STATEMENT: Joint Statement of Women's Rights Civil Society Movements at the Asia-Pacific Civil Society Consultation for the 20-Year Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and for the 58th Session of the Commission on the Stat

Women's rights civil society movements from the Asia Pacific region gathered at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok on 10-11 February 2014, call upon our region's governments to take this opportunity of the Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and the 58th Session of the Commission of the Status of Women, to advance commitments related to gender equality and women's and girls' rights, development and empowerment within a vision of a regional community that enjoy development, economic, social, gender and environmental justice. We remind ourselves that the BPFA drew its mandate and inspiration from earlier global agreements, such as, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, International Conference on Population and Development, and Vienna Conference on Human Rights.

Twenty years ago, the world's leaders committed to collectively uphold the rights, and empowerment of women and girls at the Fourth World Conference on Women that produced an unprecedented document known as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Five years later, the Millennium Declaration was adopted which reinforced the principles of human dignity, equality, and equity at the global level and reconfirmed, among others, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as, respect for the equal rights of all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.

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