Mercy Global Concern - 2005

Follow-up to Beijing

As the preparatory body for the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the CSW was mandated by the General Assembly to play a central role in monitoring, within the UN system, the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and advise the Economic and Social Council thereon. From 1996, the main focus of work of the Commission on the Status of Women has been the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Following the adoption by the General Assembly, at its twenty-third special session in June 2000, of the Political Declaration, and Further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (i.e. the "outcome document"), the Commission's work now focuses on the implementation of both, the Platform for Action, and the outcome document.

Implementation of the Critical Areas of Concern
(Multi-year programme of work for the Commission
on the Status of Women for 2002 - 2006,
ECOSOC resolution 2001/4)

2002

• Eradicating poverty, including through the empowerment of women throughout their life cycle in a globalizing world
  
• Environmental management and mitigation of natural disasters: a gender perspective

2003

• Participation and access of women to the media, and information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women.
  
• Women's human rights and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls as defined in the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century"
  

2004

• The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality
  
• Women's equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building
  

2005

• Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century"
  
• Current challenges and forward looking strategies for the advancement and empowerment of women and girls
  

2006

• Enhanced participation of women and development: an enabling environment for achieving gender equality and the advancement of women, taking into account, inter alia, the fields of education, health and work.
  
• Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels.

Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (1996 - 2001)

1996

• Women and poverty
  
• Women and the media
  

1997

• Education and training of women
  
• Women and the economy
  
• Women in power and decision-making
  
• Women and the environment
  

1998

• Violence against women
  
• Women and armed conflict
  
• Human rights of women
  
• The girl child
  

1999

• Women and health
  
• Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women
  
• Initiation of the comprehensive review and appraisal of the implementation of the Platform for Action
  

2000

• Comprehensive quinquennial review and appraisal of the implementation of the
  
• Platform for Action
  
• Emerging issues
  

2001

• Women, the girl child and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS)
  
• Gender and all forms of discrimination, in particular racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance

Emerging Issues

The Commission examines emerging issues, trends and new approaches to issues affecting the situation of women or eqaulity of men and women and make recommendations to the Council thereon. The Commission believes that it would be desirable to limit the emerging issues to be discussed each year to two. One could be a comprehensive issue that would relate to the multi-year programme of work of the Council or the General Assembly that could be programmed in advance. The other could be an issue that would be agreed by the bureau of the Commission on the basis of decisions by the Economic and Social Council or the General Assembly.

1998 Emerging Issue: Ageing Women

Gender Mainstreaming

The Commission examines the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the activities of organizations of the UN system as they pertain to the implementation of the Platform for Action and the outcome document. It then offers input into the the wider reviews of coordination and operational activities to be undertaken by the Council.

The Commission deals with the issue of the status of women in the Secretariat on an annual basis; examines programme proposals on advancement of women in 1997 and 1999 and any modifications in the medium-term plan for the period 1998-2001 in 1998 and again in 2000.