Under the theme “Beijing at Ten: Achieving Gender Equality, Development and Peace”, the review and appraisal focused on implementation at the national level, review of achievements, identification of gaps and challenges, and providing an indication of areas where actions and initiatives, within the framework of the Platform for Action and the outcome of the special session (Beijing +5), were most urgent for further implementation. As the outcome of the ten-year review, delegates adopted a declaration emphasizing that the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is essential to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SESSION

ESCWA’s preparations for Beijing +10 were launched in two phases.

During the first phase, ESCWA:

In December 2003, and as part of the First Session of the ESCWA Committee on Women, ESCWA organized the first preparatory meeting for Beijing +10, which was held in Beirut with the aim of monitoring the progress achieved in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Arab Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women, by reviewing, examining and assessing achievements and defining the challenges that prevented the realization of goals set up in 1995. On the basis of suggestions presented by Arab countries, ESCWA prepared a document in which new actions and initiatives were recommended to overcome the challenges hindering the empowerment of Arab women in order to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Arab Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women to the Year 2005.

Recommendations of member countries to ESCWA during the First Session of the Committee on Women held in Beirut on 4-5 December 2003 were to formulate a comprehensive preparatory programme for Beijing +10 through the organization of national, subregional and regional training workshops, and to increase its commitment to cooperation and coordination with LAS, UNIFEM, CAWTAR and the Arab Women’s Organization (AWO) in all evaluation and follow-up activities of the Beijing +10 conference. In accordance with this, ESCWA collaborated with the partners mentioned in organizing a Regional Training Workshop on Preparation of National Reports for the Ten-year Review of the Beijing Conference (Beijing +10). The workshop took place in Cairo from 28 March to 1 April 2004 and brought together government officials responsible for the preparation of national reports.

ESCWA also organized in collaboration with the national machineries for women (committees, commissions or councils on women), national workshops to support the process of developing national reports for Beijing +10.

During the second phase, and pursuant to General Assembly resolution 58/148 of 22 December 2003 on the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the Twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly, ESCWA organized the Arab Regional Conference Ten Years After Beijing: Call for Peace, in Beirut, from 8 to 10 July 2004. The Conference endorsed the Beirut Declaration on Arab Women Ten Years After Beijing: Call for Peace, after its adoption by the Committee on Women at its second session, which was held as part of the Conference. The Beirut Declaration was to be implemented during the following ten years until 2015, in the implementation process of the Beijing Platform for Action, with a view to empower women, improve their situation and increase their participation in the political, economic and social fields. As part of ESCWA’s continuing gender media campaign to raise awareness of gender issues, a 40-minute documentary entitled “Waves in the History of Arab Women” was also broadcast during the conference.

THE SESSION AND BEYOND

During the forty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women held in New York in March 2005, ESCWA presented the findings of the “Arab Regional Ten-year Review and Appraisal of Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action”.

In an effort to throw light on the achievements that have been realized, detail obstacles and challenges, and affirm the importance of continuing work along the lines set forth in the Beirut Declaration on Arab Women 10 Years after Beijing: Call for Peace, ESCWA prepared a questionnaire which was distributed to Arab governments in July 2006 and which included questions on a number of themes such as institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women, national legislation and international agreements, the economic empowerment of women, the political empowerment of women, gender-disaggregated data, and women in the media. Based on country responses, a report entitled “Arab Women: Status, Challenges and Future Prospects – Outcome of the Review and Evaluation of Implementation of Beijing Platform for Action and Beirut Declaration in the period between July 2004 and December 2006” was developed and presented at the Third Session of the Committee on Women.