Beijing at 15 Online Discussions on the Critical Areas of Concern

The Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) invites you to participate in online discussions on the Critical Areas of Concern as a contribution to the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action at the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women from 1-12 March 2010. Similar online discussions were organized by IANWGE in preparation for the 5-year and 10-year review processes in 2000 and 2005.

At its fifty-fourth session, the Commission on the Status of Women decided to review implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, emphasizing the sharing of experiences and good practices, with a view to overcoming remaining obstacles and new challenges, including those related to the Millennium Development Goals. The review will also focus on how the implementation of the Platform for Action contributes to the full achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

The online discussions provide fora for individuals, groups and networks not able to attend the Commission on the Status of Women to contribute to the review. They allow a range of stakeholders to share information on achievements, measures taken and good practices developed at national and regional levels; and identify gaps and challenges requiring further action. The DPKO Gender Advisory Team is moderating one of the online discussions through the GENDERNET Community of Practice. The discussion that will take place will be focused on Women in Armed Conflict.

The Beijing Platform for Action, adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, identified the effects of armed conflict on women as one of 12 critical areas of concern requiring action by governments and the international community, and stressed the need to promote the equal participation of women in conflict resolution at decision-making levels.

The first topic to be addressed from 6th January, is 'creative solutions for increasing the participation of women in peacekeeping, peace-building, pre- and post-conflict decision-making and conflict prevention.

To participate please go to:
1. Go to https://extcop.unlb.org
2. Fill the Registration form; the password should contain seven characters with one non-alphanumeric character such as a punctuation mark
(e.g. password@123)
3. Please ensure all fields with an asterisk (*) are completed, and please be sure to join the GenderNet CoP only
4. Click "OK"
5. You will shortly receive an email accepting your application, you are then ready to return to the site and begin using!
6. Go to https://extcop.unlb.org and enter the user ID chosen at the time of registration (NOT the email address). Enter the password chosen at the time of registration. If you forgot the password, click 'Can't login' and request for a new password.

For more information about all the online discussions please click HERE