WOMEN’S COMMISSION ADOPTS PROVISIONAL AGENDA FOR NEXT SESSION; TEXTS ON GENDER PERSPECTIVE, PALESTINIAN WOMEN, HIV/AIDS INTRODUCED

Commission on Status of Women

Forty-seventh Session

9^th Meeting (PM)

WOMEN’S COMMISSION ADOPTS PROVISIONAL AGENDA FOR NEXT SESSION; TEXTS

ON GENDER PERSPECTIVE, PALESTINIAN WOMEN, HIV/AIDS INTRODUCED

As the Commission on the Status of Women met this afternoon, it decided to adopt, without a vote, the provisional agenda for its forty-eighth session and heard introductions of draft resolutions on women and HIV/AIDS, the situation of Palestinian women, and gender mainstreaming within the United Nations system. 

Carolyn Hannan, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, introduced the provisional agenda for the forty-eighth session.  She said that as a follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and the special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, the Commission would look at the role of men and boys in gender equality, as well as women’s equal participation in conflict prevention and conflict-resolution during the next session. 

The representative of Morocco, on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, introduced a draft resolution on the situation of and assistance to Palestinian women (document E/CN.5/2003/L.5) and said that the foreign occupation in the Palestinian Territories was presenting severe obstacles to women’s rights.  The draft expressed the Commission’s concern about the deteriorating conditions for women in the area and aimed to contribute to the promotion and protection of Palestinian women. 

On behalf of the Southern African Development Community, another draft resolution on women, the girl child and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) (document E/CN.5/2003/L.2), was introduced by the representative of Angola.  She said the text aimed to encourage the international community to keep its focus on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, highlight the particular vulnerability of women and children in Africa to the disease and recognized the link between HIV/AIDS and violence against women.

Introducing the draft text on mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system (document E/CN.5/2003/L.3), the representative of the United Kingdom said the draft focused on efforts by entities of the United Nations system to not only develop and implement specific gender equality strategies, but also to mainstream gender perspectives into sectoral activities.  The draft, therefore, completed the gender mainstreaming policy picture by inviting monitoring and evaluation of the impact of those strategies. 

The Commission will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 11 March, to hear the introduction of a draft resolution on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. 

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