Increase investment in education to 6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), with a major focus on women and girls; Set up a Commissioner for Women’s Rights to act as a public defender of women’s human rights; Institutionalize a national-level mechanism to monitor the implementation of the Platform for Action. Belize Take action to recognize unremunerated contributions of women to GDP; Implement women’s right to full compensation for all their labour; Strengthen the campaign to increase the awareness of medical personnel and law enforcement officers to domestic violence; Develop laws to protect women against sexual harassment. United States Establish a White House Council on Women to plan for the effective implementation within the US of the Platform for Action, with full participation of NGOs; Launch a six-year, $1.6 billion initiative to fight domestic violence and other crimes against women; Lead a comprehensive assault, through the Department of Health and Human Services, on threats to women’s health and security, AIDS, smoking and breast cancer; Conduct a grass-roots campaign through the Department of Labor to improve conditions for women in the workplace, including working with employers to develop more equitable pay and promotion policies and helping employees balance the twin responsibilities of family and work; Have the Treasury Department take steps to promote access to financial credit for women.   TO ORDER Previous Page Briefing Notes Home | Introduction | Child Summit | Earth Summit How to Order © Copyright United Nations 23 May 1997 | Department of Public Information | Revised 23 May 1997