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Reviewing the Platform for Action [view in Japanese] [view in Korean]

Events leading up to the 23^rd special session of the UN General Assembly "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21^st Century" and further actions

What is the BPFA? Four years ago, governments signified their commitment to advance the goals of equality, development and peace for all women around the world by adopting the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). The BPFA is the final outcome of the 4th world conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. The BPFA obliges governments to look at its 12 Critical Areas of Concern as priorities for action. Following its empowering mission, government signatories to the BPFA are to address barriers and constraints in these 12 Critical Areas of Concern: 1. Women and poverty 2. Women and education and training 3. Women and health 4. Violence against women 5. Women and armed conflict 6. Women and the economy 7. Women in power and decision-making 8. Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women 9. Human rights of women 10. Women and media 11. Women and environment 12. The girl-child

Part 1: Introduction and Chronology

 Five years after the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), governments participated in a Special Session of the UN General Assembly to assess how it had been implemented. The meeting was officially called "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century, a review session that is also known as the Beijing+5 Review.

This Special Session was convened by the UN General Assembly. It was held on 5-9 June 2000 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA.  Also included in the agenda was a review of the 1985 Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for Women (NFLS).

The primary objective in convening the Special Session was to speed up the full implementation of the BPFA and the NFLS, two major documents that affirm the goals of equity, peace and development for the world's women. As specified by the UN General Assembly, the BPFA in this first five-year review would not be negotiable and no changes would be made. Recommendations would be made only on how it was adopted in 1995.

The NFLS was adopted at the 3rd World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985. Five years later, in 1990, the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) took the lead in reviewing it and noted its slow implementation. Together with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it recommended that a second review be held in 1995.  Eventually the 4th World Conference was convened in 1995 in Beijing, China. (from BFA primer, Isis International Manila, 1999)

As a guiding document, the BPFA called upon governments to exercise political will in achieving legal reforms and policy changes, support and initiate capacity-building programmes, set up mechanisms for monitoring and accountability, set up co-operative or partnership relations between social sectors, and create programmes to support women suffering from discrimination.

The CSW The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was established as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council by Council resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946 to prepare recommendations and reports to the Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. The Commission also makes recommendations to the Council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights. The object of the Commission is to promote implementation of the principle that men and women shall have equal rights. The Commission's mandate was expanded in 1987 by the Council in its resolution 1987/22. Following the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, the general Assembly mandated the Commission to integrate into its work programme a follow-up process to the Conference, in which the Commission should play a catalytic role, regularly reviewing the critical araes of concern in the Platform for Action. The Commission, which began with 15 members, now consists of 45 members elected by the Economic and Social Council for a period of four years. Members, who are appointed by Governments, are elected on the following basis: thirteen from African states; eleven from Asian states; four from Eastern European states; nine from Latin American and Caribbean states; and eight from Western European and Other states. The Commission meets normally on an annual basis for a period of eight working days. The Bureau of the Commission on the Status of Women is made up of the following members: Mrs. Dubravka Šimonovic (Croatia), Chairperson of CSW Mrs. Kirsten Geelan (Denmark), Vice-Chairperson, CSW Ms. Atsuko Nishimura (Japan), Vice-Chairperson, CSW Ms. Loreto Leyton (Chile), Vice-Chairperson, CSW Mr. Mankeur Ndiaye (Senegal), Vice-Chairperson, CSW From the UN-DAW website at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/index.html#functions

 

It was on these points that governments were now put under scrutiny by global, regional and local organisations. Specifically, the review process involved an assessment of best practices, obstacles and constraints, visions for the future, and new and emerging trends. These review criteria were set by the UN Division on the Advancement of Women (DAW) and the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The DAW, acting as secretariat for the review, requested documentation from the member states on how they have made progress on the 12 critical areas, in the form of national plans of action, since 1995. Documentation was also requested in the form of country reports as well as responses to a questionnaire focusing on the actions around the 12 areas of concern. Their reports would be collated, assessed and presented at the Special Session of the General Assembly.

This document is a chronology of the "Beijing + 5" review process. It is also meant as a tool for organisations and institutions, in the Asia-Pacific Region especially, to carry on the work begun in 1995.

