The Beijing +10 global review, coordinated by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW), will be held in 2005. The objective of these regional and global processes is to review the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, signed by 189 governments at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, in 1995.

The review launched with Beijing +10 finds itself in the midst of a debate concerning its desirability. Several NGOs have expressed concern over the risks of losing the gains achieved under the platforms adopted at the Conferences in the 1990s, and at the same time are raising questions as to both the efficacy of such world conferences in securing the economic, political and social rights of women, and the strategic roles that feminist activists can play at such events. The same dynamics were at play in the five year review processes. Both Cairo +5 and Beijing +5 revealed the risks faced by the current women's agenda.

Input to the process by regional UN commissions and other regional intergovernmental organizations will include organizing meetings to elicit regional perspectives on implementation actions and initiatives, and to report the findings. In spite of expressing concern, women’s organizations are discussing how to participate in the sub-regional meetings. According to WEDO “there is a danger that these reviews may lead to negotiations which could leave women once again having to fight for their material and reproductive rights. It is not too late to influence these negotiations at the regional level, and to strategize and act to avoid negotiations at the global level in 2005”.

Beijing 1995

The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995, culminated with the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Declaration secured the commitment of governments to work towards implementing -before the end of the 20th century- the strategies agreed on in Nairobi in 1985, and to mobilize resources to achieve the goals set by the platform.

The Beijing Platform for Action is the most thorough document ever produced by a United Nations conference on the subject of women’s rights, as it incorporates the accomplishments of prior conferences and treaties, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) and the Vienna Declaration. It also reaffirms the definitions set out in Cairo and adds a paragraph on Human Rights in general.

The Beijing Platform for Action included agreements aimed at eliminating discrimination against women, eradicating poverty and adopting measures towards placing a decisive number of women in key positions. It also recognized that the right of women to control their sexuality and reproduction is one of their human rights, and called on States to review laws containing punitive measures against women who have undergone abortions (reaffirming Article 8.25 of the Cairo Conference). It further posed the need to strengthen legislation protecting the rights of women.

Also of note are the recommendations concerning unremunerated work, the definitions contained in the chapter on armed conflicts, and certain decisions relating to macro-economic issues, as well as the acknowledgement of the racial and ethnic roots of discrimination and inequality. That the terms racial and ethnic were even included in a United Nations document attest to the fact that long-standing resistance on the part of certain member states in this respect was finally overcome.

The Summit focused on the following critical areas of concern:

• Inequalities and inadequacies in, and unequal access to education and training
   
• Inequalities and inadequacies in, and unequal access to health care and related services
   
• Violence against women
   
• The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including those living under foreign occupation
   
• Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all forms of productive activities and in access to resources
   
• Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels
   
• Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women
   
• Lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and protection of the human rights of women
   
• Stereotyping of women and inequality in women's access to and participation in all communication systems, especially in the media
   
• Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in the safeguarding of the environment
   
• Persistent discrimination against, and violation of the rights of the girl child

Beijing 1995 was preceded by other Conferences and United Nations and civil society meetings, which, starting in the 1970s, have gradually incorporated gender demands, committing governments and generating a broad debate within society through women's organizations.

This report provides resources on the various stages leading up to the 1995 Beijing Summit and its follow-up process, which involved the participation of women's groups from around the world, governments and the United Nations.