CSW-44 Beijing +5 PrepCom, New York, Feb-March 2000

Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, President of the Security Council, Kensaku Hogen, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Secretary-General Kofi Annan with Angela King, Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women

Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, President of the UN Security Council, Bangladesh, said the Security Council will intensify and strengthen its support for women's initiatives aimed at promoting peace

Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioer for Human Rights.

She set out what she believes to be the vital preconditions for peace and the component part of what is meant by peace, highlighted the progress that has been made, discussed the need for action and gave illustrations of some of the strategies for combating inequality that have been adopted. She urged States to ratify the optional protocol to CEDAW. She paid tribute to the work of UNIFEM and others who faciliate the participation of women in development and in civil society projects and encourage the development of women's networks and alliances.

UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer (center)

Nane Annan

Angela King

Nora Ahmetaj, Women in Black, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Mayerly Sanchez (15 years old) The Children's Movement for Peace, Colombia, and Adiatu Teresa Deigh, The Sierra Leonne Youth Empowerment Organziation

How can there can be peace without economic equality?

PrepCom Working Groups

The G-77/China (left) speaks with Working Group II Chair A. K. Bhattacharjee, India, before the convening of the working group

UN Security Council President Anwarul Karim Chowdhury read a statement from the Security Council and noted it was an honor to present the Council's first statement on mainstreaming gender issues in all aspects of peace processes. The statement declares that if women are to play an equal part in security and maintaining peace, they must be empowered politically and economically, and represented adequately at all levels of decision-making across all stages of the peace process.

Cuba expressed concern over the Security Council's participation in discussing the advancement of women, maintaining that this issue is primarily the responsibility of the GA and ECOSOC.President Chowdhury responded that he did not feel the UNSC was in any way taking over the work of the GA and ECOSOC, but rather the intention was to emphasize women�s contributions to peace-building and the importance of mainstreaming gender in conflict resolution. He said he hoped the UNSC�s statement would add to other efforts, highlighting that the various organs of the UN must support each other in their mutual objectives.

Bangladesh discusses text with conference participants before the morning session of Working Group I

ENB Summary of CSW-43
Linkages Coverage of the Fourth World Conference on Women
Linkages Coverage of CSW-43
Secretariat web site with official documents and information for NGO participants
ENB's Background Information on CSW-44
Other links (NGOs, research institutes, etc)

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