Follow-Up to the 4th World Conference on Women and Full Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action

A/RES/50/203View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 165 Implementation of the outcome of the 4th World Conference on Women : Action for Equality, Development and Peace, published in 1995.

What other versions does this mandate have?

5 versions · 1996–2000

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/54/141

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2000	A/RES/54/141	Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action	1,119	21%Compare
1999	A/RES/53/120	Follow-up to the 4th World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action	3,045	14%Compare
1998	A/RES/52/231	Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action	1,000	13%Compare
1998	A/RES/52/100	Follow-up to the 4th World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action	3,337	20%Compare
1996	A/RES/50/203	Follow-up to the 4th World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action	2,416	–

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 14	Gender equality and the empowerment of women	84

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 14	Gender equality and the empowerment of women	84	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

What’s in this document?

39 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Fourth World Conference on Women,¹³ as adopted on 15 September 1995;

¹³A/CONF.177/20 and Add.1.

Endorses the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action as adopted by the Conference;

Calls upon States, the United Nations system and all other actors to implement the Platform for Action, in particular by promoting an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective at all levels, including in the design, monitoring and evaluation of all policies, as appropriate, in order to ensure effective implementation of the Platform;

Stresses that Governments have the primary responsibility for implementing the Platform for Action, that commitment at the highest level is essential for its implementation and that Governments should take a leading role in coordinating, monitoring and assessing progress in the advancement of women;

Calls upon States, with the assistance of non-governmental organizations, to disseminate the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action widely;

Emphasizes that Governments should, as soon as possible and no later than 1996, develop comprehensive implementation strategies or plans of action, including time-bound targets and benchmarks for monitoring, in order to implement the Platform for Action fully;

Calls upon Governments to create a national machinery where it does not exist and to strengthen, as appropriate, existing national machineries for the advancement of women;

Encourages non-governmental organizations to contribute to the design and implementation of these strategies or national plans of action in addition to their own programmes that complement government efforts;

Recognizes the importance attached to the regional monitoring of the global and regional platforms for action by regional commissions and other subregional or regional structures, within their mandates, in consultation with Governments, and the necessity of promoting cooperation among national Governments of the same region in this respect;

Invites the Economic and Social Council, in order to facilitate the regional implementation, monitoring and evaluation process, to consider reviewing the institutional capacity of the United Nations regional commissions, within their mandates, including their women's units or focal points, to deal with gender-related issues in the light of the Platform for Action, as well as the regional platforms and plans of action, and to give consideration, inter alia, and where appropriate, to strengthening the capacity in this respect;

Calls upon States to take action to fulfil the commitments made at the Conference for the advancement of women and for the strengthening of international cooperation, and reaffirms that adequate financial resources should be committed at the international level for the implementation of the Platform for Action in the developing countries, in particular in Africa, and in the least developed countries;

Recognizes that implementation of the Platform for Action in the countries with economies in transition requires continued international cooperation and assistance, as indicated in the Platform for Action;

Stresses that full and effective implementation of the Platform for Action will require a political commitment to make available human and financial resources for the empowerment of women, the integration of a gender perspective in budgetary decisions on policies and programmes, as well as adequate financing of specific programmes for securing equality between women and men;

Reaffirms that, in order to implement the Platform for Action, a reformulation of policies and reallocation of resources may be needed, but that some policy changes may not necessarily have financial implications;

Reaffirms also that, in order to implement the Platform for Action, adequate mobilization of resources at the national and international levels, as well as new and additional resources to the developing countries, in particular in Africa, and the least developed countries, from all available funding mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral and private sources for the advancement of women, will also be required;

Calls upon those States committed to the 20:20 initiative to integrate a gender perspective fully into its implementation, as referred to in paragraph 358 of the Platform for Action;

Recognizes that the creation of an enabling environment is necessary to ensure the full participation of women in economic activities;

Reaffirms that the implementation of the Platform for Action will require immediate and concerted action by all to create a peaceful, just and humane world based on all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the principle of equality for all people of all ages and from all walks of life, and to this end, recognizes that broad-based and sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development is necessary to sustain social development and social justice;

Considers, in relation to the United Nations, that the Platform for Action should be implemented through the work of all the bodies and organizations of the system during the period 1995-2000, specifically and as an integral part of wider programming;

