WUNRN
http://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/intergovernmental-support/world-conferences-on-women
UN WORLD CONFERENCES
ON WOMEN
The United Nations has organized four world conferences on
women. These took place in Mexico City in
1975, Copenhagen in
1980, Nairobi in 1985
and Beijing in
1995. The last was followed by a series of five-year reviews.
The 1995 Fourth World Conference on
Women in Beijing marked a significant turning point for the
global agenda for gender equality. The Beijing Declaration and the
Platform for Action, adopted unanimously by 189 countries, is an
agenda for women’s empowerment and considered the key global policy document on
gender equality. It sets strategic objectives and actions for the advancement
of women and the achievement of gender equality in 12 critical areas of
concern:
·
Education and training of women
·
Women in power and decision-making
·
Institutional mechanism for the advancement of women
·
The Beijing conference built on political agreements reached at
the three previous global conferences on women, and consolidated five decades
of legal advances aimed at securing the equality of women with men in law and
in practice. More than 17,000 participants attended, including 6,000 government
delegates at the negotiations, along with more than 4,000 accredited NGO
representatives, a host of international civil servants and around 4,000 media
representatives. A parallel NGO Forum held in Huairou near Beijing also drew
some 30,000 participants.
Before Beijing
1975: The Commission on the Status of Women called
for the organization of the first world conference on women to coincide with
International Women’s Year. The World Conference of the
International Women's Year was subsequently held in Mexico
City; 133 governments participated, while 6,000 NGO representatives attended a
parallel forum, the International Women’s Year Tribune. The conference defined
a World Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Objectives of the
International Women’s Year, which offered a comprehensive set of guidelines for
the advancement of women through 1985.
1980: 145 Member States gathered for the mid-decade World Conference of the United
Nations Decade for Women in Copenhagen. It aimed to review
progress in implementing the goals of the first world conference, focusing on
employment, health and education. A Programme of Action called for stronger
national measures to ensure women’s ownership and control of property, as well
as improvements in protecting women’s rights to inheritance, child custody and
nationality.
1985: The World Conference to Review and
Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women took place
in Nairobi. The conference’s mandate was to establish concrete measures to overcome
obstacles to achieving the Decade’s goals. Participants included 1,900
delegates from 157 Member States; a parallel NGO Forum attracted around 12,000
participants. Governments adopted the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for
the Advancement of Women, which outlined measures for achieving gender equality
at the national level and for promoting women’s participation in peace and
development efforts.
Follow-Up
to Beijing
2000: The
General Assembly decided to hold a 23rd special session to
conduct a five-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action, and to consider future actions and initiatives. “Women
2000: Gender Equality, Development, and Peace for the Twenty-First Century”
took place in New York, and resulted in a political declaration and further actions and initiatives
to implement the Beijing commitments.
2005: A 10-year review and appraisal of
the Beijing Platform for Action was conducted as part of the 49th session of
the Commission on the Status of Women. Delegates adopted a declaration emphasizing
that the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action is essential to achieving the internationally agreed
development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration.
2010: The 15-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action
took place during the Commission’s 54th session in 2010. Member States adopted
a declaration that
welcomed the progress made towards achieving gender equality, and pledged to
undertake further action to ensure the full and accelerated implementation of
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
2015: In
mid-2013, the UN Economic and Social Council requested the Commission on the
Status of Women to review and appraise implementation of the Platform for
Action in 2015, in a session known as Beijing+20. To
inform deliberations, the Council also called on UN Member States to perform
comprehensive national reviews, and encouraged regional commissions to
undertake regional reviews.