UN EXPERT GROUP TO MEET IN AZERBAIJAN ON ISSUES IN LINKING IMPLEMENTATION OF BEIJING ACTION PLAN, MILLENNIUM GOALS, 7 – 10 FEBRUARY

UN Expert Group to Meet in Azerbaijan on Issues IN Linking Implementation

of Beijing Action Plan, Millennium Goals, 7 – 10 February

NEW YORK, 4 February (Department of Economic and Social Affairs) -- The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women will organize an expert group meeting on “Achievements, gaps and challenges in linking the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals”, hosted by the Government of Azerbaijan, in Baku, from 7 to 10 February 2005. 

The meeting is being convened in preparation for the session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York from 28 February to 11 March 2005, which will consider the 10-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome document of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly “Women 2000:  gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”.

The Platform for Action was adopted by consensus in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women and embodies the commitment of the international community to the advancement and empowerment of women and to gender equality.  It sets out measures for national, regional and international action in 12 critical areas of concern:  women and poverty; education and training; health, including reproductive rights; violence; armed conflict; economy; power and decision-making; institutional mechanisms; human rights; media; environment; and the girl child.  The outcome document of 2000 identified further action required to achieve the full implementation of the Platform for Action and emphasized the crucial links between the advancement of women, gender equality and progress for society as a whole.

The Millennium Declaration, adopted by United Nations Member States in September 2000, represents a global political commitment towards the promotion of sustainable human development, peace and security, human rights, democracy and good governance.  The Declaration includes equality among the fundamental values essential to international relations, and governments resolved to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable.  States also resolved to combat all forms of violence against women and implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  The objectives in the Millennium Declaration were derived from the outcomes of the major summits and conferences of the 1990s, including the Fourth World Conference on Women.  Some of the objectives were subsequently formulated as eight Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015. 

The findings and recommendations of the expert group meeting in Baku will provide inputs for the discussion on the contribution of the Commission on the Status of Women, transmitted through the Economic and Social Council, to the review of the Millennium Declaration at the high-level plenary of the General Assembly in September 2005.  The 12 independent experts and additional observers will consider national, regional and global experiences and approaches and formulate conclusions and recommendations on enhancing the linkages in the implementation of the Platform for Action, the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals.

For additional information on the meeting, please visit http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/bpfamd2005/index.html.

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