Preparatory Meetings: Writing the Outcome Document

Because the review would be undertaken by the General Assembly, the CSW was designated as the Preparatory Committee for the review. The CSW at the time was composed of Bhattacharjee (India), Patricia Flor (Germany), Misako Kaji (Japan), Christine Kapalata (United Republic of Tanzania), Sonia R. Leonce-Carryl (Saint Lucia), Monica Martinez (Ecuador), Kristen Mlacak (Canada), Rasa Ostrauskaite (Lithuania) and Dubravka Simonovic (Croatia).

Formal and informal preparatory meetings were held by the CSW beginning 1998. The second PrepCom meeting was held at the 43^rd CSW session on March 2- 9, 1999, where preparations for the Special Session were discussed. The CSW was also at the time continuing to monitor BPFA’s Sections C (Women and Health) and H (Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women). The other sections had already been monitored in the previous years.

Several informal discussions were held in December 1999 between member states and the PrepCom on how the outcomes document would be structured. A four-part structure was eventually set: an introduction, achievements, obstacles, actions and initiatives to overcome obstacles. It was also determined that the document would be accompanied by a political declaration to be attested to by the member states.

Disappointment over the extent of implementation among the member countries was a common observation as the PrepCom went over the individual country reports in its meetings. While significant advances had been achieved in such areas as gender equality, health care and decision-making, two factors --violence and poverty-- still remained the major obstacle to full implementation of the BPFA. However, the emerging factors and obstacles became clear at this point.

The PrepCom divided the writing of the outcomes document between two working groups. Working Group I, chaired by Kirsten Mlacak, worked on the first three sections of the document and Working Group II, chaired by Asith K. Bhattacharjee, focused on Section IV.

The text of the Political Declaration was finalised by the end of March 2000. Meanwhile, by the time the Special Session began on June 5, many paragraphs in the outcomes document were still bracketed, indicating that they were still being contested and under negotiation.

The PrepCom also decided to ensure participation of NGOs at the Special Session. A mechanism was set for NGOs to be accredited for participation, apart from those that had consultative status with the Economic and Social Council or had been accredited when they took part at the Fourth World Conference for Women in 1995.

At the intergovernmental level, several regional meetings were held, where regions identified their own actions and obstacles and emerging issues in implementing the BPFA. Each meeting consolidated the positions of each region, with accompanying resolutions that were also submitted to the CSW.

·        October 26-29, 1999 -- A high-level intergovernmental meeting of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), held in Bangkok, Thailand; identified 49 strategies and recommendations to further implement the BPFA.

·        November 22-26, 1999 -- In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) issued a Declaration reaffirming the commitments of the ECA countries to the Beijing and Dakar Platforms for Action.

·        December 12-15, 1999 -- In Beirut, Lebanon, the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA)  produced a paper envisioning equality between women and men in the region in the new millennium;

·        January 19-21, 2000 -- The Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, hammered out a set of further actions to fully implement the Platform.

·        February 8-10, 2000 -- The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) met in Peru and adopted the Lima Consensus, which took into account the Port of Spain Declaration (October 1999), and reaffirmed commitment to the implementation of the BPFA. The Lima Consensus outlined 25 actions, and adopted three resolutions.

 

Asia Pacific NGOs

At each of these regional meetings, NGOs had the opportunity to interact with representatives of their governments. They worked extensively to ensure that governments reaffirmed their commitments and did not backslide on any of plans of action. They also served as consultants to the governments on the drafting of the country reports, and were welcome to submit their alternative reports to the DAW along with the official country reports.

The Asia Pacific contingent of the review set up networks to propagate information about the process from the national to regional levels. They also held parallel meetings and workshops and came out with publications on every aspect of the review process. The difficulties of organising women dispersed geographically were overcome through the most ubiquitous means: before 1999, almost all communicated through fax and telephone. Afterwards, this was done mainly by e-mail. An electronic mailing list, Apwomen2000, was created by Isis International especially for the review process and which allowed many participants all over the region to communicate their activities to sister organisations.

