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Recommendations on Bracketed Text in the WCW Draft Platform for Action
(A/CONF.177/L.1) August 30, 1995

V. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

290. Effective implementation of the Platform will also require changes in the internal dynamics of governmental, public and private institutions and organizations including values, behaviour, rules and procedures that are inimical to the advancement of women. [retain: Sexual harassment, including treatment of women as sex objects, should be eliminated.]

291. National, sub-regional/regional and international institutions should have strong and clear mandates and the authority, resources and accountability mechanisms needed for the tasks set out in the Platform for Action. Their methods of operation should ensure efficient and effective implementation of the Platform. There should be a clear commitment to international norms and standards of equality [delete: and equity] between women and men as a basis for all actions [delete: with respect to the cultural values of nations].

A. National level

293. Governments have the primary responsibility for implementing the Platform for Action. Commitment at the highest political level is essential to its implementation, and Governments should take a leading role in coordinating, monitoring and assessing progress in the advancement of women. [retain: To this end, governments have been invited to state their own specific national commitments for priority action within the context of the Platform for Action. These specific commitments will result in practical outcomes for women and girls and will ensure that the Fourth World Conference on Women is a conference of commitments. The specific commitments announced by individual governments at the Conference appear in an annex to the report of the Conference.]

295. The active support and participation of a broad and diverse range of other institutional actors should be encouraged, including legislative bodies, academic and research institutions, professional associations, trade unions, cooperatives, local community groups, non-governmental organizations, including women's organizations [retain: and feminist movements], the media, religious groups, youth organizations, cultural groups, as well as financial and nonprofit organizations.

298. non-governmental organizations should be encouraged to contribute to the design and implementation of these strategies or national plans of action. They should also be encouraged to develop their own programs to complement Government efforts. Women's organizations [retain: and feminist movements] in collaboration with other non-governmental organizations should be encouraged to organize networks, as necessary, to advocate for and support the implementation of the Platform for Action by Governments, and regional and international bodies.

B. Sub-regional/Regional level

300. The regional commissions of the United Nations and other sub-regional/regional structures should promote and assist the pertinent national institutions in monitoring and implementing the global Platform for Action within their mandates. This should be done in coordination with the implementation of the respective regional platforms or plans of action and in close collaboration with the Commission on the Status of Women, taking into account the need for a coordinated follow-up to United Nations conferences in the economic, social, [retain: human rights] and related fields.

C. International level

1. United Nations

309. [amend & retain: In undertaking this overall review and effort to renew, reform and revitalize various parts of the United Nations system, (delete: consideration should be given to establishing) a high level post should be established in the office of the Secretary General with the mandate of advising the Secretary General in his or her oversight of system-wide integration of gender concerns and implementation of Platform for Action recommendations. This person should advise the Secretary General on the system-wide achievement of the gender integration goals adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women and set out by previous World Conferences and address United Nations action in all fields.]

310. In following up the Fourth World Conference on Women, all entities of the United Nations system focusing on the advancement of women should have the necessary [retain: resources and support] to carry out follow-up activities. The efforts of gender focal points within organizations should be well integrated into overall policy, planning, programming and budgeting.

[amend & retain: Commission on the Status of Women

318. The General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council are invited to review the mandate of the Commission on the Status of Women, taking into account the Platform for Action as well as the need for (delete: synergy) coordination and interaction with other related Commissions and Conference follow up.

319. As a functional commission assisting the Economic and Social Council, the Commission on the Status of Women should have a central role in monitoring the implementation of the Platform for Action and advising the Council thereon. It should have a clear mandate along with the necessary financial support to permit it to undertake regular monitoring in collaboration with the high-level coordinator in the Secretary General's office and the Division for the Advancement of Women and to enable it to coordinate and review the reporting on implementation of the Platform for Action with relevant agencies of the United Nations system, particularly those concerned with the advancement of women, and various regional and national machineries and focal points.

320. retain: To help the Commission formulate and monitor a systemwide approach to implementation it should receive monitoring reports, including reports from organizations and agencies of the United Nations system. The effect of this would be to make the Commission the gender analysis arm of the Economic and Social Council. This would help strengthen the Council's policy coordination function.

321. retain: The Commission, in developing its work programme for the period 19962000, should review the critical areas of concern in the Platform for Action and prepare its agenda so as to integrate an item on follow up to the World Conference on Women, including gender analysis of critical issues before the United Nations, the content of which would be determined by the issues being taken up by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly.]

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and other treaty bodies

326. Within their mandate, other treaty bodies, should also take due account of the implementation of the Platform for Action and ensure the integration of the equal status and [delete: universal] human rights of women in their work.

2. Other international institutions and organizations

343. [retain: In implementing the Platform for Action, international financial institutions should be encouraged to review and revise policies, procedures and staffing [retain: with a view to providing new and additional resources] to ensure that investments and programmes benefit women and thus contribute to sustainable development. They should [delete: consider] increase[delete:ing] the number of women in high-level positions, increase staff training in gender analysis, and institute policies and guidelines to ensure full consideration of the differential impact of lending programmes and other activities on women and men. The Bretton Woods institutions and other development agencies should be encouraged to have closer cooperation on gender issues in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the international response in this field.]

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