SPECIAL SESSIONS ON WOMEN, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CAN BOOST QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL

Press Release
PI/1254
WOM/1204

SPECIAL SESSIONS ON WOMEN, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CAN BOOST QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL

Two General Assembly special sessions this month, which are aimed at advancing women's rights and promoting social development could serve as the springboard for new global action aimed at improving peoples lives everywhere, according to General Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab.

With the Beijing +5 special session set to begin today to review and advance the work achieved at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing 5 years ago, Mr. Gurirab called on the 188 Members of the United Nations to "demonstrate the courage, planning, goodwill and coordination needed to eliminate barriers to women's equality, to the eradication of poverty and to eliminate the glaring disparities, inequalities and injustices that prevent the world from becoming a better place for all".

"These special sessions, with one coming right after another", Mr. Gurirab said, "can help launch a full frontal attack on poverty and inequality, and the forces that exclude people from playing a part in the decisions that affect their lives".

Beijing +5, which runs to 9 June, and Social Summit +5 that will pursue the social development agenda agreed upon at the 1995 Social Summit, and which will be held in Geneva from 26 to 30 June, both deal with a broad array of social issues, and there are strong links between the two meetings. While the focus of each meeting is different, there are areas of overlap, particularly on the need for equality, social justice, resources for development, and human rights.

"A practical agenda to eradicate poverty, promote full employment and to make sure everyone has a say in society -- the main goals of the 1995 Social Summit -- must build on the results of the Beijing process, according to John Langmore, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development, which serves as the secretariat for the special session on social development. "Beyond the fact that women constitute more than half of humanity, and beyond the fact that most of the world's people living in poverty are women, is the fact that if countries are going to move forward and develop, all women must have equal rights in the workplace, in government, and at home."

Angela E.V. King, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said the two special sessions can help reinforce each other and lead to real progress. "The issues of the Social Summit, such as

- 2 - Press Release PI/1254 WOM/1204 5 June 2000

employment, poverty and marginalization, are also issues of concern to women, and are included as critical concerns in the Beijing process. We need all the partnerships and alliances we can to overcome these problems."

For further information on Beijing +5, please contact Elizabeth Ruzicka- Dempsey, Development and Human Rights Section, Department of Public Information, tel. (212) 963-1742, fax (212) 963-1186, or e-mail ruzicka-dempsey@un.org.

For further information on the Social Summit +5, please contact Dan Shepard, Development and Human Rights Section, Department of Public Information, tel. (212) 963-2191, fax (212) 963-1186, or e-mail shepard@un.org.

* *** *