Asia Pacific Women Watch is formed

After the Fourth World Conference in 1995, Asia Pacific women felt the need to continue monitoring the implementation of the BPFA in their region. The Asia Pacific Watch (APW) had been active during the FWCW itself, and thus held meetings in 1996 and 1997 to keep the networks that had been forged in Beijing.

However, at the 41st CSW meeting, NGOs in attendance reorganised themselves as the Asia Caucus and mapped out the co-ordination systems in preparation for the review in 2000. Isis International convened the Asia Caucus and formed a coalition with Asia Pacific Watch, which was known as Asia Partners. At the next CSW meeting the following year, 1998, the Caucus created an organising team and set focal points for regional representation and lobbying.

Isis International for the Asia Caucus, together with Asia Pacific Women Law and Development, then held a lobby training workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1998. Thirty women from all over the region were trained in negotiating UN documents, an essential step towards understanding and working with the review process. 

Asia Caucus members attended the 43^rd CSW meeting in 1999, during which the Asia Caucus co-ordinating body was created, composed of the APWLD, APW, SEAWatch and Isis International. The Asia Caucus was extended to include NGOs from the Pacific Region.

Asia-Pacific NGOs again met in June 1999.  It was also then that a regional symposium for Asia Pacific NGOs was planned.  Convened by the Asia Pacific Development Centre Gender and Development Programme and Thai Women’s Watch,  this meeting was held in Penang, Malaysia.

The Asia Pacific Regional NGO Symposium was subsequently held at in Nakornpathom, Thailand at Kasetsart University, from August 31 to September 4, 1999. Working on the theme "Asia Pacific Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century", the symposium gathered 385 women from 28 countries all over Asia and the Pacific in a joint exercise of setting down the NGOs’ perspective on current implementation of the BPFA. A high level of enthusiasm was displayed at this meeting: workshops on the different sections of the BPFA were held, with Isis International and AWORC providing logistics support for communication between workshops and through the Internet. Through the workshops, the participants were enjoined to lobby their governments for the inclusion of the NGO resolutions made at the meeting to the reports they would be making to the ESCAP and to the Special Session.

One significant document produced during this symposium-conference was the document known as Voices 2000, otherwise known as the Big Blue Book. A distillation of the concerns and strategies in this document was prepared to guide NGOs to lobby their governments. (This shorter document became the Little Blue Book.) The Big Blue Book summarised the stances of the working groups dealing specifically with the 12 areas of concern and advanced a regional stance which would eventually be the basis for lobbying at the UN General Assembly's Special Session.

 (onsite reports and documents  including the Big and Little Blue Books, from the conference)

With many of Asia Pacific NGOs represented at the APWW, it was able to convene a steering committee that met in parallel with the high-level ESCAP meeting in December 1999.

Other meetings held in conjunction with the review and involving Asia Pacific women were: the Bridgebuilders Pacific Meeting in Suva, Fiji (July 21-25, 1999), the South Asia Conference in Khatmandu, Nepal (August 11-15, 1999) the East Asian Preparatory Meeting for the Beijing+5 review in Seoul, Korea (August 17- 18, 1999), the African Web Site Building Workshop in Africa (September 1999), and the Global Women’s Electronic Network Training in Seoul, Korea, (September 27- October 2, 1999).

 Another lobby training workshop was organised by APWW, this time in preparation for the CSW's 44th Session and the UNGA Special Session that was to follow soon after. At the workshop held January 28-29, 2000 in Nepal, participants were introduced to the documents that would be discussed at the Review. They were also given an overview of political groupings at the UN and the way documents are drafted, and were taught lobbying strategies to make their presence more effective during the Special Session itself.

The Participation of Governments

The DAW reported that by June 2000 they were able to compile 146 reports, still short of the total number of members (188). Nevertheless, the submitted reports reflected a good number of best practices that had been put in effect since 1995. Full texts of country reports are available from the WomenAction site and for countries specific to the Asia-Pacific region, from the ESCAP-Women in Development site.

During the 3^rd PrepCom, the CSW reported also that 165 countries had already signed the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Additionally,  2 new countries had ratified the Optional Protocol, which allows individuals or organisations to report cases of violations of women’s rights directly to the UN.

