The Office for Women led Australia’s delegation to the 54th CSW and 15 year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Australia was represented at the 54th Commission of the Status of Women (CSW) in New York from 1-12 March 2010 by a delegation comprising representatives from the Office for Women, the Equal Employment for Women in the Workplace Agency, AusAID, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and the Human Rights Commission.
Also included on the Australian Government delegation were three community representatives, two of whom are Indigenous women, Mary O’Reeri and Leanne Miller, and a community expert, Carole Shaw.
This year CSW celebrated the 15 year mid-term review of the Beijing Platform for Action. This was an opportunity to review the Beijing Platform for Action internationally and for Australia to share its achievements in ensuring women’s equality and empowerment.
As part of the 15 year review process of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, in November 2009 the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) convened a meeting of Ministers and senior officials from 40 countries in the ESCAP region. This meeting reaffirmed the commitment to women’s empowerment with the adoption of the Bangkok Declaration of Beijing +15 [PDF 44kB]
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted at the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. It is an internationally agreed plan for achieving equality for women across 12 critical areas – poverty, education and training, health, the economy, power and decision-making, human rights, armed conflict, institutional mechanisms, the environment, women and the media, violence against women; and the girl child.
Australia was actively involved in the two previous reviews, Beijing +5 in 2000 and Beijing +10 in 2005, as well as annual UN Commission on the Status of Women meetings.
The Office for Women has also funded a series of community consultations and an on-line survey on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action by JERA International. Women and men from around Australia have provided their views on how the Beijing Platform for Action is being implemented in Australia. The findings from the consultations have informed the Australian Government’s preparations for the regional and global review of the Beijing Platform for Action.
In its role as Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, the Australian Government is also supporting Pacific women’s machineries to prepare for and engage in CSW 54/Beijing +15. This support includes:
- funding a Beijing +15 review report that consolidates Pacific Island country responses to the Beijing Platform for Action regional review questionnaire and provides a synthesis of the critical areas of concern for Pacific Island nations to take forward at CSW 54 (Beijing +15);
- funding for the flights for two Pacific Island delegates to attend CSW54 in New York; and
- providing on-the-ground support at CSW54 in the form of hosting a Pacific Islands Side Event and a preparatory workshop for Pacific delegates to assist with their engagement with CSW.