The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is a comprehensive plan for the international community to promote the status of women to the ultimate benefit of society as a whole. It is a powerful agenda for the empowerment of women, calling for the integration of gender perspectives in all policies and programs.
In the declaration, governments recognize the leading role that women have played in the peace movement, call for elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls and pledge to intensify efforts to ensure equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms for women and girls.
The Platform for Action identifies objectives and actions in 12 critical areas of concern: poverty, education, health, violence, armed and other conflicts, economic participation, power-sharing and decision-making, national and international machineries, human rights, mass media, environment and development and the needs of the girl-child.
Recommendations are addressed to various elements of the international community, particularly governments, international financial institutions, bilateral donors, the private sector, academic and research institutions, nongovernmental organizations and the mass media.
This wide range of measures is intended to hasten the removal of the remaining obstacles to women's full and equal participation in all spheres of life, to protect women's human rights and to integrate their concerns into all aspects of sustainable development.
The draft resolution was adopted without a vote after nine days of deliberation.