A transparent process: NGO participation

The BPFA reflected not merely the official voices of governments, but more importantly of thousands of women’s groups and NGOs worldwide. Similarly the 2000 review process involved the participation of these women’s groups: as consultants to their respective governments, as sources of alternative reports, as participants in the review activities at national, regional and global levels, and as information and support networks for ensured participation of other NGOs.

The proceedings of this Special Session generated much interest from civil society all over the world: 1,038 NGOs represented by 2,052 participants converged in New York City for the proceedings, to attend side events and to continue lobbying representatives of their governments as they negotiated the terms in the Outcomes Document. There was little time given for NGOs to actually address the assembly, but they were given ample opportunity to meet with country delegates and fellow lobbyists and to observe the plenary sessions.

CONGO, the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations, acted as logistics support to the Beijing+5 Host Committee for the NGO representatives attending the proceedings.

During the review, NGOs meetings were accommodated by the Secretariat. Specifically, a Women’s Linkage Caucus was held in the late afternoon every day from June 5 to 9 at the Conference room 4 of the UN Building, while Regional Caucuses were held after the Linkage Caucuses. NGOs that could not be accommodated at the UN building itself followed the live video coverage of the plenary sessions at the United States Customs House in Battery Park City. A webcast of the proceedings could also be viewed through the Internet.

NGOs and some delegates also attended celebratory events organised by the Host Committee. Also, panel discussions on "The Role of Men and Boys in Ending Gender-based Violence", "Dialogue between NGOs and Governments for a Gender-sensitive Citizenry," and "Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Peacekeeping Operations" were well attended.

The most significant NGO participation at the review was in  the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole. This committee was created by the General Assembly to include NGOs and representatives of UN agencies the delegates and the PrepCom with the task of completing the final version of the Outcomes Document that had been begun by the PrepCom.

NGOs also tirelessly lobbied on specific areas of concern. They met with and passed reports to government representatives, they attended caucuses formed around the areas of concern, and released statements to the media on their observations of the process.

The Outcomes Document: Negotiations and Obstacles

For the duration of the review, negotiations of the wording for the document were conducted during three formal meetings and several informal meetings. The work was still handled by the two Working Groups that had initially been set the task of writing. The delegations tried to work in loose regional groups, following their own political consensus. Thus, negotiating groups emerged from the G-77 and China, the European Union and JUSCANZ (Japan, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). In the latter meetings, smaller groups emerged from the G-77, while some groups such as the CARICOM (Caribbean Community), SLAC, Latin American Countries and SADC (South African Development Community) also became more active in the negotiations.

Civil society groups from around the world worked hard to defend the resolutions that had been set in 1995 which were still being opposed by fundamentalist factions. As the review process moved slowly, mailing lists run by one Catholic group noted that the snail-paced progress on issues of sexuality and abortion amounted to a defeat of "radical feminists" and a victory for the "pro-life" group.

By June 9, much of the Outcomes Document was still in contention. The working groups extended their session through the night, haggling on terms and compromising on some points. Nevertheless, on June 10 the Committee was able to submit a draft Political Declaration and Outcomes Document to the plenary.

The Political Declaration adopted at end of the Special Session reaffirmed the commitment of the 188 member states to the BPFA. This is an important point in the whole review, since it meant that the BPFA remains the point of reference for further efforts in the advancement of women’s welfare. The governments also acknowledged their primary responsibility in implementing actions in the 12 critical areas of concern,  even as they recognised the contributions of non-governmental organisations in this world-wide effort. They also committed themselves to regular assessments of the BPFA’s implementation, thus setting the stage for another review in future years.

The Outcomes Document examines the actions implemented in the context of the 12 areas of concern, followed by a section on future actions that need to be done. The sections on each area of concern assess the actions taken by governments and identify obstacles for each. Meanwhile, 199 concrete goals were set in the section on future actions.

There are conflicting opinions on what had been truly achieved in the Outcomes Document. There are those who think that while it does reaffirm the original BPFA, this document did not state the necessary actions in stronger language.

