Australia was represented at the High Level Intergovernmental Meeting on Gender Equality held in Bangkok from 16-18 November 2009.
The meeting of Ministers and senior officials was convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) as part of the 15 year review process for the regional implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995) and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000) for the ESCAP region.
Ministers and senior officials from 40 countries reaffirmed their commitment to women’s empowerment with the adoption of the Bangkok Declaration for Beijing +15 [PDF 44 kB] which will intensify the region’s effort to improve the lives of women and girls.
This meeting was one of five regional reviews being undertaken by all five United Nations regional commissions in the lead-up to the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) from 1-12 March 2010. These regional reviews will feed into the 54th CSW meeting which will be reviewing the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and what has been achieved in the 15 years since its adoption.