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GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS

The Third Committee of the General Assembly adopted a draft resolution submitted by the Chair on "Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action" (A/C.3/50/L.64) on Wednesday, 13 December 1995. The operative part of the resolution takes note of the report of the Conference and endorses the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action as adopted by the Conference. The resolution calls upon States, the UN system and all other actors to implement the Platform for Action, particularly by promoting an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective at all levels. It stresses that governments have the primary responsibility for implementing the Platform for Action and should develop comprehensive implementation strategies or plans of action no later than 1996. States, with the assistance of NGOs, are called on to disseminate widely the Beijing Declaration and Platform. NGOs are encouraged to contribute to the design and implementation of strategies and national plans of action.

The resolution also:

invites ECOSOC to consider reviewing the institutional capacity of the UN regional commissions to deal with gender-related issues in the light of the Platform for Action;

reaffirms that adequate financial resources should be committed at the international level for the implementation of the Platform in developing countries and in countries with economies in transition;

calls upon those States committed to the 20:20 initiative to integrate a gender perspective fully into its implementation;

decides that the General Assembly, ECOSOC and the CSW shall constitute a three-tiered intergovernmental mechanism that will play the primary role in the overall policy-making and follow-up to the Conference;

invites ECOSOC to consider devoting one high-level segment, one coordination segment and one operational segment, before the year 2000, to implementation of the outcomes of the Conference as well as to review and strengthen the mandate of the Commission on the Status of Women; and

requests the CSW to develop its multi-year programme of work for the period 1996-2000 at its fortieth session so that it can review the critical areas of concern in the Platform and consider how to integrate the follow-up of the Conference into its programme of work.

The resolution requests the Secretary-General to do the following:

assume responsibility for the coordination of policy within the UN system for the implementation of the Platform for Action;

disseminate the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action as widely as possible;

report to the General Assembly on ways to enhance the capacity of the UN system to support follow-up to the Conference;

ensure the more effective functioning of the Division for the Advancement of Women;

cooperate with the Administrator of UNDP to ask the resident coordinators to apply a gender perspective in integrating the follow-up to the FWCW into coordinated follow-up to recent global UN conferences.

Finally, the resolution: requests the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women to take into account the Platform for Action when considering reports submitted by States Parties; requests the international financial institutions to review and revise their policies, procedures and staffing to ensure that investments and programmes benefit women; and invites the World Trade Organization to consider how it might contribute to the implementation of the Programme for Action.

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