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Date 20
September 2004
Press Release No: G/20/2004
REGIONAL BEIJING +10 MEETING CONCLUDES WITH BANGKOK
COMMUNIQUE
Bangkok (United Nations Information Services)
-- A four-day regional meeting to review progress since the
1995 Women’s Conference concluded today with the issuance
of the report containing the Bangkok Communiqué which
sets out gains made over the past ten years, identified gaps,
and recognizes challenges that lay ahead for the region.
The Communiqué reaffirms commitment to
the consensus of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
It notes significant progress in the formulation of national
policies and action plans to promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women, the establishment and the strengthening
of national machineries/institutional mechanisms for the advancement
of women, formulation and revision of domestic laws and regulations
to eliminate discrimination against women, and affirmative actions
to increase women’s participation in politics and decision
making.
It also highlights improved women’s health,
increased access by women to education and a significant decrease
in women’s illiteracy rate, improved economic empowerment
of women; and active and enhanced participation of women NGOs
and civil society.
Gaps in the full implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action, however, remain.
The Communiqué cites the marginalization
of women’s national machineries/institutional mechanisms
from playing a catalytic role in the national planning and policy
making process, a lack of policies, legislations and programmes
to protect women migrant workers’ human rights, lack of
reproductive health information and services/care to women,
particularly young women and adolescents, and lack of regional
cooperation and partnership initiatives for combating trafficking
in person, HIV/AIDS and promoting the protection of women migrant
workers and global market mechanisms.
It also finds a limitation of financial and human
resources for promoting gender equality, women’s disproportionate
representation among the poor or feminization of poverty, a
high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the region particularly
among women, a low level of women’s participation in decision-making
at various levels, persisting violence against women including
trafficking of women and children and girl child marriage, lack
of reliable and relevant sex and age disaggregated data and
gender statistics, and a persisting portrayal of women and girls
as sexual objects and commodities in media and ICT.
Through the Bangkok Communiqué delegates
highlight challenges in the years to come. These include a continuing
violation of human rights and all forms of discrimination against
women and girls, strengthening of women’s national machineries/institutional
mechanisms, improving allocation of financial and human resources
/increasing allocation of financial resources, developing gender-sensitive
indicators and sex disaggregated statistics for measuring progress,
forging close cooperation and partnership with stakeholders,
and creating an enabling environment to support policies and
affirmative action programmes to ensure women’s access
to economic resources and opportunities, education and health,
and including reproductive health.
It calls for increasing accessibility, availability,
affordability and quality of reproductive health services specially
for poor, young, marginalized women, reducing the vulnerability
of women and girls to HIV/AIDS, gender mainstreaming as a systematic
approach to ensure gender-responsive implementation of policies
and plans to be institutionalised, and addressing the negative
impacts of globalization and trade liberalisation such as job
insecurity and violations of labour rights.
The Communiqué also sees a need to provide
adequate social and legislative protection to vulnerable women,
reduce and alleviate poverty, support and recognize community
and independent media to counter the negative and stereotypical
portrayal of women and girls, protection of women and children
in situations arising from militarism, war and armed conflict
in particular, from the use of rape and sexual violence and
hostage taking as a strategy of war; and mainstream women in
environmental decision-making at all levels in the context of
environmental degradation and pollution, climate change, and
their gender impact.
Delegates encouraged the strengthening of cooperation
and partnerships, and commitment to allocating increased resources
by governments, NGOs, development partners, regional, international,
and inter-governmental agencies.
The High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review
Implementatin of the Beijing Platform for Action and its Regional
and Global Outcomes met in Bangkok from 7-10 September 2004.
The Bangkok Communiqué will serve as Asia-Pacific’s
contribution to the global review of the implementation of the
Beijing Platform for Action to be hosted by the United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women at its 49th session in March
2005 in New York.
For further information please contact:
United Nations Information Services Bangkok
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861-69, Fax: +(66-2) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
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