GLOBAL NGO INPUT TO BEIJING PLUS 10 REVIEW REQUESTED

The forty-ninth session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will be held from 28 February to 11 March 2005 at UN Headquarters in New York. It is planned as an expanded session, encompassing: 1) A review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA/1995) and the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly (also known as Beijing+5) entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century"; and 2) Current challenges and forward looking strategies for the advancement and empowerment of women and girls.

In addition to the expanded CSW session, (also known as Beijing+10) women worldwide will be noting 30 years since the first UN world conference on women, the World Conference for International Women’s Year (IWY), and the parallel NGO conference, the IWY Tribune, both held in Mexico City, 1975. These landmark meetings inaugurated both a UN Decade for Women (1975-1985) and a series of conferences and NGO Forums that brought women and development issues to the centre of the global development agenda.

With all this in mind, the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in New York is asking representatives of non-governmental organizations worldwide to complete a questionnaire prepared by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women for UN Member States. Many governments may already have consulted NGOs in their countries to assist in responding to this questionnaire, which had an official deadline of April 2004.

The questionnaire addresses four areas:

1) What are the main achievements, gaps and challenges in ten years of implementation of the BPFA,

2) What progress has been made in implementation of the specific Critical Areas of Concern and the areas identified in Beijing + 5,

3) What is the status of institutional arrangements and mechanisms, 4) What commitments have governments made to address identified gaps and challenges?

The full questionnaire can be found at:

<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/2005Review/index.html>

The NGO CSW invites NGOs to complete the questionnaire and send it to them at the address given below. From the completed questionnaires they will compile a report and provide a global analysis of the NGO perspective on the above issues. In addition to assisting NGOs to chart a specific course for continued progress, the report will be submitted to the UN Division for the Advancement of Women as input from NGOs.

Please complete the questionnaire by August 15, 2004, and send it to the NGO CSW along with names and contact information for representatives you would like to see on a planned international NGO planning group.

For further information, contact: Bani Dugal, Chair, NGO Committee on the Status of Women, New York, PO Box 3571 Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163, USA. Tel: 1212-692-0725;  Fax: 1212-692-0724; email:  <ngo_csw_ny@hotmail.com>

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