UN Commission on the Status of Women – 52nd Session – Draft Agreed Conclusions – 2008
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: October 6, 2015
WUNRN
UN
Commission on the Status of Women
Fifty-Second
Session, 25 February – 8 March 2008
DRAFT Agreed Conclusions
Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
8 March 2008
1. The Commission on the Status of Women reaffirms the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action, which emphasized the need for political
commitment to make available human and financial resources for the empowerment
of women and that funding had to be identified and mobilized from all sources
and across all sectors to achieve the goals of gender equality and the
empowerment of women, and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of
the General Assembly, which called upon Governments to incorporate a gender
perspective into the design, development, adoption and execution of all
policies and budgetary processes, as
appropriate, in order to promote equitable, effective and appropriate resource
allocation and establish adequate budgetary allocations to support gender
equality and development programmes that enhance women’s empowerment.
2. The Commission reaffirms the declaration adopted on the
occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women,
which stressed that challenges and obstacles remained in the implementation of
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome documents of
the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, and pledged to
undertake further action to ensure their full and accelerated implementation.
3. The Commission recalls the outcome of
the International Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey in
2002, which affirms inter alia, that a holistic approach to the interconnected
national, international and systemic challenges of financing for development –
sustainable, gender-sensitive, people-centered development – in all parts of the globe is essential.
4. The Commission also recalls the 2005 World Summit, and
reaffirms that the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of
the General Assembly, the International Conference on Population and
Development and other United Nations summits and relevant Conferences are essential
contributions to achieve the internationally agreed development goals,
including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, in particular, on the
promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
5. The Commission reaffirms the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and takes note of the work of the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women towards the
practical realization of the principle of equality between women and men and
girls and boys.
6. The Commission also reaffirms that
states have primary responsibility for promoting gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls and that gender mainstreaming and national
machineries are necessary and play a critical role in the implementation of the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and that for national machineries
to be effective, a strong institutional framework with clear mandates, location
at the highest possible level,
accountability mechanisms, partnership with civil society, a transparent
political process, adequate financial and human resources and continued strong
political commitment are crucial.
7. The Commission recalls that the Platform
for Action recognizes that its implementation requires adequate financial
resources committed at the national and international level, and that
strengthening national capacities in developing countries in this regard
requires striving for the fulfillment of the agreed targets of overall official
development assistance from developed countries as soon as possible. The
Commission also recognizes the importance of the full utilization of all
sources of development finance.
8. The Commission also recognizes the importance of gender
mainstreaming as a tool for achieving gender equality and to that end the need
to promote the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all
political, economic and social spheres, and to strengthen the capabilities of
the United Nations system in the area of gender.
9. The Commission on the Status of Women reaffirms that gender
equality and the promotion and protection of the full enjoyment of all human
rights and fundamental freedoms for all are essential to advance development,
peace and security, and stresses that peace is inextricably linked to equality
between women and men and development.
10. The Commission reaffirms that the promotion and protection of,
and respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, including
the right to development, which are universal, indivisible, interdependent and
interrelated, should be mainstreamed into all policies and programmes aimed at
the eradication of poverty, and reaffirms as well the need to take measures to
ensure that every person is entitled to participate in, to contribute to and to
enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development.
11. The
Commission notes the growing body of evidence which demonstrates that investing
in women and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity, efficiency and
sustained economic growth, and that increasing women’s economic empowerment is
central to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and to poverty
eradication and recognizes that adequate resources need to be allocated at all
levels, mechanisms and capacities strengthened and gender-responsive policies
enhanced to fully utilize the multiplier effect.
12. The Commission further
reaffirms the goals aimed at reducing maternal and child mortality, combating
HIV/AIDS and improving maternal health by 2015 as contained in the Millennium
Development Goals, and reaffirms the goal to achieve universal access to
reproductive health as set out in the International Conference on Population
and Development, which are critical to the promotion of gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls.
13. The
Commission recalls the recognition by the Platform for Action, of the role of
the United Nations, including funds, programmes and specialized agencies, in
particular the special roles of UNIFEM and INSTRAW, within their respective
mandates, as well as recognizes the role of the Office of the Special Adviser
on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and the Division for the Advancement of Women as part of the United Nations system in the promotion of gender equality
and the empowerment of women and therefore in the implementation of the
Platform for Action.
