Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing 1995) and its Follow-ups

The United Nations convened the Fourth World Conference on Women on 4-15 September 1995 in Beijing, China. The principal themes were the advancement and empowerment of women in relation to women’s human rights, women and poverty, women and decision-making, the girl-child, violence against women and other areas of concern. The resulting documents of the Conference are The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Since then, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has systematically reviewed progress in the implementation of the twelve critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action, and has adopted action-oriented recommendations, to facilitate increased implementation at all levels. In particular the Commission acted as the Ad-hoc Preparatory Committee for the 23rd special session of the UN General Assembly (Beijing +5). The ten and fifteen years reviews of the Beijing Platform for Action were carried out by the CSW at its 49th and 54th sessions (2005 and 2010).