WUNRN
Direct Link to Full 21-Page 2014 Statement:
Beijing Plus 20 Review:
The Situation of Women and Girls with Disabilities
and
The Beijing Plus Twenty Process
Prepared by: Stephanie Ortoleva, Esq., President, Women Enabled International
President@WomenEnabled.org – www.WomenEnabled.org
Beijing+20 is a process to assess how
far Member States and other stakeholders have come in implementing the
commitments made at the Fourth World
Conference on Women
in Beijing, China, in 1995. Since 1995, the
Commission on the Status of Women has played a central role in monitoring,
reviewing and appraising progress achieved and problems encountered in
implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the most comprehensive global policy framework to
achieve the goals of gender equality, development and peace, which world
leaders committed to in 12 critical areas of concern. This review will
take place at the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of
Women, to be held in March 2015. The inclusion of the rights of women and
girls with disabilities, as enumerated in the Beijing Declaration, must have a
prominent place in this review.
The inclusion of women and girls with disabilities
in the Beijing + 20 review is provided for within the provisions of both the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD),[1] and the Beijing Declaration[2] and Platform for Action, among other
international and regional treaties, and including the pronouncements of the
CRPD’s treaty body.
Introduction - Voices and
Visions of Disabled Women at Beijing
At the Beijing 4th World
Conference on Women, disabled women were actively
engaged, among the non-government organizations. In the video “Disabled
Women: Visions and Voices from the 4th World Conference on Women,” those
attending tell their stories, describe their experiences and demonstrate their
powerful presence engaging with governments and other NGOs.[3]
See Link
Above for FULL STATEMENT.
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, G.A. Res. 61/611, U.N.
Doc. A/RES/61/611 (Dec. 6, 2006) available at http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml [hereinafter
CRPD].
[2] Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women,
A/CONF/177/20 (Sept. 15, 1995) available at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/declar.htm.
[3]
Disabled
Women: Visions and Voices from the 4th World Conference on Women, Wide Vision Productions (1996),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adfHKfZdvzI and a transcript is also available on this website.