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59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women - part 1
Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-ninth Session 2nd Meeting (AM)
Theme: Implementing the Beijing Platform for Action
1. Election of officers
2. Adoption of the agenda and other organizational matters (E/CN.6/2015/1 and E/CN.6/2015/1/Add.1)
3. Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”
(a) Implementation of strategic objectives and action in critical areas of concern and further actions and initiatives: review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 2013/18) (E/CN.6/2015/3 and E/CN.6/2015/4)
(b) Emerging issues, trends and new approaches to issues affecting the situation of women or equality between women and men
(c) Gender mainstreaming, situations and programmatic matters (A/69/38, E/CN.6/2015/2, E/CN.6/2015/5, E/CN.6/2015/6-A/HRC/29/3 and E/CN.6/2015/9)
High-Level Meeting Adopts Political Declaration Pledging Government Action
“As women thrive, so will we all,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as he opened the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women today, marking two decades of progress that he warned had been “unacceptably slow” in achieving gender equality since the historic adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995.
“The world will never realize 100 per cent of its goals if 50 per cent of its people cannot realize their full potential,” he told the Commission. While women bore the burden of conflict, war, discrimination and domestic violence, they were not just victims, but agents of progress. Empowered women and girls were the best drivers of growth, the best hope for reconciliation and the best buffer against radicalization of youth and the repetition of the cycle of violence, he stressed.
In that connection, the year 2015 would be a vital one for advancing the cause of gender equity, he said, adding that, if the new post-2015 sustainable development agenda — slated to be finalized later this year — was to be truly transformative, women must be at its centre.
Those issues were also at the core of a Political Declaration adopted by the Commission this morning, by which Ministers and other Government representatives similarly expressed concern that progress had been slow and uneven and that both existing and emerging challenges stood in the way of achieving gender equality. Also by the text, the Commission pledged to take further concrete action and to strive for the full realization of gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030.
“The emerging picture is highly complex,” said Phumzile Mlambo-McGuka, Under-Secretary-General for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Executive Director of UN-Women. Much worthwhile progress had been achieved, but the successes had not led to deep-rooted and irreversible change. The Declaration adopted today had taken steps forward, including by welcoming the role of civil society and confirming the expiry date of 2030 for gender inequality.
General Assembly President Sam Kutesa (Uganda) was heartened by progress made in such crucial areas as girls’ education, labour participation and health care. Yet, high levels of violence against women and girls, lack of access to credit and exclusion from political and decision-making roles remained challenges which must be addressed within the new framework of the post-2015 agenda.
“We are gathered here for action,” said Commission Chair Kanda Vajeabhaya, who was elected by acclamation this morning. She echoed the need for the post-2015 agenda to deal substantively and directly with gender issues, pledging that the current session would seek ways of strengthening gender equality through the next development agenda. It was also crucial that the Commission itself was “further energized” in its role of championing gender equality, she added.
In her keynote address, Patricia B. Licuanan, Minister for Higher Education of the Philippines, expressed hope that the “hard-nosed” review of the Beijing outcomes — celebrating gains, recognizing gaps, identifying new and emerging issues, re-affirming the commitment to the Platform and seeking innovative strategies for implantation — would “revitalize” the spirit of Beijing. At the same time, she noted that a number of issues that had been contentious in 1995, such as reproductive and sexual health, remained contentious today.
Also making introductory remarks, Lydia Alpizar, Executive Director of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, stressed that exclusion, gender biases and policy flaws all must be addressed to end structural discrimination against women and girls. Extremism, climate change, economic preponderance of transnational corporations, and the criminalization of dissent posed new and dangerous threats to women, she warned.
When the floor opened for debate, scores of Ministers and other high-level speakers pointed to this moment — a nexus between the twentieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, the culmination of the Millennium Development Goals and the birth of the new sustainable development goals — as a unique opportunity to position gender equality and women’s empowerment in the new agenda.
More specifically, speakers heralded the proposed establishment of a stand-alone Sustainable Development Goal on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, while stressing the need for stringent gender indicators across all of the 17 proposed goals.
“No country has fully achieved gender equality, but each one has useful experiences to share,” said Marite Seile, Minister for Education of Latvia, who spoke on behalf of the European Union. The world had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to place human rights and the empowerment of women and girls on a global level and to deliver tangible results, she said, adding that the new development agenda must “steel” a collective determination to end extreme poverty in one generation, and it must be people-centred, based on human rights and combat discrimination.
Susan Shabangu, Minister for Women of South Africa, speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, agreed that a more holistic approach was needed to address poverty, unemployment, lack of socioeconomic opportunities, gender-based violence and marginalization. An enabling international environment and genuine global cooperation would help developing countries realize their goals and targets, she said.
Still, others drew attention to targeted attacks on women and girls, including those attempting to receive an education. In that connection, Zainab Maina, Minister for Women’s Affairs of Nigeria, referred to the terrorist abduction of the Chibok Girls in her country, which remained a sad and unresolved incident. The Government continued to place a premium on the girls’ recovery and on the well-being of the affected families and communities, she said.
Also making introductory remarks were Pascale Boistard (France), Security Council President; Oh Joon, Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council; Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Song Xuiyan, Vice-Chair of the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council of China, speaking on behalf of the host country of the fourth World Conference on Women; and Yoko Hayashi, Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Alaa Murabit, a representative of the Voice of Libyan Women and member of the UN-Women Global Civil Society Advisory Committee.
Statements in the debate that followed were made by the Vice-Presidents of Iran, Guatemala, Gambia and Zambia.
Also speaking, including at the ministerial level, on behalf of regional groups were representatives of Sudan (on behalf of the African Group); Ecuador (on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States); Guyana (on behalf of the Caribbean Community); Tonga (on behalf of the 12-member Pacific Small Island Development States); Malawi (on behalf of the Southern African Development Community); Brazil (on behalf of Common Market of the South); Guatemala (on behalf of the Central American Integration System); and Brunei Darussalam (on behalf of the Association of South-East Asian Nations).
Additional statements were made by representatives of Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Bahrain, Sweden, South Africa, Liechtenstein, Philippines, China, Germany, Denmark, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Grenada, Niger, France, Malta, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Samoa, Cambodia, Fiji, Viet Nam, Mozambique, Ghana, Ethiopia, Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Indonesia, Algeria, Jamaica, Honduras, Angola, Chile, Morocco, Bolivia and Tonga.
The Commission on the Status of Women will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 10 March, to continue its session.
