Bangkok, November 30, 2000 -- An Experts Group Meeting convened by United Nations Economic and Social Council for the Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) to develop a regional framework to implement the Outcome Document of the recently concluded five-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action starts today. The two-day meeting will bring together member states of UNESCAP and other stakeholders to identify priorities and suitable modalities and strategies to approach urgent issues pertinent to the Asian Pacific Region. The framework will identify short and medium term strategies for governments, nongovernmental organizations, private sectors and other key stakeholders.
Two regional reports will be presented to assist member states and other stakeholders to come up with a regional framework for the implementation of the outcome document. The first report focuses on remaining critical issues, emerging concerns, and recommends appropriate actions and priorities, in the context of new opportunities, persistent obstacles and changing social and economic conditions of the region. The second report presents a regional framework, modalities strategies and measures to implement the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) Outcomes Document (OD).
The Outcome Document on future actions and initiatives adopted in June this year by the special session of the General Assembly, reaffirms the commitment of governments to focus on the 12 critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action and work to overcome the obstacles encountered in the implementation of the proposed actions.
A conclusion drawn in the reports point out that “majority of countries in the Asian and Pacific region have implemented the Beijing Platform for Action in many similar ways but with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Despite the disappointment of some groups over the conduct and some results of the review process, there are several major gains of the special session. The outcome document recognizes the remarkable progress made in the last 5 years in promoting women’s human rights. It considers “honour killing”, forced marriage and marital rape as forms of violence against women; calls for the adoption of comprehensive measures to eliminate dowry-related violence as well as installation of stronger mechanisms to address all forms of violence against women and girls.”
The reports further state that in reviewing the outcome document, the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), has noted provisions on women and health that go beyond Beijing. Among the concerns that have been emphasized were the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS pandemic and STIs, malaria and tuberculosis and the promotion of the mental health of women and girls. The document also recognized the need for programs to promote the security, health and active life of older women as well as the special needs of disabled women and children.
The reports also makes a strong argument for adopting a regional framework that will require commitments from Governments to a common set of goals, implementation strategies and measures of success. A question that any regional framework needs to answer is its broadness and adaptability to the diversity of the region. And an even more basic question is why the need for a common regional frameowork. According to the reports, “A perusal of the various Country reports to the UN detailing the achievements challenges and obstacle to the BPFA, and the shadow reports submitted by the NGO sectors provide the answer. The region shares many common problems, such as the negative effects of globalisation, the feminisation of poverty, trafficking, migrant workers, HIV/Aids, and the sequale which flow on from these.
In searching for answers for these common problems, solutions and ideas can be shared, and co-operation between Governments, NGO’s and Funding bodies can help share the load of program development. A second argument for a regional framework is the fact that so many of the issues in the region are linked. Trafficking occurs both inside and between many countries in the region. Migrant workers move between countries, and the tragic and ongoing consequence of conflict, both civil and between nations, includes the destruction of infrastructure and environment and the forced migration of huge numbers of people.
Globalisation with both its positive and negative effects brings countries more closely together than ever before. These linked problems need linked solutions, no country can tackle them alone and a framework has to be developed and agreed to encourage and allow this to happen. The affluence of the developed countries in the region is often predicated on the poverty of some of the poorer nations. A commitment to equality and development and peace across the region and not just within nation states will result in a unilateral examination of the effects of practices such as these and a search for a common and equitable solution.”
The report presents the a set of principles to ensure that the development of a regional framework that is rigorous enough to address the common and cross cutting problems, and to stand up to international scrutiny and provide a model for other regions of the world. These include:
- That the most important factors in achieving Gender Equality, Development and Peace in the Asia Pacific Region are those of political and social will.
- That much of the work necessary to establishing such a framework has already been done, but that often there is a nexus between policy and implementation.
- That the framework must be a Human Rights Framework
- That a Regional Framework is essential to achieve Gender Equality Development and Peace.
- That a Regional Framework must be both comprehensive and yet flexible to accommodate the diverse nature of the countries in the region.
- That National Frameworks are essential components of a regional framework and that these must be holistic and take a ‘”Whole of Government Approach”
- That National Frameworks must contain enough similarity of structure and intent to enable them to be incorporated into the Regional Framework.
- That the allocation of adequate resources is an essential component of both National and Regional Frameworks
- That the establishment of measurement tools such as common modes of data collection, indicators of social wellbeing, benchmarks and measures of inputs, outputs and outcomes are crucial to both frameworks.
- That the implementation of the BPFA and the OD in the Asia Pacific Region requires co-operation between governments, non government bodies (NGO’s), civil society, the corporate sector, donor countries and other funding bodies
The full report will be posted on this site.
