The Division for the Advancement of Women is convening an expert consultation on Regional Perspectives in the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: Gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century" to be held at United Nations in New York, from 5 to 7 May 2004.
I. Background
A review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (New York, 2000), is mandated in the multi-year programme of work of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for its forty-ninth session in March 2005. The Commission will consider two themes:
"Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly";
and
"Current challenges and forward-looking strategies for the advancement and empowerment of women and girls"
The review and appraisal by the Commission will identify achievements, gaps and challenges and provide an indication of areas where actions and initiatives, within the framework of the Platform for Action and the outcome of the special session, are most urgent to further implementation.
To prepare for the review and appraisal, the United Nations Secretariat will draw on a variety of
sources of information and statistics. These include the national action plans designed to implement
the Platform for Action (and submitted to the Commission on the Status of Women in 1998 and 1999);
reports submitted since 1995 by States parties under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women; and information generated since 1995 during the review by the Commission
on the Status of Women of the 12 critical areas of concern of the Platform for Action, including through
expert group meetings organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women. Review and appraisal will
also be carried out at regional level. The regional processes will utilize regional action
plans, national reports to regional bodies and the outcomes of expert group meetings and other
activities at regional level.
II. Objectives
The main purpose of the expert consultation is to discuss the achievements, gaps and challenges in relation to the implementation of the Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, as part of the preparatory process for the forty-ninth session of the CSW in March 2005.
III. Methods of Work
The expert consultation will work in plenary session and in smaller working groups. Following
discussion of the individual presentations by the experts and the Secretariat responsible for preparing the Review and Appraisal for 2005, the experts will work in a closed meeting to prepare a short report highlighting the main findings and recommendations. The individual perspectives and the overall report will be presented on the third day at an open meeting for Member States, representatives of UN entities, academia and non-governmental organizations. The findings and recommendations will also be presented to the Bureau of the CSW.
IV. Participants
The expert consultation will be attended by six experts with knowledge and experience of the situation of women from their regions - Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East/Western Asia, and North America/Western Europe. The United Nations will provide travel by economy class and daily subsistence allowance for the experts.
V. Documentation
The documentation for the meeting will include papers prepared by the experts. These individual papers, as well as the report prepared jointly by the experts, will become property of the United Nations and will be put on the website of the Division for the Advancement of Women. The expert consultation will be conducted in English, and all documentation will be in English.
For further information please contact:
Abigail Loregnard-Kasmally
Social Affairs Officer
Division for the Advancement of Women
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Fax: (212) 963 3463
Tel: (212) 963-3137
E-mail: loregnard-kasmally@un.org
Website: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw
