UNUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Press Release

[Index]

Beijing Fifteen Years On: How are Women faring in the European Region?

Geneva, 30 October 2009 --

Beijing+15

Fifteen years after the Fourth World Conference on Women took place in Beijing in 1995 the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is reviewing the situation of women from a regional perspective in preparation for the global fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in March 2010.

The Beijing +15 Regional Review Meeting on ‘New challenges and opportunities for Gender Equality in the ECE Region: Key Issues and Policy Responses’ will be held on 2-3 November 2009 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Over 300 participants – national delegates, including at the Ministerial level, from the 56 UNECE member States, and representatives from international and non-governmental organisations active in North America, Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus - will discuss the key issues at stake for gender equality. The meeting will provide an important opportunity to take stock of the progress made on gender equality and women’s empowerment and to address the major challenges that lie ahead in the region.

“Almost all of our members (50) submitted national reports which form the regional synthesis report that we will discuss on Monday” said Patrice Robineau, Senior Adviser to UNECE’s Executive Secretary and Coordinator of the Beijing +15 Regional Review, adding: “Four major challenges to move towards greater gender equality and respect for women’s rights have emerged from the review:  to combat violence against women, to ensure equal economic opportunities for women and men, both in terms of employment and incomes, to fill the persistent gender gap in the access to decision-making positions, and to strengthen national mechanisms for gender equality and women’s empowerment. The fact that most of these challenges are of a structural nature and were already identified five years ago calls for more vigorous action to address them”.

The synthesis report reviews progress made in implementing the commitments taken in each of the twelve areas of concern covered by the Beijing Platform for Action. It underlines that for most of them such progress has been insufficient and that with the current economic crisis, there is a higher risk that its pace will be even slowed down by diverting attention from issues related to women’s rights and gender equality, lowering their priority on the political, economic and social agenda of public authorities. In this context it is all the more important to regain momentum on all the issues covered by the review. As stated in the report, “the powerful justification for such a new momentum is that in any society, promoting gender equality serves simultaneously the purposes of social justice, economic efficiency and the respect of fundamental human rights for all.”

The major part of the first day of the meeting will be focusing on this regional review of progress, enabling member States to highlight and discuss achievements and challenges in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action since the last review in 2005 and to share policy experiences.

Subsequently, the meeting will feature three interactive panel discussions, examining policy issues, challenges and opportunities across the following themes:

  • Gender sensitive economic policies in the context of the economic and financial crisis.
  • Gender and the corporate sector.
  • New partnerships, networks and alliances for gender equality.

The outcome of the meeting will take the form of Chairperson’s conclusions which will constitute both a call for further action in the region on critical issues for gender equality and women’s rights, and a contribution to the global review of progress which will take place in March 2010 in New York, within the framework of a special session of the UN Commission on the status of Women.

In addition to the Meeting, two lunchtime side events will take place over the two days: a Panel Discussion on Enhancing Women’s Political Participation, organized by UNDP on Monday, and a presentation of UNECE’s gender activities on Tuesday.

The programme of the meeting is available at: http://www.unece.org/gender/

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Patrice Robineau
Senior Adviser to the Executive Secretary
Coordinator, UNECE Beijing +15 Regional Review Meeting
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +41 (0)22 917 1488
http://www.unece.org/gender/

Note to Editors

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Review Process

The Beijing Conference in 1995 culminated in the ground breaking Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, representing a significant international mechanism to date that addresses the status of the world's women. Outlining twelve areas of concern including issues such as poverty, political representation and violence against women, the Platform for Action offers a global framework for countries to end discrimination and close gender gaps. Every five years since the original meeting, a global review takes place to measure and assess the progress of the world's women since the framework was first adopted.

For more information on the regional and global review processes, please visit: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/

In the lead up to the Beijing +15 Regional Review Meeting, 50 countries submitted a report to the UNECE, outlining what they had done to promote gender equality and implement the recommendations of the Beijing Platform for Action since the 10 year review in 2005.

The regional synthesis and chairperson’s conclusions of the UNECE Regional Review Meeting will contribute to the global review in New York which will take place at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Session in March 2010.

All documents and background papers for the Meeting as well as the full national reports are available at: http://www.unece.org/gender/Beijing15.html

The main objectives of the Beijing +15 Regional Review Meeting are to:

  • Take stock of the progress made in the region on gender equality and women’s empowerment, and address the major challenges ahead;
  • Discuss gender-sensitive economic policies, taking into account the impact of the financial crisis on the countries of the region;
  • Facilitate policy design and implementation based on successful experiences in engendering economic and labour market policies;
  • Promote partnerships to increase gender equality in the region;
  • Create a forum for discussing forward-looking action;
  • Contribute to the global 15-year review of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

Ref: ECE/OES/09/P05