Introduction to Key Ressources
Brief introductions to key Resource Documents
Two binding UN Conventions, CEDAW* and CRC*, plus the Beijing Platform for Action and UN CSW; the Women, Peace & Security Resolution 1325; & the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Agenda 2030, leaving no one behind.
*1) UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, New York, (CEDAW), 18 December 1979
« The Convention was the culmination of more than thirty years of work by the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, a body
established in 1946 to monitorthe situation of women and to promote women’s rights. The Commission’s work has been instrumental in bringing to light all the areas in which women are denied equality with men. These efforts for the advancement of women have resulted in several declarations and conventions, of which the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is the
central and most comprehensive document. 42 years later, where do we stand today? More: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cedaw.aspx
*2) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted and opened for signature, ratification on 20 November 1989
« The Convention is an international agreement which comprises 44 articles defining the individual rights of children under 18 years of age. It was adopted by the UNGeneral Assembly in 1989 and followed by the World Summit for Children in New York in September 1990. The World Summit for Children was an unprecedented gathering of 71Heads of State and governments to discuss the fate and future of children, without regard to race, color, sex, language, religion, political or another opinion, national ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth, or another status. 31 years later we are asking “Where have all the promises gone”? More: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
*3) UN Fourth World Conference on Women / Beijing Women’s Platform For Action (BPA) – September 1995
Since the Beijing Women’s Conference, the implementation of the Platform for Action has been assessed by the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
each year, and through a review process carried out every five years, reaffirming States’ commitment to its full implementation. https://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/brief-history
CSW66 – 2022: The Commission on the Status of Women Session (14-25 Mach 2022)
Priority theme: Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies, and programs.
Review theme: Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work (agreed conclusions of the sixty-first session).
Excerpt from the CSW65 Report (15-26 March 2021) and Agreed conclusions:
Theme 2021: “Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. Link to the 2021 Agreed conclusions: (E/2021/27-E/CN.6/2021/14)
Excerpt from the 2021 Agreed Conclusions (Para 9):
“The Commission emphasizes the mutually reinforcing relationship among achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and the full, effective, and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It acknowledges that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and women’s full, equal, effective, and meaningful participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, are essential for achieving sustainable development, promoting economic growth and productivity, ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions everywhere and ensuring the well-being of all. It recognizes that women and girls play a vital role as agents for sustainable development”.
*4) Women and Peace and Security (WPS) – Report of the Secretary-General, 27 September 2021
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/S_2021_827_E.pdf
The 2021 report “follows up on the Secretary-General’s directives to the United Nations and the five goals for the decade laid out in the report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace, and Security from 2019 and 2020, paying special attention to the goal of reversing the upward trajectory in global military spending with a view to encouraging greater investment in the social infrastructure and services that buttress human security. It recognizes that there are remaining gaps related to the implementation of the WPS agenda, and which could increase “unless targeted efforts are integrated into COVID-19 recovery efforts.”
The report notes that “even though the response to the COVID-19 pandemic added to the evidence of the effectiveness of women’s leadership at the highest levels, women continued to be underrepresented in that response and in other decision-making forums, pushed out of the workforce and subjected to a surge of violence across the world as soon as lock-downs and quarantines were put into effect.”
The report also recognizes that “gender equality is a question of power”, that “power will not redistribute itself equally in a male-dominated world”, and that “there are clearly persistent gaps and stagnation in women’s participation in political leadership, peace and security and access to economic resources and decision-making.” The report recalls that women and peace and security represent a core priority of the Secretary-General’s Action for Peacekeeping initiative and that “the focus on increasing the number of women active in peace operations must continue”.
“Initiatives by Governments across the world to integrate gender equality into the reform of their security sectors are a crucial part of this effort.”
*5) Sustainable Development Goals-Agenda 2030 – 17 Goals – #ForPeopleForPlanet
« The Sustainable Development Goals
are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere. The 17Goals were adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which set out a 15-year plan to achieve the Goals. Today, progress is being made in many places, but, overall, action to meet the Goals is not yet advancing at the speed or scale required. 2022 needs to create ambitious action to deliver the Goals by 2030. With just under ten years left to achieve the Goals, world leaders at the SDG Summit in September 2019 called for a Decade of Action and delivery for sustainable development and pledged to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the Goals by the target date of 2030. The UN Secretary-General called on all sectors of society to mobilize for a decade of action on three levels: global action to secure greater leadership, more resources, and smarter solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals; local action embedding the needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities; and people action, including by youth, civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia, and other stakeholders, to generate an unstoppable movement pushing for the required transformations. »
More: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/
| The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021
https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2021.pdf Excerpt: “As the pandemic continues to unfold, the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021 outlines some significant impacts in many areas that are already apparent. The global extreme poverty rate rose for the first time in over 20 years, and 119 to 124 million people were pushed back into extreme poverty in 2020. There is a risk of a generational catastrophe regarding schooling, where an additional 101 million children have fallen below the minimum reading proficiency level, potentially wiping out two decades of education gains. Women have faced increased domestic violence, child marriage is projected to rise after a decline in recent years, and unpaid and underpaid care work is increasingly and disproportionately falling on the shoulders of women and girls, impacting educational and income opportunities and health. Notwithstanding the global economic slowdown, concentrations of major greenhouse gases continue to increase. With the global average temperature reaching about 1.2o C above pre-industrial levels, the climate crisis has well and truly arrived, and its impacts are being felt across the world. The pandemic has also brought immense financial challenges, especially for developing countries – with a significant rise in debt distress and dramatic decreases in foreign direct investment and trade.” – António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations |
Concept Note 75% Campaign PDF 6 Pages
LINKS TO EACH CONCEPT THEME:
Why 75%A4GI claim a seat at the table
“Women in leadership must be the norm”