14. The Commission further recalls that the Bretton Woods
Institutions, other financial institutions, and the private sector also have an
important role to play in ensuring that financing for development promotes
gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
15. The Commission recognizes the importance of
non-governmental organizations, as well as other civil society actors, in
advancing the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action.
16. The Commission is concerned that insufficient political
commitment and budgetary resources pose obstacles to promoting gender equality
and women’s empowerment and continue to undermine the effectiveness and
sustainability of both national mechanisms for the advancement of women and
women’s organizations in advocating for, implementing, supporting and
monitoring the effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General
Assembly.
17. The Commission is concerned about the growing
feminization of poverty, and reiterates that eradicating poverty is the
greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable
requirement for sustainable development, in particular for developing countries,
including the least developed countries.
In this regard, the Commission stresses that achieving the
Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals
is a global effort that requires
investing sufficient resources for
gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
18. The Commission remains concerned about the lingering negative
consequences, including for women, of structural adjustment programmes,
stemming from inappropriate design and application.
19. The Commission expresses its concern at the under-resourcing
in the area of gender equality in the United Nations system, including UNIFEM
and INSTRAW, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement
of Women and the Division for the Advancement of Women, and stresses the need
for more effective tracking of resources allocated to and spent on enhancing
gender equality and the empowerment of women across the United Nations system,
including on gender mainstreaming.
20. The Commission states that the global commitments for the
achievement of gender equality and empowerment of women since the Fourth World
Conference on Women, including through the Monterrey Consensus, have yet to be
fully implemented.
21. The Commission urges Governments and/or, as appropriate, the
relevant funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations
system within their respective mandates, and invites the international
financial institutions, civil society and non-governmental organizations, and the
private sector, bearing in mind national priorities, to take the following
actions
a. Increase the
investment in gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, taking
into account the diversity of needs and circumstances of women and girls,
including through mainstreaming a gender perspective in resource allocation and
ensuring the necessary human, financial, and material resources for specific
and targeted activities to ensure gender equality at the local, national,
regional and international levels as well as by enhanced and increased
international cooperation;
b. Ensure that
sufficient resources are allocated for activities targeting the elimination of
persistent obstacles to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls
in all critical areas of concern of the Platform for Action;
c. Design and
strengthen poverty eradication strategies, with the full and effective
participation of women, that reduce the feminization of poverty and enhance the
capacity of women and empower them to meet the negative social and economic
impacts of globalization;
d. Create an
environment where women and girls can fully share the benefits from the
opportunities offered by globalization;
e. Integrate a gender perspective in the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation and reporting of all national
economic policies, strategies and plans, in a coordinated manner across all
policy areas, including in national development, social protection and poverty
reduction strategies, and involve national mechanisms for the advancement of
women and women’s organizations in the design and development of such policies,
strategies and plans with the goal of gender equality and the empowerment of
women;
f. Incorporate gender perspectives into all economic
policy-making and increase participation of women in economic governance
structures and processes to ensure policy coherence and adequate resources for
gender equality and the empowerment of women;
g. Give priority to assisting the efforts of developing
countries, including least developed countries, to ensure the full and
effective participation of women in deciding and implementing development
strategies and integrating gender concerns into national programmes, including
by providing adequate resources to operational activities for development in
support of the efforts to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women;
h. Remove barriers and allocate adequate resources to enable
the full representation and full and equal participation of women in political,
social and economic decision-making and in administrative entities, in
particular those responsible for economic and public finance policies, so as to
guarantee the full and equal participation of women in the formulation of all
plans, programmes and policies;
i. Strengthen the capacities and mandates of institutional
frameworks and accountability mechanisms, including of national machineries for
the advancement of women, and ensure that they are continuously and adequately
resourced and given the necessary authority to carry out their critical role in
advocating for, supporting, monitoring and evaluating the integration of gender
perspectives in all policy areas and the implementation of gender equality
plans, programmes and legislation;
j. Strengthen a coordinated and institutionalized dialogue
between national mechanisms for the advancement of women, relevant governmental
agencies and entities, including ministries of finance and planning, and their
