Background Release

COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN WILL HOLD fifty-first SESSION

AT HEADQUARTERS, 26 FEBRUARY - 9 MARCH

 

Will Focus on Elimination of All Forms

Of Discrimination and Violence against Girl Child

NEW YORK, 23 February, (Division for the Advancement of Women) -- The Commission on the Status of Women will hold its fifty-first session from 26 February to 9 March.  The Commission will continue to emphasize national-level implementation of commitments made at the Fourth World Conference in Beijing and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly.

The Commission’s consideration of substantive thematic issues is central to its work in defining a global policy framework for gender equality and contributes to the acceleration of implementation of its recommendations at all levels.

In accordance with its new working methods adopted last year, the Commission will consider the implementation of commitments in relation to one priority theme, “the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child.”  This will allow for more in-depth discussion and development of action-oriented recommendations.  The Commission will also take up one emerging issue, “the elimination of all forms of violence against women”, thereby examining trends and new approaches.  Another innovative feature in its work will be to evaluate progress in the implementation of agreed conclusions on a critical area of concern already considered by the Commission at a previous session; this year, the review will be on “the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality”.

The report of the Secretary-General on the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child (document E/CN.6/2007/2) analyses the current situation of the girl child.  It concludes that discrimination and violence against the girl child is persistent around the world despite progress in raising awareness about girls’ rights, as well as the recognition of the unacceptability of violations of those rights, and their detrimental impact on society as a whole.  It provides an overview of the global policy and legal framework, identifies the different forms of discrimination and violence faced by the girl child, highlights groups of girls at high risk of discrimination and violence, recognizes the importance of the empowerment of girls, and proposes recommendations for further action.

The report of the Secretary-General on progress in mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development, implementation and evaluation of national policies and programmes, with a particular focus on the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child (document E/CN.6/2007/3) assesses the extent to which attention to the girl child is mainstreamed in policies and programmes at the national level.

High-level round tables on Monday, 26 February, will provide an opportunity for senior representatives of Member States to share experiences, lessons learned and good practices in relation to eliminating all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child.  Two expert panels will provide an additional opportunity to discuss the priority theme.

On Thursday, an interactive expert panel will debate this session’s emerging issue, the elimination of all forms of violence against women, and an interactive dialogue on Friday will evaluate progress in the implementation of previously agreed conclusions of the Commission on the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality.  The Commission will also hold an informal preliminary dialogue on its priority theme for 2008 – “Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women” on Wednesday -- to allow for thorough preparation for its fifty-second session.

In addition to official events of the Commission, on Thursday the Commission on the Status of Women and the Statistical Commission will convene a joint parallel event on indicators, as part of the Commission’s continued focus on the need for reliable statistics, sex-disaggregated data and other quantitative and qualitative information to measure progress in implementation.

A schedule of events is contained in the Commission’s annotated provisional agenda and proposed organization of work (document E/CN.6/2007/1).

In addition, the Commission will consider a report of the Secretary-General on the situation of, and assistance to, Palestinian women (document E/CN.6/2007/4), and on the situation in Afghanistan and its implication for peace and security (document E/CN.6/2007/9).  It will also review the advisability of the appointment of a special rapporteur on laws that discriminate against women, based on a report (document E/CN.6/2007/8).

The following documents are also before the Commission:  joint workplan of the Division for the Advancement of Women and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights -- report of the Secretary-General (document E/CN.6/2007/5); Report of the United Nations Development Fund for Women -- note by the Secretary-General (document E/CN.6/2007/6); a letter dated 2 November 2006 from the President of the Economic and Social Council to the Chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women (document E/CN.6/2007/7); a note by the Secretariat transmitting the results of the thirty-seventh session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (15 January to 2 February 2007) (document E/CN.6/2007/CRP.1); and a note by the Secretariat as input to the high-level segment of the 2007 substantive session of the Economic and Social Council (document E/CN.6/2007/CRP.3).  The proposed programme of work of the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and the Division for the Advancement of Women for the biennium 2008-2009 will also be discussed (document E/CN.6/2007/CRP.2).

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For information media • not an official record