United Nations

NEW YORK, 2 June (UN Headquarters) — In its closing meeting this afternoon, the Commission on the Status of Women acting as the Preparatory Committee for the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly on follow-up to 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women transmitted the text of a proposed outcome document to the Assembly.

The proposed document, entitled "Further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action", was transmitted to the Assembly on the understanding that the text of an informal paper containing the results of negotiations held on the outcome document, would be incorporated into the final document, and that it would be issued in the six official languages on Monday, 5 June, as a document of the special session.

 The Committee also approved its draft report, and entrusted the Vice Chairperson, Monica Martinez (Ecuador), with the responsibility of finalizing the report for submission to the special session of the General Assembly.

 In other business this afternoon, the Committee took note of the list of non-governmental organizations accredited to the special session.

 The General Assembly special session, "Women 2000:  Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century", also known as Beijing +5, will be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 5 to 9 June.  It will focus on the review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action and consider further actions and initiatives for achieving its purposes.  One hundred and eighty nine countries endorsed the final document of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, which calls upon governments to take action on 12 critical areas of concern.

At the end of the special session, governments are expected to issue a political declaration calling for a recommitment to the Beijing Platform for Action and its 12 critical areas of concern.  Those are:  women and poverty; education and training of women; women and health; violence against women; women and armed conflict; women and the economy; women in power and decision- making; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; human rights of women; women and the media; women and the environment; and the girl child.

 The proposed document transmitted to the General Assembly covers achievements and obstacles in the implementation of the 12 critical areas and current challenges affecting the full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action.

 In the chapter on actions and initiatives to overcome obstacles and to achieve the full and accelerated implementation of the Platform for Action, the organizations of the United Nations system and the Bretton Woods institutions, as well as the World Trade Organization, other international and regional intergovernmental bodies, parliaments and civil society, are called upon to support government efforts and develop complementary programmes of their own to achieve full and effective implementation of the Platform.