WORKSHOP ON GENDER EQUALITY OPENS IN BEIRUT

8 November 1999

Press Release
REC/83
WOM/1151

WORKSHOP ON GENDER EQUALITY OPENS IN BEIRUT

19991108

(Reissued as received.)

BEIRUT, 8 November (UN Information Centre) -– A workshop on “Beijing +5 -– Future actions and initiatives”, organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women of the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), New York, in cooperation with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) opened this morning in the presence of the First Lady of Lebanon, Andrée Lahoud, at the United Nations House, Beirut, Lebanon.

The meeting aims at elaborating action-oriented recommendations to be forwarded for discussion to the Commission on the Status of Women acting as the preparatory committee for the special session of the General Assembly “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century” expected to take place in the United Nations, New York from 5 to 9 June 2000, five years after the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).

In an address to the opening session, Hazem Beblawi, Executive Secretary of ESCWA, said in 1998, ESCWA organized four regional meetings for the explicit purpose of following up on the major global major conferences of the 1990s. These were preparatory meetings for the special sessions of the General Assembly calling for five-year reviews of the implementation of recommendations emanating from these global conferences, he added. One of these special sessions, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, to be held in June of next year, will be dedicated to reviewing the progress achieved in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in September 1995, Mr. Beblawi noted.

Referring to the Second Arab Meeting for Follow-up to the Beijing Conference organized by ESCWA in December 1998, Mr. Beblawi said that it identified the new challenges facing women in connection with globalization, privatization, structural adjustment and the technological and information revolution and concluded with a vision for gender equality, equity and social justice based on tenets of democracy, human rights including women’s rights and the right to

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development, as well as good governance incorporating a participatory approach characterized by transparency, accountability and responsibility.

The Executive Secretary of ESCWA proposed that efforts directed towards institution-building should include the setting up of permanent national mechanisms for women at the highest decision-making or the strengthening of those already in place in order to monitor developments in the status of women, propose action-oriented and gender-sensitive policies and measures, and ensure the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all policies at the national level.

Mr. Beblawi reiterated ESCWA’s commitment to achieving gender equality and equity, noting that the secretariat is currently implementing a plan of action for mainstreaming a gender perspective in all of its policies, programs and activities in order to serve as a model of good practice. Synergy between non-governmental organizations and government bodies is being seriously encouraged to accelerate the implementation and follow-up of the recommendations of global conferences in the ESCWA region, he added.

In conclusion, Dr. Beblawi said that upholding human rights, including women’s rights, is a sine qua non for achieving peace, development and gender equality. This involves eliminating all forms of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, beliefs and convictions, and providing equal opportunity in the workplace, equal access to education, adequate shelter, health and other basic services, and freedom of choice. This applies equally to all regions of the world, he said.

Yakin Erturk, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs declared that in operational terms, the Beijing Platform for Action assigns primary responsibility for implementation to governments, but also includes recommendations for the United Nations system, non-governmental organizations, political parties, the private sector, international development organizations and other institutions. She added that the Platform for Action strongly endorses “gender mainstreaming” as the principal global strategy for promoting gender equality. The adoption of gender mainstreaming also reaffirms the importance of incorporating issues of equality between women and men in all areas of human activity.

Ms. Erturk noted that the Platform for Action also contains specific recommendations for bridging the gap between women and men in many areas through targeted support to women, such as for skills development and for promoting access to a range of social and economic goods and services previously denied to them. It calls for action to ensure the eradication of gender-based discrimination, and for measures to achieve gender equality, through institutional reform, commitment of resources and fundamental changes in attitudes and behavior.

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Ms. Erturk declared that the unanimous adoption of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by the General Assembly last month (resolution 54/4) is clear testimony of the firm commitment of governments to provide women with the necessary legal framework to protect and promote their human rights. She regretted that a number of States, among them western Asia countries, have not yet ratified the Convention. She urged them to do so as soon as possible.

Following the opening session, the workshop took up emerging issues and new challenges to the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. In the context of trends of global change since 1995, the workshop will also assess the impact of these trends on gender equality, development and peace in terms of the implementation of the Platform, and recommend measures to address the emerging challenges.

The Workshop started with a brief assessment of major achievements and obstacles related to the implementation of the Platform for Action in the areas of equality, development and peace, including the impact of cross-cutting approaches such as the human rights, mainstreaming and partnership between women and men. The participants will then, proceed with working groups organized around the main themes of equality, development and peace.

The opening session was attended by Minister of Social Affairs, Michel Moussa, and the Minister of Hydrolic and Electricity Resources, Sleiman Trabulsi, in addition to a number of diplomats, 10 to 12 experts appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well as observers from entities of the United Nations system and regional and international intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

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