Press Release
TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS
Hundreds of women from around the world will gather at Headquarters to commemorate the first anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing, from 4 to 15 September 1995. The "One Year after Beijing" event will be opened by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on Monday, 9 September, at 2 p.m. in Conference Room 4.
The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna E. Shalala, who co-chaired her Government's delegation to the Beijing Conference and is currently the chair of President Bill Clinton's Interagency Council on Women, will present a keynote address. Ugandan lawyer and activist Florence Butegwa, who has championed women's rights at the national, regional and international levels, will also deliver a keynote speech.
Other speakers include three of the five women heads of United Nations programmes: Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund; Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund; and Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.
The event will feature an open discussion with hundreds of representatives of non-governmental organizations. The moderator will be CNN anchor and senior correspondent Judy Woodruff, who reported from the Beijing Conference. Participants will discuss the impact of the Women's Conference and ways of uniting, networking and mobilizing for meaningful change.
Prior to the event, a film forum and discussion on the use of film/video to empower women will be held in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Excerpts of films made about the Beijing Conference and its follow-up will be screened. Two of the film-makers, Barbara Pyle, Vice- President of the Environmental Policy Unit of the Turner Broadcasting System, and Danny Schechter, Executive Producer of the television series "Rights and Wrongs", will be guest speakers.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) is sponsoring "One Year after Beijing" in association with the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women and the International Women's Tribune Center. The Tribune Center was
established as a result of the first women's conference held in Mexico City in 1975, and is celebrating its twentieth anniversary of working with women worldwide. At a special luncheon, the Tribune Center will honour nine women for their work with the United Nations over the past 50 years for the advancement of women. Several of the honourees have been associated with the United Nations since 1945.
There will also be an exhibit in the Public Lobby of women's artwork and a "Wall of Commitments", which highlights actions being taken to implement the Beijing Platform for Action and to improve the status of women worldwide.
For further information, please contact Ann Marie Erb-Leoncavallo at (212) 963-0499 or Sharon O'Brien at (212) 963-1786; for media accreditation, contact Sonia Lecca at (212) 963-6934; and for United Nations television coverage, contact Jim Ludlam at (212) 963-7650.