World's women see modest progress at UN Beijing + 10
UNITED NATIONS, Sunday (AFP) - Ten years after a plan of action for women's rights was
passed at a landmark international conference in Beijing, governments
and pressure groups say that only modest progress has been made in
improving the lives of women.
In a declaration adopted Friday, participants in the
"Beijing + 10" conference here welcomed "the progress made thus far
towards achieving gender equality," but stressed that "challenges and
obstacles remain" in the implementation of the goals set at the Beijing
event in 1995.
In the statement, participants also emphasized that "the
full and effective implementation" of the Beijing action plan "is
essential to achieve the internationally agreed development goals."
The UN-sponsored World Conference on Women in Beijing
set eight millennium goals, including cutting poverty by half by 2015
and eliminating laws that discriminate against women. Four other goals,
based on recommendations from the Beijing conference, specifically
affected women: universal access to primary education; promotion of
gender equality; reduction of infant mortality; and improving women's
health. Rachel Mayanja, special advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan on women's issues, set the tone by citing among the advances the
adoption of laws in various countries to protect women against
discrimination, although the movement has been slow and uneven.
Rape and sexual violence are becoming recognized as
warcrimes; matriculation of girls in primary education is rising; and
employment of women shows encouraging signs, she said.
However, the majority of the world's poor are women, who
are all too often victims of violence and are more susceptible to AIDS.
Meanwhile, the trafficking in women and girls has grown, she said. The
Women's Environment and Development Organization accused the world's
nations of dashing hopes for sexual equality raised in Beijing.
"While there have been some steps forward, we really
lack the political will and we would really call on governments, after
releasing this report, to change their approach, to change it today,"
said June Zeitlin, executive director of the nongovernmental
organization, which released a report this week, "Beijing betrayed."
"Governments worldwide have adopted a piecemeal and
incremental approach to implementation that cannot achieve the economic,
social and political transformation underlying the promises and vision
of Beijing," said the report, based on studies submitted by women in 150
countries.
"We think there are three things that they can do,"
Zeitlin said.
"First is, they can reaffirm unequivocally the Beijing
Platform for Action, today. "Secondly, they can announce that they're
going to take three steps, when they leave here, to translate their
commitments under the Platform to action. "Third, when they come back
here in September for the Millennium + 5 Summit, they can tell us how
they implemented these actions they've committed to.
"Because we've had too many words, I think all of us are
saying we now want very concrete actions and we're going to hold them
accountable for carrying out those commitments," she said.
The adoption of the declaration was slowed by a US
attempt to include an anti-abortion clause, which was later withdrawn. |
