COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN ADOPTS TEXTS CONCERNING SYSTEM-WIDE PLAN FOR ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN, WORK PROGRAMME FOR SECRETARIAT BODIES

Commission on the Status of Women
Resumed Forty-fifth Session
9 May 2001
17th Meeting (PM)




The Commission on the Status of Women this afternoon, in a resumed forty-fifth session, adopted a draft resolution concerning comments on a proposed system-wide plan for the advancement of women, as well as a draft decision concerning a proposed programme of work for the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Division for the Advancement of Women.

The forty-fifth session was held at Headquarters from 6 to 17 March, but was suspended on its final day, pending the conclusion of negotiations on those texts, as well as on draft-agreed conclusions on the topic "women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS". During the session, the Commission adopted five resolutions, four decisions, and draft-agreed conclusions on the topic "gender and all forms of discrimination, in particular racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance", as well as the report of the first part of its session.

The revised draft resolution on comments on the proposed system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 2002-2005 (document E/CN.6/2001/L.12), stresses the importance of gender mainstreaming, including institutional follow-up and capacity-building. It also stresses that the plan should be an effective instrument for promoting the coordinated implementation of the Platform of Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).

The revised draft decision on a proposed programme of work for the Office for the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and the Division for the Advancement of Women for the biennium 2002-20003 (document E/CN.6/2001/L.10/Rev.1) recommends that the Committee for Programme and Coordination, when reviewing the relevant section of the proposed programme budget, take into consideration the outcome of the Commission's discussions, as contained in the annex to its report.

The Commission agreed to annex to the report of it forty-fifth session the summary of comments by some Member States of the Commission on, respectively, the system-wide medium-term plan and the proposed programme of work.

A related report on the proposed system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women 2002-2005 (document E/CN.6/2001/4) outlines the individual actions of the organizations of the United Nations system that act in concert, with a coherent, coordinated strategy, to achieve the broad objectives set out in the Beijing Platform of Action. Those broad objectives include mainstreaming a gender perspective in the 12 critical areas of concern outlined in the Platform of Action, such as poverty, health, education, and the economy, among others. Once adopted, the system-wide medium-term plan will serve as a coordination and monitoring tool.

A conference room paper, on which the draft decision on the proposed programme of work was based, contains the draft programme budget for the biennium 2002-2003 for the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and the Division for the Advancement of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The programme of work aims to achieve progress in gender equality and the advancement of women and their full enjoyment of their human rights.

Still pending are draft-agreed conclusions on women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS (document E/CN.6/2001/L.4). The text seeks to address the rapid progression of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, particularly in the developing world, which was having a devastating impact on women. The text expresses “profound concern” that women constitute 55 per cent of all HIV-infected adults, and teenage girls are infected at a rate of five to six times greater than their male counterparts.

The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 10 May, to take action on the pending text.




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