Considers also that an enhanced framework for international cooperation for gender-related issues must be developed during the period 1995-2000 in order to ensure the integrated and comprehensive implementation, follow-up and assessment of the Platform for Action, taking into account the results of global United Nations summits and conferences;

Decides that the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Commission on the Status of Women, in accordance with their respective mandates and in accordance with Assembly resolution 48/162 of 20 December 1993 and other relevant resolutions, shall constitute a three-tiered intergovernmental mechanism that will play the primary role in the overall policy-making and follow-up, and in coordinating the implementation and monitoring of the Platform for Action, reaffirming the need for a coordinated follow-up to and implementation of the results of major international conferences in the economic, social and related fields;

Also decides to appraise the progress on a regular basis and to include in the agenda of its forthcoming sessions, starting from 1996, an item entitled "Implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women", with a view to assessing, in the year 2000, the progress achieved in the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the Platform for Action in an appropriate forum;

Invites the Economic and Social Council to consider devoting to this matter one high-level segment, one coordination segment and one operational segment, before the year 2000, taking into account the multi-year programme of work of the Commission on the Status of Women and all other functional commissions of the Council;

Also invites the Economic and Social Council to review and strengthen the mandate of the Commission on the Status of Women, taking into account the Platform for Action as well as the need for synergy with all other related commissions and conference follow-up, and for a system-wide approach to its implementation;

Decides that the Commission on the Status of Women, as a functional commission assisting the Economic and Social Council, shall have a central role in the monitoring of the implementation of the Platform for Action within the United Nations system and in advising the Council thereon;

Decides that the Economic and Social Council should oversee system-wide coordination in the implementation of the Platform for Action, ensure overall coordination of the follow-up to and implementation of the results of all United Nations international conferences in the economic, social and related fields and report thereon to the General Assembly;

Requests the Commission on the Status of Women to develop its multi-year programme of work for the period 1996-2000 at its fortieth session so that it can review the critical areas of concern in the Platform for Action and to consider how it could integrate into its programme of work the follow-up to the Conference and how it could develop its catalytic role in mainstreaming a gender perspective in United Nations activities, taking into account the need for a focused and thematic approach to the review of the Platform for Action and the contribution that can be made by all other functional commissions of the Council;

Also requests the Commission on the Status of Women to forward its recommendations on the multi-year programme of work to the Economic and Social Council so that the Council can take a decision on the programme of work at its meeting in 1996, reviewing, coordinating and harmonizing the different programmes of work, including the reporting systems of all the commissions in the area of the advancement of women;

Invites all other functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council, within their mandates, to take due account of the Platform for Action and to ensure the integration of gender aspects in their respective work;

Requests the Secretary-General to assume responsibility for the coordination of policy within the United Nations for the implementation of the Platform for Action and the mainstreaming of a system-wide gender perspective in all activities of the United Nations system, including training, in accordance with paragraph 326 of the Platform for Action;

Also requests the Secretary-General to disseminate the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action as widely as possible, including to the competent organs of the United Nations and the specialized agencies;

Further requests the Secretary-General to report, through the Commission on the Status of Women and the Economic and Social Council, to the General Assembly at its fifty-first session on ways to enhance the capacity of the Organization and of the United Nations system to support the ongoing follow-up to the Conference in the most integrated and effective way, including human and financial requirements;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure the more effective functioning of the Division for the Advancement of Women of the Secretariat in order to carry out all the tasks foreseen for it in the Platform for Action by, inter alia, providing sufficient human and financial resources within the regular budget of the United Nations;

Also requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, to ask the resident coordinators fully to apply a gender perspective in integrating the follow-up to the Conference into the coordinated follow-up to recent global United Nations conferences;

Further requests the Secretary-General to report annually to the Commission on the Status of Women and to the General Assembly, through the Economic and Social Council, on the measures taken and the progress achieved in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action;

Requests the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, within its mandate, to take into account the Platform for Action when considering reports submitted by States parties, and invites States parties to include information on measures taken to implement the Platform for Action in their reports;

Notes the importance of the activities undertaken by the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women in the implementation of the Platform for Action;

Encourages international financial institutions to review and revise policies, procedures and staffing to ensure that investments and programmes benefit women and thus contribute to sustainable development;

Invites the World Trade Organization to consider how it might contribute to the implementation of the Platform for Action, including through activities in cooperation with the United Nations system.

Follow-Up to the 4th World Conference on Women and Full Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

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What’s in this document?

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Who cites this mandate in the budget?