The UNECE Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 10-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action took place in Geneva in December 2004. It was the third milestone related to the Beijing process in the UNECE region, coming after the UNECE Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Beijing Conference (Vienna, November 1994), and the Preparatory Meeting for Beijing +5 (Geneva, January 2000). The UNECE Meeting gathered together some 600 participants representing governments and civil society from 53 member countries, with the support of other international organizations active on gender issues in the region, namely the Council of Europe, the European Commission, UNDP, UNIFEM and OSCE.

This ten-year review focused on three areas of concern covered by the Platform for Action and of particularly high relevance for the UNECE region: women in the economy; institutional mechanisms to promote gender equality; and trafficking of women in the context of migratory movements. For each of these themes, the meeting identified good practices, remaining challenges and areas for further action; it also highlighted emerging issues since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action. The outcome of the meeting took the form of chairpersons' conclusions which will constitute the contribution of the UNECE region to the 10-year review at the global level, expected to take place at a high-level session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in March 2005 in New York.