United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library - Research Guide : Quick Links

Other General Assembly sessions

Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its 60th session : (numerical sequence in reverse order) A/RES/60/1-A/RES/60/182

NOTE: General Assembly resolutions are not published in sequence and may be issued weeks after being adopted. - Once published, the resolutions are available in "portable document format" (pdf) through links from this file. The Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free from the Adobe website (http://www.adobe.com), is required for viewing of the full text.

**Advancement of Women

The Committee’s report on the advancement of women (document A/60/503) contains six draft resolutions and one draft decision.

Draft resolution I on the in-depth study on all forms of violence against women requests that the Secretary-General seize all opportunities to raise awareness on the conduct of the study and solicit contributions, as well as to continue to strengthen cooperation with relevant non-governmental organizations in the preparation of the study.

The Assembly would also decide to extend to its sixty-first session the deadline for submission of the report in subparagraph (d) of its resolution 58/185, in time for its in-depth consideration at that session, at the latest by early September 2006, and to consider the report at its sixty-first session under the item entitled “advancement of women”.

Draft resolution II on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) would have the Assembly encourage the Fund to help harmonize and coordinate United Nations reform through strengthened partnerships with other funds, programmes and organizations to promote women’s human rights and gender equality in policies and guidelines developed by the United Nations Development Group.  It would also urge the United Nations system to use the Fund’s technical and coordination experience on gender issues and to undertake gender mainstreaming.

Further, the Assembly would emphasize the importance of the Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women, and would urge Governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to increase contributions to the Fund.  It would also encourage the Fund to continue to support the gender equality and women’s empowerment goals and targets of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, and to respond to country requests to develop and strengthen accountability mechanisms for gender equality, including countries’ gender-responsive budget analyses and sex-disaggregated data as a basis for formulating gender-responsive public policy.

Draft resolution III on improvement of the situation of women in rural areas would have the Assembly invite Member States to continue implementing the outcome of and ensure follow-up to United Nations conferences and summits and to improve national, regional and global development strategies for women’s advancement.  That would include, among other things, ensuring rural women’s participation in developing and monitoring macroeconomic policies and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers; pursuing rural women’s political and socio-economic empowerment through affirmative action and other support, taking into account their perspectives in emergency and humanitarian relief; and investing in basic services, education, literacy, social and health services.  That would also entail developing assistance programmes and advisory services for rural women’s economic empowerment in banking, modern trading and financial procedures and microcredit, as well as designing and revising laws to ensure rural women’s equal rights to land and other property, credit, capital and technologies.

Draft resolution IV on the future operation of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) would have the Assembly request that INSTRAW actively participate in discussions on international migration and development, particularly the General Assembly’s high-level dialogue in September 2006.  It would also stress the importance of Member States’ voluntary contributions to the United Nations Trust Fund for INSTRAW and would urge them to contribute to the Fund, particularly during this critical transitional period.  Further, it would have the Assembly decide to provide full support to current efforts to revitalize INSTRAW, and the requisite funds to carry out its core functions for at least the next three years.

Draft resolution V on violence against women migrant workers would have the Assembly request that all Governments continue to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission on Violence against Women.  The Assembly would also call on Governments to incorporate a gender perspective in all policies on international migration, and urge concerned Governments, particularly those of the countries of origin and destination, to further strengthen national efforts to protect and promote the rights and welfare of women migrant workers, and to support and allocate appropriate resources for programmes aimed at strengthening preventive action.

The Assembly would also call on concerned Governments, particularly those of the countries of origin and destination, to put in place penal and criminal sanctions to punish perpetrators of violence against women migrant workers and to provide victims of violence with immediate assistance and protection, as well as encourage non-governmental organizations to do so.  In addition, it would encourage Governments to create and implement sensitivity and skills training programmes for law enforcement, prosecutors and service providers who deal with abused women migrant workers, as well as encourage them to adopt or strengthen existing measures to protect migrant workers rights in recruitment and deployment practices, in order to prevent exploitation, ill-treatment and trafficking.

