Some 500 women from different Asian and Pacific countries are expected to come together at the Kasetsart University (80 km outside Bangkok) in Thailand from 31 August to 04 September 1999 for the Asia-Pacific Regional NGO Symposium.
The women, most of whom are coming from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), will present their assessment of how their respective governments have implemented or not implemented the Beijing Platform for Action.
The Beijing Platform for Action is the major output document approved at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in September 1995. This document calls on the member states of the United Nations to remove all obstacles to women's active participation in all spheres of public and private lives and uphold women's empowerment.
The Beijing Platform for Action is one of the most significant documents for the global women's movement. Across the world, women's groups lobbied hard for it to be approved. This is now the most opportune time to urge governments to translate words into action and implement measures towards women's advancement.
In reviewing the Beijing Document, the women participating in the Regional Symposium will look at the issues of poverty; education and training; health; violence against women; armed conflict; economy; power and decision-making; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; human rights; media; environment and the girl-child. In addition, the women are also expected to assess the impact of the current regional economic crisis on women and come up with recommendations to address this.
The outcomes of the Symposium will be presented at the High-level Inter-governmental Meeting that the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific is organising on 26-29 October 1999 in Bangkok, Thailand. This, and the Regional NGO Symposium are part of the on-going global review of the Beijing Platform for Action organised by the United Nations General Assembly.
The actual review session officially called "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century" will be held at the UN Headquarters in New York on 05-09 June 2000.