Five years after The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, a Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly is being held in New York this week to review the progress made toward implementing the Beijing Platform for Action, and to recommend new actions and initiatives.
The U.N. issues daily official press releases on both the Special Session and other matters. A complete listing of all press releases is available at the United Nations News Centre. The Special Session is also being webcast live. (Requires updated RealPlayer program.) The press releases listed below are specifically about the Special Session. These releases offer a general view of the focus of each session, and provide brief summaries of the statements of each speaker during that day's official activities. The sections quoted below are merely a few of the statements I found most interesting. The complete statement of each speaker (as distributed for the meeting - changes may have been made in the text when delivered) is also available from the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women.
U.N. Press Releases
Morning Session
Most Pressing Women's Problems Lack Solutions
As the Assembly continued its general debate on progress made in implementing the Platform, the Member of the Council of State of Cuba and President of the Cuban Women’s Federation, Vilma Espin Guillois, said that the most significant issues concerning women around the world included the widening economic and technological gap between the countries of the South and the North and enormous differences between the rich and the poor, as well as the feminization of poverty and unemployment. It was embarrassing that some States had failed to ratify or even sign the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, she said.
The Deputy Minister, Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, said that as a multi-racial and multi-religious society with a Muslim majority, Malaysia had proven to the world that Islam was not a deterrent to the advancement of women. The true teaching of Islam valued women as equal to men and laid the foundation for a society where women and men should work towards partnership. Based on that principle, Malaysia viewed with grave concern the politicizing of culture and religion for creating power bases. The negative impact of that trend was the denial of the rights of women in the private and public spheres.
Also speaking this morning were Ministers from Turkey, San Marino, Belarus, Guyana, Ireland, and Pakistan; Assistant Minister for Internal Affairs of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Chairperson of the Committee for the Advancement of Women of Viet Nam; President of the National Council for Women of Egypt; and the representatives of Myanmar, Kuwait, Grenada and Papua New Guinea.
Afternoon Session
Progress Review Continues
The Minister for Social Affairs of Iceland, Pall Petursson, said that with increased participation of women in the labour market, mothers and fathers should be offered equal opportunities to be active both within the family and without. One of the factors that could facilitate the coordination of family life and paid work was to grant parents equal rights to maternity/paternity leave and parental leave. Legislation to this effect had been passed by the Icelandic Parliament this spring, ensuring that every child was taken care of by both of its parents and enabling women and men to coordinate family life and paid work.
Portia Simpson-Miller, Minister for Tourism and Sport of Jamaica, drew attention to the situation of adolescent girls. In many countries, those girls were often victims of various forms of sexual abuse and exploitation; therefore, special attention must be paid to reproductive health issues and to the rights of adolescents. The goal must be to reduce the unacceptably high levels of teenage pregnancies and to ensure that girls develop self-respect and gain financial independence.
Speaking today: Ministers from Iceland, Jamaica, United Kingdom, Suriname, Germany, Slovakia, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Sudan, Madagascar and Nepal. Other officials making statements: Secretary of State for Social Affairs and Employment of the Netherlands, The Secretary of State for the Status of Women of Mauritania, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order of Cyprus, the Presidential Counsellor of Colombia, the President of the Women's Association of the United Arab Emirates, the Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Andorra, and the Director for Gender Affairs of Antigua and Barbuda.
Complete Statements For Tuesday
Media Coverage
Looking Back
ABC News
Five years ago in Beijing, history was made when more than than 30,000 women gathered to create a global movement that would focus on equality, empowerment and the human rights of all women. Reporter Jackie Judd looks at some of the significant progress and failures and what the women at this year's conference have to say about what's next.
Highlights: Tuesday, June 6