Addis Ababa, 21 October 2014 (ECA- UNCSW) - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN Women) will organize a civil society forum to review and appraise the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. The Forum will also review the outcomes of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly of 2000. The review will be led by civil society organizations and regional networks in Africa, owing to the important role they played, in the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The jointly organized forum will take place on 21-22 October at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Following the forum, a regional report will be produced detailing the extent to which African member States have met their commitments in implementing the BPfA, specifically progress made in addressing the twelve critical areas of concern. The analysis will capture the main achievements and impacts, obstacles and recommended actions for each area of concern and in the process highlight individual country experiences. The regional review report will be launched in November 2014.
Note to Editors:
The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing saw the 189 Member States of the United Nations adopt the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA). The Declaration was a statement of the political commitment by governments to work towards equality between women and men, with a special focus on women’s empowerment. The Platform for Action outlined strategic objectives and actions in twelve critical areas of concern.
Since then, with the support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), governments have undertaken periodic reviews of progress at five year intervals. The Beijing plus 20 regional review in 2014 will inform the global report to be presented to the fifty ninth session of CSW in 2015 and will review the extent to which African member States have met their commitments in implementing the BPfA, specifically progress made in addressing the twelve critical areas of concern.
The Commission has been responsible for organizing and following up the world conferences on women in Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995). Over the past decade, the Commission has systematically reviewed progress in the implementation of the twelve critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action at its annual sessions, and has adopted action-oriented recommendations, in the form of agreed conclusions, to facilitate increased implementation at all levels.
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