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You are here:  AustLII >> Australia >> Journals >> HRD >> 2000 >> [2000] HRD 17

Beijing Plus Five

The special session of the United Nations General Assembly to review the outcomes of the Fourth World Conference on Women

Eileen Pittaway

In June 2000, 186 Government delegations and 4000 representatives from non-government organisations (NGOs) gathered in New York for the Special Sitting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGASS) to review the outcomes of the Fourth World Conference on Women. `Beijing Plus Five' was the culmination of four years' work building on the agreed document from the Beijing conference, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). This document was signed and ratified by all the Governments who attended the Beijing conference, although some did put reservations on their willingness to comply with some of the recommended actions.

In the five years between the Beijing Women's Conference and the UNGASS review, extensive work was done on the BPFA at the annual meetings of the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW) and governments and NGOs were called upon to submit reports on national implementation of commitments made in BPFA. The result of these deliberations and the analysis of the country and NGO reports resulted in a document, the Draft Outcomes Document for UNGASS, Beijing Plus Five, which was presented to Governments for debate at a special meeting of CSW in March 2000. This document outlined achievements made since 1995, listed obstacles for implementation of the BPFA and actions and strategies to further the agenda of raising the status of women internationally.

Work began on this document at the March meeting and continued at several `insessional' meetings prior to UNGASS. The purpose of the June meeting was for governments to finalise and sign the document. Disappointment was expressed by some NGOs who thought that the event was another women's conference, similar to the one held in Beijing. While there was a comprehensive program of NGO events, the real work was that of NGO lobbyists seeking to influence the Outcomes document.

Eileen Pittaway, lecturer in the School of Social Work and Director of the Centre for Refugee Research, UNSW, represented the Asian Women's Human Rights Council at UNGASS. Eileen is co-Chair of the Regional NGO lobby group, Asia Pacific Women's Watch (APWW) and in that capacity was also a member of the UN/NGO International Organising Committee for the meeting.

Linda Bartolomei, a part-time academic at UNSW, represented the Australian National Committee on Refugee Women which works closely with the Centre for Refugee Women, and Maggie Poole-Branchu attended as part of her industry placement as a fourth-year social work student

A major research interest for Eileen and Linda is rape and sexual torture of women in conflict situations. Eileen has worked with international lobby groups since before the Beijing conference, trying to have rape in conflict recognised as a war crime. This was finally recognised in the statutes for the proposed International Criminal Court (ICC) in October 1998. The UN credited the work done by NGO lobby groups at the Beijing Conference as a major contribution to this outcome.

The issue of women and armed conflict was also recognised as a regional priority by APWW. They identified the increase of militarisation and involvement of women in situations of conflict across the region; the systematic use of rape and sexual torture in conflict situations; the conditions of refugee and displaced women and their children; and the lack of recognition of rape and sexual abuse in conflict situations as grounds for refugee status as major causes of concern.

Gains made in the Outcomes of the UNGASS meeting for this target group were: a call for the recognition of gender mainstreaming in immigration policy and with regard to the granting of asylum to refugees; recognition of the role of women in all aspects of the peace process; a call for the ratification the ICC, calling on the Statute to recognise rape in a conflict situation as a crime against humanity and an act of war; a strong condemnation of the use of rape and sexual violence as a tactic in conflict and a commitment to the prosecution of perpetrators (paras 102 l. 122a, a. bis, b. bis.124, 125b. 130c., 130f., 133c-133n). These achievements can be directly traced to the work of the international caucus, many of whom are academics working with NGOs.

Other priorities for the Asia Pacific Region were:

• The negative effects of globalisation, World Trade Organisation (WTO) policy, and the burden of debt on many women in the region, which has led to the increasing feminisation of poverty, in particular affecting rural, indigenous and migrant women.
• The continuing human rights abuses of women: violence against women, rape, trafficking, forced prostitution, honour killings, the marginalisation of minority groups and denial of land rights and reproductive rights.
• The need for a stronger focus on strategies such as gender mainstreaming, educational reform and curricula to ensure access and equity for women to enable their participation in mainstream institutions. The continued low participation of women in politics and decision-making roles.
• Lack of access to adequate basic health services, in particular sexual and reproductive health.
• Lack of recognition of the human rights of indigenous peoples.

The following gains were made with regard to these concerns:

• There was recognition of the negative impacts on women of globalisation and gender differences in ensuring equal access to social protection (paras 110a and 118k)
• The ILO declaration on women's rights at work was also recognised and provides a major step forward for women in the labour force (para 127b).
• Women's right to housing was another major inclusion in the Outcomes document. This gain was the work of an Australian woman, Caroline Lambert (para 135d).
• Honour killings and forced marriage were addressed for the first time in an international consensus document (paras 103d & 130a). Marital rape was also recognised as domestic violence.
• The goals of International Conference on Population Development Plus 5, in particular in regard to women's reproductive health, were re-affirmed. Maternal mortality was made a health sector priority (para 107(a) bis) and there was a renewed commitment to prevent the spread of the HIV Pandemic
  (paras 107g-107i).
• There was a strong call for countries to ratify the optional protocol to CEDAW (para 102 g).
• There was also a marked increase in the recognition of specific needs and rights of indigenous women (paras 103 e 126d bis g, 128h).

Other gains were made and despite a concerted effort by right wing governments and NGO groups opposed to the implementation of human rights, in particular women's human rights, the BPFA was reaffirmed.

The following statement which concluded the NGO Declaration sums up the mood of the women at the meeting.

...We will continue to utilise the Beijing Platform as well as other world conference documents and reviews in our work for women's empowerment and rights. We will also work to hold governments accountable to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and all other human rights treaties and standards. These instruments entail binding obligations to government signatories to respect, promote, protect and fulfil the human rights of women and girls, many of which are elaborated in the Platform for Action. The commitments contained in all these documents are universal, inalienable and indivisible.

The Outcomes document can be found on: www.unifem.undp.org/beijing+5/documents.html

For further information, please contact Eileen Pittaway on +61 2 9385 1949.

Eileen Pittaway has been working in the field of refugee research, especially refugee women, for the past twelve years. She now lectures at the School of Social Work, UNSW. She is co-chair of Asia Pacific Women's Watch.