Arab Civil Society Organizations Dialogue: On the Regional Review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action after Thirty Years in the Arab Region
Event description
Date: 27- 28 May 2024
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women and reaffirmed at the twenty-third special session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. The Beijing Platform for Action constitutes a global framework for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and calls on Governments, the international community, civil society and the private sector to take strategic action in areas of inter-ethnic critical concern. Ten of the following: poverty; education and training; health; violence; armed conflict; economy; positions of power and decision-making; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; human rights; media; environment; and girl children.
As part of the national and regional preparations for this review process, the UN Economic and Social Council, in its resolution (E/RES/2022/5), requested all States to undertake a comprehensive national review of progress and challenges in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third session of the General Assembly. The resolution also requested the UN regional commissions, including the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) Conduct regional reviews to keep pace with the outcome of the Global Review in 2025. This is in line with previous relevant United Nations resolutions.
The review process, conducted in a participatory manner with national governments and multi-stakeholders, produces an outcome document that reinforces the global commitment to the empowerment of women and girls and sets priorities for action for the next five years. The United Nations is preparing to launch the periodic review after the thirtieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is expected to be celebrated in March 2025 when the United Nations General Assembly will convene a one-day high-level meeting to mark the anniversary and accelerate the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. The international community will also meet at the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2025 to present the most important advances in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the obstacles faced by States. The commemoration of this anniversary is an important occasion to promote the integration and implementation of gender-responsive policies to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and other international commitments, such as Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent resolutions, and the Addis Agenda for Action Ababa for the Third Conference on Financing for Development (2015) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2015).
The process of periodic review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action began thirty years later with the issuance of a guidance note for comprehensive reviews at the national level with a view to supporting States and other stakeholders in initiating reviews at the national level. The head office of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) The five United Nations regional commissions are preparing this guidance note and is now available in the six United Nations languages, including Arabic.
Accordingly, and in line with previous reviews, ESCWA is collaborating with the UN Women Regional Office and the League of Arab States in the regional review process based on national reviews. As usual in previous reviews, ESCWA has prepared a comprehensive and integrated participatory work programme to be implemented in partnership with the UN Women Office for Arab States and the League of Arab States, aimed at supporting and accompanying Arab States in the preparation of national reports and in the Beijing periodic review processes. Thirty years have passed. The Programme of Action also includes a series of regional activities and meetings on progress in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action after thirty years in the Arab region.
The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the League of Arab States and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), through its Regional Office for Arab States are holding a series of consultations with various groups of stakeholders, including parliamentarians and CSOs as they prepare for and organize comprehensive national reviews on the progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action thirty years after its adoption.
The Civil Society Consultations on the Regional Review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action after Thirty Years will be held on 27-28 May 2024 in Amman.
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