Introduction

From 4 to 15 September 1995 women from all over the world gathered at Beijing for the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women. The conference themes were Equality, Development and Peace and the delegates were building on work undertaken at previous conferences in Mexico City (1975), Copenhagen (1980) and Nairobi (1985).

The Beijing Conference was one of the main events planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. It followed in the footsteps of several other critical United Nations conferences, including the Vienna Human Rights conference (June 1993), the Cairo Population and Development Conference (September 1994) and the Social Summit (Copenhagen 1995).

The main outcome from the Beijing Conference was agreement on the wording of a Platform for Action. This outlines the actions which governments, intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and all other actors in civil society can take in 12 key areas to improve the status of women over the next five to 10 years. The areas of the Platform for Action 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

The girl child.

back to top

Five years after the original conference, another was held which has become known as the Beijing + 5 conference. This took place in New York from 5 to 9 June, 2000, as a special session of the United Nations General Assembly. The conference was a review of the 12 areas of the Platform for Action and was a chance for the participating governments to assess their own progress and that of others, and to learn from each other tactics which may help them advance further in these areas.

Outcomes from the Beijing + 5 meeting were recorded in a report which included a political declaration, a list of achievements and obstacles to the full implementation of the Platform for Action, key challenges facing governments and non-governmental organisations, and a list of suggested actions and initiatives for those attempting to implement the Platform for Action.

New Zealand was looking for a political declaration which would provide a powerful reaffirmation of the original Beijing declaration and the Platform for Action, which highlighted achievements since Beijing and which focused on areas where there have been problems implementing the Platform. The text which was put before the full meeting was finalised at the Commission on the Status of Women, which acts as a preparatory committee for the full meeting.

New Zealand was happy with the draft prepared, especially with its relatively positive reference to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The Outcomes Document was to provide a detailed review of the global status of the Platform and to focus on strategies to accelerate its implementation. The draft of this, also prepared before the main meeting, contained four sections: an introduction, a review of achievements, a list of obstacles which still need to be overcome, and suggestions or initiatives to help overcome the obstacles identified. New Zealand was closely involved in the negotiations to draft this document, mainly working through its membership of JUSCANZ (which includes Japan, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the Republic of Korea). However, negotiations were very slow because many of the issues to be tackled were both complex and sensitive. The wide variety of views on such issues as women and globalisation, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, sexual rights of women and girls and language on women in armed conflict led to problems reaching agreement.

This report provides not only the views of the various members of the official New Zealand delegation but also reports from Jane Prichard, who attended the conference on behalf of the Asia-Pacific Women's Watch Committee, and from Deborah Te Kawa, who was attending a course run by the United Nations University. The course involved attending the conference with a critical eye as to the way such conferences function and the outcomes which can be expected from them.

Finally this report contains edited versions of the key parts of the Outcomes Document - the achievements and obstacles reported to the conference by the various states attending, the challenges identified by conference delegates and a long list of suggested actions and initiatives.

Included amongst the Appendices is a paper by the Association of Presbyterian Women which explains how NGOs can go about getting consultative status to the United Nations.

back to top

Back to Contents
[ Previous | Next ]