gender focal points, and women’s organizations, to ensure the integration of
gender perspectives into all national development policies, plans and
budgets;
k. Cost and adequately resource national policies, programmes,
strategies and plans for gender equality and the empowerment of women,
including the gender mainstreaming and affirmative action strategies, and
ensure that they are incorporated into overall national development strategies
and reflected in relevant sector plans and budgets to achieve international and
regional commitments for gender equality, including Millennium Development Goal
3;
l. Allocate resources for capacity development in gender
mainstreaming in all ministries and particularly within national women’s
machineries and finance ministries, and, as appropriate, local authorities, to
ensure that domestic resource mobilization and allocation is carried out in a
gender-responsive manner, and reinforce national efforts in capacity-building
in social and gender budget policies;
m. Improve, systematize and fund the collection, analysis and
dissemination of sex-disaggregated and gender-related data, including
disaggregated by age and other factors, and on women’s contribution to the care
economy, and develop necessary input, output and outcome indicators at all
levels to measure progress in financing gender equality and the empowerment of
women, in particular, in introducing and implementing gender-responsive
approaches to public finance;
n. Undertake and disseminate gender analysis of policies and
programmes related to macroeconomic stability, structural adjustment, external
debt problems, taxation, investments, employment, markets and all relevant
sectors of the economy, and support and facilitate research in these areas,
with a view to achieving the objectives of the Platform for Action and with
respect to their impact on poverty, on inequality and particularly on women, as
well as to assess their impact on family well-being and conditions and adjust
them, as appropriate, to promote more equitable distribution of productive
assets, wealth, opportunities, income and services;
o. Carry out gender-sensitive analysis of revenues and
expenditures in all policy areas, take into account the review and evaluation
results in budget planning, allocation, and revenue-raising, so as to enhance
the contribution of government expenditures to
accelerating the full and effective implementation of the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action;
p. Develop and implement, where appropriate, methodologies and
tools, including national indicators, for gender-responsive planning and
budgeting, in order to systematically incorporate gender perspectives into
budgetary policies at all levels, with a view to promoting gender equality in
all policy areas;
q. Urges developed countries that have not yet done so in
accordance with their commitments, to make concrete efforts towards meeting the
target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product for official development
assistance to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of their gross
national product to least developed countries, and encourages developing
countries to build on the progress achieved in ensuring that official
development assistance is used effectively to help meet development goals and
targets, inter alia, to assist them in achieving gender equality and the
empowerment of women;
r. Ensure the effective and equitable participation of
developing countries in the formulation of financial standards and codes, with
a view to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women;
s. Strengthen focus and impact of development assistance
specifically targeting gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in line with national development
priorities through both gender mainstreaming and funding of targeted activities
and enhanced dialogue on these issues between donors and developing countries,
and strengthen mechanisms to effectively measure resources allocated to
incorporating gender perspectives in all sectors and thematic areas of
development assistance;
t. Encourage the integration of gender perspectives in aid
modalities and efforts to enhance aid delivery mechanisms;
u. Identify and implement development-oriented and durable
solutions which integrate a gender perspective to external debt and
debt-servicing problems of developing countries, including least developed
countries, inter alia, through debt
relief, including the option of official development assistance debt cancellation,
in order to help them to finance programmes and projects targeted at
development, including the advancement of women;
v. Encourage international financial institutions to continue
to take gender perspectives into account in the design of loans, grants,
projects, programmes and strategies;
w. Identify and address the differential impact of trade
policies on women and men and incorporate gender perspectives in the
formulation, implementation and evaluation of trade policies, develop
strategies to expand trade opportunities for women producers, and facilitate
the active participation of women in national, regional and international trade
decision-making structures and processes;
x. Undertake gender-sensitive assessments of national labour
laws, policies and programmes, and establish gender-sensitive policies and
guidelines for employment practices, including those of transnational
corporations, building on appropriate multilateral instruments, including the
ILO Conventions;
y. Allocate adequate resources for the elimination of all forms
of discrimination against women in the workplace including unequal access to
labour market participation and wage inequalities, as well as reconciliation of
work and private life for both women and men;
z. Establish and fund active labour market policies devoted to
the promotion of full and productive employment and decent work for all,
including the full participation of women in all international and national
development and poverty eradication strategies, the creation of more and better