The document does identify specific areas which should be focused on by governments: "education; social services and health; including sexual and reproductive health; the HIV/AIDS pandemic; violence against women and girls; the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women; vulnerability of migrant women including exploitation and trafficking; natural disaster and environmental management; the development of strong, effective and accessible national machineries for the advancement of women; and the formulation of strategies to enable women and men to reconcile and share equally work and family responsibilities."

Many of these issues were hotly debated in the plenary, as for example when blocs identified with the Vatican and some Islamic countries on the one hand and developing countries on the other contested the definitions of sexual and reproductive rights. The Canadian bloc noted the unclear definition of human rights in relation to violence against women.

Furthermore, the paragraphs enumerating the achievements clearly showed that not enough could be done while such obstacles remained as the slow movement of resources in support of women-focused programmes, and the pervasive threat of violence.

What’s left to be done: the United Nations, member governments and regional organisations were again called upon to implement explicit goals within the next fifteen years. A major emphasis was made on education as an empowering necessity. A list was drawn up of 199 actions to be taken, including minimising the gender gap in primary and secondary education by 2005; free, compulsory and universal primary education for both girls and boys by 2015; Increasing adult literacy levels by 50% by 2015; setting up a non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive legal environment through legislative reform; and greater access to high quality primary health care by 2015.

Emerging issues: Some actions dealt head-on with the factors that were deemed hindrances to the full implementation of the BPFA, among them globalisation, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, continuing warfare in many regions, the international trade in women and girls for the sex industry, and migrant labour.

In response, to what they considered to be shortcomings in the official Outcomes Document, the NGOs monitoring the review process collected their own reports into a global alternative report.

Further analysis of the Outcomes Document can be found in the links provided at the resources section (part 2 of this document).

After the Review: Resolutions and Further Actions for the Asia Pacific Region

After the conference in June, regional organisations held their own consultations and conferences to formulate specific strategies.

The South East Asia Gender Equity Programme (SEAGEP-CIDA) together with the Asia Pacific Development Centre and the Gender and Development Programme met with organisations to appraise the regional strategies after the review process. Invited to this meeting were SEAWatch, AWRAW-AP, ARROW, APY, APWLD, APWW. Each organisation presented their own efforts at monitoring, their future plans of action and recommendations to strengthen NGO efforts in the region. This meeting was held at the APDC facilities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

ESCAP held an Expert Group Meeting on the Implementation of the Outcomes Document, November 30 to December 1, 2000, in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference identified priorities for the Asia Pacific countries as well as recommendations and strategies. These priority issues were globalisation, poverty reduction, women's participation in the economy, trafficking in women and girls, violence against women, women in decision-making, human rights, information and communication technology, HIV/AIDS, peace and conflict resolution, and women and the environment.

The meeting resolved to strengthen regional unity on issues to be better represented at the international level. It also raised the need to integrate gender concerns in public-policy making, such as in national development plans. Gender analysis tools and mechanisms would also be required to ensure gender mainstreaming. The participants also saw the need for more indicators for monitoring, as well as to increase regional co-operation through high-level meetings.

APWW held “Linking Hands for Change” (January 20-23, 2001, Kanchanaburi, Thailand) to evaluate the coalition's effectiveness as a regional grouping. Participants prepared regional and sub-regional reports on the NGO contribution to the review process, including the continuing monitoring and assessment practices of individual organisations.

At this meeting, the participants agreed that during the Special Session, APWW was successful in lobbying, but not so effective in disseminating the Outcomes Document and its implications to the grassroots level.

During this meeting, the following resolutions were agreed on:

·         To establish a strong, operational and transparent structure for APWW  to enable it to undertake this work,

·         To identify potential funding sources,

·         To establish ways to link the implementation of the BPFA and the Outcomes Document to other UN processes, meetings and conventions such as the WCAR and CEDAW,

·         To establish a youth mentorship program for APWW, and to agree on an achievable five-year work plan for APWW which addresses priority issues of concern from the BPFA and the Outcomes Document, strategies and actions for implementation and measurement, and sub-regional and regional meetings leading to Beijing +10.

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