‘New issues emerge as Beijing+20 on review’

Twenty years ago when women activists and gender experts met at Beijing, they identified 12 areas to focus on.

Nurul Islam Hasibfrom Bangkokbdnews24.com
Published : 17 Nov 2014, 04:11 AM
Updated : 17 Nov 2014, 04:44 AM

As the review process of those commitments known as ‘Beijing+20’ for the Asia-Pacific countries is set to begin at Bangkok on Monday, activists say much still remains to be done.

But, new issues have emerged to add to the sufferings of the hundreds of thousands of women in the region as they face violence and discrimination in silence.

The conference in 1995 created the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) with policy guidelines and roadmap to reach the desired goal of achieving gender equality.

“It remained an unfinished business,” UNFPA Regional Director for the Asia and the Pacific Nobuko Horibe told a group of journalists now training to report the Beijing+20 issues before the beginning of the review process.

UNFPA and UN WOMEN regional offices for Asia and the Pacific have invited journalists around the region for the training.

The review at the regional level, before global launching in March next year, comes when the global leaders are discussing the post-2015 development goals after the expiry of the MDGs.

In the review process, countries will take stock of their progress and renew their pledge for accelerated actions.

Ministers, political leaders of the UN ESCAP member countries including Bangladesh will join the review along with the officials.
At least 400 NGOs working on women issues will observe their four-day discussions, along with the UN agencies.
“We want strong government leadership to end violence and address gender equality,” UN Women Regional Director Roberta Clarke said.
The Beijing declaration in 1995 included ending poverty, violence, ensuing education, health services, rights for the girl child, and political participation among the 12 areas to address.
Countries failed to address those, but new issues which were not part of the Beijing have emerged, said Cai Yiping, Executive Member of an advocacy group Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN).
She said, for example, migration, HIV and climate change have emerged as new areas of concerns for women, which were not included in Beijing.
This year also marks the ending of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo that adopted a 20-year Programme of Action in 1994 focusing on an individual's needs and rights, rather than on achieving demographic targets.
The UNFPA and the UN Women say there are linkages between these two landmark commitments -- Cairo and Beijing -- as both of them speak about sexual and reproductive health and rights and address poverty and inequalities.
They will push for keeping gender equality and women’s empowerment as the central of the post-2015 sustainable development goals which will be adopted in the next year’s UN general Assembly in September.