Draft resolution VI on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women would have the Assembly urge States parties to comply fully with their obligations under the Convention and the Optional Protocol, as well as urge Governments, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to disseminate the Convention and the Optional Protocol.  The Assembly would also encourage all relevant United Nations entities to continue to build women’s knowledge of and capacity to utilize human rights instruments, particularly the Convention and the Optional Protocol.

The draft decision on the Report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the review of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women would have the Assembly take note of that report (document A/60/281).

**Implementation of the Outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women  and of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000:  gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”

The Committee’s report on implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (document A/60/504) contains one draft resolution.

The draft on follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly would have the Assembly call on Governments, the United Nations system, other international organizations and civil society to fully commit to and step up contributions to implement the Beijing Declaration, Platform of Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session.  It would also call on States parties to fully comply with their obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol, and call on non-parties to consider signing, ratifying or acceding to the Protocol.

Further to that text, the Assembly would call on Governments, United Nations relevant funds, programmes and special agencies, as well as invite international financial institutions and civil society, to intensify action to fully implement the three outcomes through, among other things, sustained national, regional and international political commitment to mainstream gender perspectives into all policies and programmes, and strengthening national institutional mechanisms for gender equality and women’s advancement through financial and other assistance.

Further, the Assembly would strongly encourage Governments to continue to support civil society, particularly non-governmental organizations and women’s groups, to implement the Declaration, Platform of Action and special session outcome.  It would also call on the United Nations system to continue to ensure their implementation through the work of the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, gender specialists, and training and support for personnel in gender mainstreaming.

**Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children

The Committee’s report on the promotion and protection of the rights of children (document A/60/505) contains two draft resolutions.

Draft resolution I on the girl child would have the Assembly urge States to take all necessary measures and to institute legal reforms to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by the girl child of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to take effective action against violations of those rights and freedoms.

Further to that text, the Assembly would urge States to promote gender equality and equal access to basic social services, such as education, nutrition, health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, vaccinations, as well as promote protection from major killer diseases and mainstream a gender perspective in all development policies and programmes.  It would also urge States to take special measures to protect girls affected by armed conflicts, such as in the delivery of humanitarian assistance and disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation assistance and reintegration processes.

Draft resolution II on the rights of the child refers to implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols; promotion and protection of the rights of the child; promoting and protecting the rights of children, including children in particularly difficult situations; prevention and eradication of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; children affected by armed conflict; children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS; and follow-up.

By the terms of the text, the Assembly would urge States that have not yet done so, to consider signing and ratifying or acceding to the Optional Protocols to the Convention and fully implement them through effective national legislation, withdraw reservations that are incompatible with the Convention or its Optional Protocols and consider reviewing other reservations with a view to withdrawing them.

Concerning registration, family relations and adoption, the Assembly would once again urge all States to step up efforts to comply with their obligations under the Convention to preserve a child’s identity, including nationality and family relations; allow for registration of the child immediately after birth; ensure simple, expeditious and effective registration procedures at minimal cost; and raise awareness of the importance of local, national and regional birth registration.

Concerning the economic and social well-being of children, the Assembly would call upon States and the international community to create an environment that would, among other things, support poverty-eradication, the right of the child to the highest attainable standard of health and social services, equal opportunity and access to education, and social services for pregnant and adolescent mothers.

Also, the Assembly would condemn all forms of violence against children, including physical mental and sexual violence, torture, child abuse and exploitation, hostage taking and domestic violence.  In addition, it would condemn the abduction of children, particularly extortion of children in armed conflict, and urge States to prevent and protect children from all forms of violence, investigate and prosecute cases of torture and other forms of violence against children, end impunity for perpetrators, criminalize and penalize effectively sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children.

Regarding children affected by armed conflict, the Assembly would strongly condemn the recruitment or use of children in such conflict and related violations and abuses, and would urge States and other parties engaged in such practices to end them.  It would also call on States to raise the minimum age of voluntary recruitment into the national armed forces to age 18 and adopt safeguards against forced and coerced recruitment.

_______________________________________________________________________