jobs for women, both urban and rural, and their inclusion in social protection
and social dialogue;
aa. Take measures to develop, finance, implement, monitor and evaluate
gender-responsive policies and programmes aimed at promoting women’s
entrepreneurship and private initiative, including through microfinance,
microcredit and cooperatives, and assist women-owned businesses in
participating in and benefiting from, inter alia, international trade,
technological innovation and transfer, investment, as well as knowledge and
skills training;
bb. Fully maximize the role of, as well as ensure access to,
microfinance tools, including microcredit for poverty eradication, generation
of employment and especially for the empowerment of women, encourage the
strengthening of existing and emerging microcredit institutions and their
capacities, including through the support of international financial
institutions, and ensure that best practices are widely disseminated;
cc. Undertake legislative and administrative
reforms to give women full and equal access to economic resources, including
the rights to inheritance and to ownership of land and other property, credit,
natural resources and appropriate technologies;
dd. Take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination
against women and increase their access to and control over bank loans,
mortgages and other forms of financial credit, giving special attention to
poor, uneducated women; support women’s access to legal assistance; encourage
the financial sector to mainstream gender perspectives in their policies and
programmes; ensure women’s full and equal access to training and productive
resources and social protection; and facilitate equal access of women, particularly
women in developing and least developed countries, to markets at all
levels;
ee. Strengthen education, health, and social services and
effectively utilize resources to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of
women and ensure women’s and girls’ rights to education at all levels and the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,
including sexual and reproductive health, as well as quality, affordable and
universally accessible health care and services, particularly primary
healthcare;
ff. Address the overall expansion and feminization of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic and taking into account that women and girls bear a
disproportionate share of the burden imposed by the HIV/AIDS crisis, that they
are most easily infected, that they play a key role in care and that they have
become more vulnerable to violence, stigma and discrimination, poverty and
marginalization from their families and communities as a result of the HIV/AIDS
crisis and, in this regard, scale up significantly towards the goal of
universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and
support by 2010, and to ensure these efforts integrate and promote gender
equality;
gg. Ensure adequate financing for women’s full, equal and effective
participation at all levels in conflict prevention, management, conflict
resolution, peace negotiations and peacebuilding, including adequate national
and international funding to ensure proper access to disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration and other relevant programmes, for women and
girls;
hh. Reduce excessive military expenditures, including global
military expenditures, trade in arms and investment for arms production and
acquisition, taking into consideration national security requirements, so as to
permit the possible allocation of additional funds for social and economic
development, including, inter alia, for gender equality and the advancement of
women;
ii. Ensure adequate resources are allocated for activities
targeting persistent serious obstacles to the advancement of women in
situations of armed conflicts and conflicts of other types, wars of aggression,
foreign occupation, colonial or other alien domination, as well as terrorism;
jj. Integrate a gender perspective in the design,
implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of national environmental
policies, strengthen mechanisms and provide adequate resources to ensure
women’s full and equal participation in decision-making at all levels of
environmental issues, and in particular strategies related to the impact of
climate change on the lives of women and girls;
kk. Strengthen coordination, accountability, effectiveness and
efficiency of the United Nations system for the achievement of gender equality
and the empowerment of women, including through more effective mainstreaming in
all aspects and enhancing its capacity to effectively assist States, upon their
request, in implementing their programmes on gender equality and the
empowerment of women, and, to that end, make adequate and reliable human and
financial resources available;
ll. Create and enhance a supportive environment for the
mobilization of resources by non-governmental organizations, particularly
women’s organizations and networks, to enable them to increase their
effectiveness and to contribute to gender equality and the empowerment of
women, including through assisting in the implementation of the Platform for
Action and participating in policy processes and programme delivery;
mm. Provide assistance to States parties to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, upon their request,
to support the implementation of States parties’ obligations under the
Convention.
22. The Commission invites the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women to continue to
give, while exercising its mandated functions, due consideration to
financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women in its work.
23. The Commission requests Member States,
with a view to strengthening financing for gender equality and the empowerment
of women, to integrate gender perspectives in the preparations for and outcome
of the “Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to
Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus”, to be held in Qatar in
2008.
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