ENB:14:21
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CONFERENCE OF COMMITMENTS
Paragraph 293 of the Platform for Action states that governments are primarily responsible for the implementation of the Platform for Action and calls for commitments by governments and the international community. Responding to this paragraph, and to a campaign led by Australia and NGOs, numerous governments pledged during their Plenary statements to dedicate activities and resources to the goals of the FWCW. The following is a sampling of commitments announced, as compiled by a group of NGOs. (The entire commitments list is available on the Internet at <<http://www.igc.apc.org/womensnet/beijing/com1.html>>).
Australia: Working women's centers in all states, Task Force on women and communication technologies, and address health inequalities for indigenous women. Austria: nationwide women's counseling centers, enact law against family violence, and extension of the constitution to include equality and affirmative action for women. Belize: include unremunerated contributions of women in the GDP, and develop laws to protect women from sexual harassment. Cambodia: gender parity in peace negotiations and conflict resolution, and elimination of discriminatory economic laws.
Central African Republic: create network of women ministers and parliamentarians for follow-up. Chile: implement equality policies with an equal opportunities plan. Côte d'Ivoire: create a development fund and women's bank for women's agriculture and business, and 100% of girls enrolled in schools by 2000.
Cyprus: strengthen national women's rights machinery. Denmark: continue 1% of GNP development assistance commitment focusing on poverty elimination and emphasizing women's roles. Equatorial Guinea: laws to protect women in marital separation, widowhood, inheritance, family planning, forced marriage and childlessness. Estonia: implement the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and establish the legal basis for equal salary conditions.
Fiji: 50% participation of women in representation, training, appointments and promotions at all levels of government, and additional resources for women's self-employment through expanded government credit. Finland: comprehensive plan for preventing and eliminating violence against women, healing victims and rehabilitating offenders. Germany: $10 million per year for four years for legal and socio-political counseling in developing countries focusing on women, and a national follow-up conference. Ghana: legislation to protect women's property rights, and adult literacy classes for women.
Iceland: prioritized and direct measures to implement legislation to improve the status of women. India: increase education investment to 6% of GDP with focus on women and girls, and set up a commissioner for women's rights. Ireland: mainstream gender in increasing ODA. Italy: incorporate gender policies into activities funded by public development aid.
Jamaica: prioritized poverty alleviation in the national agenda, and ensure women's equality and full participation in all aspects of national life. Japan: pursue Initiative on Women in Development regarding educational standards, health and social participation, and strengthen Asian Women's Fund to combat violence against women. Kenya: improve quality of women's and girls' education. Democratic People's Republic of Korea: consolidate and follow up successes already achieved.
Latvia: appoint official to monitor adherence to CEDAW, and amend labor codes related to childcare, welfare for mothers and other areas. Lebanon: increase women in decision making to minimum of 30% and women wood plot owners around homesteads to 90% by 2000. Lesotho: remove restrictions on women's ability to obtain credit and do business, and incorporate gender issues into the school curriculum. Liechtenstein: promote NGO work on women's equality, and eliminate discriminatory legislation concerning citizenship.
Luxembourg: open a center for young women victims of violence or sexual abuse, and increase ODA to 0.7% of GDP by 2000. Mongolia: reduce maternal mortality by 50% and infant mortality by 33% from 1990 levels by 2000, and convene national assembly on women's development in 1996 to formulate a national implementation strategy for the Platform for Action. Mauritania: adopt a strategy to combat women's poverty. Mozambique: permanent support for implementation of projects and programmes towards women's development.
Nepal: develop legislation giving women equal rights related to ancestral property laws, implement a programme for universal literacy and a reduced dropout rate in the next five years. Nigeria: consider establishing a university for women, consider establishing an insurance scheme for women experiencing divorce, widowhood and other unforeseen circumstances. Norway: realize a genderized 20/20 contract as defined at the Social Summit, and commit to the entire Platform for Action. Philippines: increase annual contribution to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and allocate a portion of government annual budget to women-specific and gender oriented programmes.
Poland: fight women's unemployment, and provide equal access to managerial positions. Singapore: offer home economics courses to both male and female students, and encourage employers to support family life programmes at the workplace. Swaziland: accelerate implementation of Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies. St. Lucia: encourage and involve women in government decision making.
South Africa: ratify CEDAW, and increase provision of shelters for battered women. Suriname: minimize negative effects of economic crisis and structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) on women and other vulnerable groups. Tanzania: set goals in enrollment, completion, illiteracy reduction and gender disparities in education, and revise all discriminatory laws and enact non-discriminatory ones. Thailand: develop a plan of action to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform, and integrate women and social development into the eighth national economic and social development plan.
Turkey: remove legislative provisions against gender equality, and increase women's literacy by 2% by 2000. UK: make an effort to integrate gender into policies and programmes, increase childcare by 20% (50,000 places) by March 1996. US: establish a White House Council on Women to implement the Platform and a six-year $1.5 billion initiative to fight domestic violence and other crimes against women. Venezuela: plan and execute programmes to address and eliminate causes of violence, and guarantee women's equal opportunity in science, technology and culture. Zambia: increase women's access to credit, and achieve parity in girls and boys school enrollment by 2005. Holy See: focus Catholic social welfare institutions on literacy, education, health and nutrition.