WOMEN’S COMMISSION CONSIDERS DECISION ON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMUNICATIONS METHODS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BEIJING ACTION PLAN AND SPECIAL SESSION DOCUMENT

Commission on Status of Women

Forty-fifth Session

14^th Meeting (AM)*

WOMEN’S COMMISSION CONSIDERS DECISION ON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMUNICATIONS METHODS

AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BEIJING ACTION PLAN AND SPECIAL SESSION DOCUMENT

As the Commission on the Status of Women met this morning to consider the organization of work for the conclusion of its forty-fifth session, its Chair, Dubravka Simonovic (Croatia) informed members that work on the multi-year programme of work (2002-2006) had been completed and that a draft decision would be issued today.

She also read out two draft decisions on which the Commission would be expected to take action.  By the terms of the first, on Communications procedure, the Commission would decide, taking into account the report of the Secretary-General assessing the implications of the reform of human rights mechanisms for communications on the status of women, to request a further report by him, on the procedures and ways to make them more effective, to be discussed at its forty-sixth session.

By the terms of the second proposed draft decision on follow-up to Economic and Social Councilresolutions and decisions, the Commission would decide that a decision for enhancing the review of the progress in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome document of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly should be taken at the Council’s substantive session of 2001, in coordination with the conference reviews of other functional commissions.

Proposed amendments to the draft decisions were made by the representatives of Cuba, Belgium (on behalf of the European Union), Iran (on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China) and China.  The Chair instructed those delegations to submit their changes in writing for circulation to the rest of the Commission’s members.

The representatives of Iran (on behalf of the Group of 77), United States, Australia and Sweden (on behalf of the European Union) also commented and made proposals on the Commission’s organization of work and procedural matters.

The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. Friday, 16 March to take action on all outstanding draft proposals and conclude the work of its current session.

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*     The 13^th Meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women was closed.