The four-day conference to commemorate the Tenth Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women concluded in Beijing Wednesday, adopting the Beijing +10 Declaration.
The following is the full text of the declaration:
Beijing Plus 10 Declaration Solidarity for Gender Equality, Development and Peace
We, representatives of Governments, intergovernmental organizations and civil society including non-governmental organizations, assembled in Beijing on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, the 10th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the 5th anniversary of the UN Millennium Summit to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women:
1. Applauding the roles and great contributions of women to the realization of equality, development and peace; recognizing the diversity and leadership capacity of women as rich resources and driving forces for development;
2. Affirming the Forth World Conference on Women, as all previous world conferences on women, laid a milestone in global women's movement, and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action remain coherent policy document for further advancement of women;
3. Greatly inspired by the achievements made in the past decade in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and for women's advancement at all levels.
4. Deeply concerned about obstacles and challenges in the advancement of women, such as persistent poverty, discrimination, violence, armed conflicts, negative impacts of globalization and non-traditional security issues including HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation;
5. Solemnly reaffirming our commitments to the principle of equality between women and men enshrined in the UN Charter, and to the Beijing declaration, the Platform for Action, the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
6. Stressing the urgency for accelerating full and effective implementation of these documents; stressing also the primary responsibility of governments, the active roles of the civil society including non-governmental organizations, and the importance of international and regional cooperation;
We are deeply convinced that
7. Equality, development and peace are our unwavering objectives, for which the fundamental values of equality, freedom, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility must be upheld;
8. Equality between women and men means equality in their integrity and worth as human beings as well as equality in their rights, opportunities and responsibilities; the realization of gender equality requires equal participation and shared responsibilities of both men and women;
9. The Millennium Declaration and MDGs are of great significance for achieving a peaceful, prosperous and just world; gender equality is indispensable in achieving people-centered sustainable development and building harmonious societies as well as achieving all MDGs;
10. Women are fundamental and invaluable force in peace building, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction;
11. Broad and sustained efforts must be made based upon our common humanity in all its diversity to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all women and men;
We are determined to
12. Spare no efforts to speed up the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the attainment of the MDGs;
13. Eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls, and ensure their full enjoyment of all human rights as an inalienable, indispensable and integral part of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
14. Intensify efforts on poverty eradication and halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people in hunger and extreme poverty, strive to free all women and men from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty and free the entire human race from want;
15. Ensure women's equal and full participation in political, economic and social decision-making and strive for the early achievement of gender parity in management in both public and private sectors;
16. Speed up the implementation of Education for All, ensure women's and girls' equal access to information and media resources and strengthen all other measures to enhance capacity-making;
17. Ensure women's enjoyment of health throughout their life cycle and provide affordable and quality health care services; promote women's reproductive health in line with the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action; eradicate all practices that are detrimental to the health of women and girls;
18. Ensure that women and girls have the knowledge and means to prevent HIV transmission and have equal and universal access to counseling, treatment and care;
19. Promote women's economic independence and economic empowerment, in particular ensure women's equal access to economic, financial and market resources and benefits; promote women's employment and decent work, and improve labor protection and social security systems;
20. Eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, prevent combat all forms of trafficking including related exploitation and human rights violations, and safeguard the rights of migrant women;
21. Promote women's equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, increase their role in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution and support local women's initiatives for peace;
22. Strengthen women's role in environmental protection, environmental management and disaster reduction, increase their access to such basic requirements as clean water, sanitation, energy, health care, food security and the protection of biodiversity, and promote people-centered sustainable development;
23. Implement gender-mainstreaming strategies and provide adequate resources and strong political support to national machineries for gender equality; but ensure that such strategies and machineries do not replace specific actions and programs targeting women;
24. Meet the needs and respect the rights of women in disadvantaged situations and ensure that they equally participate and benefit in social, political, economic and cultural spheres;
25. Recognize men and boys as gendered persons and further recognize their capacities in bringing about changes in attitudes, relationships and access to resources and decision-making, encourage and support their equal participation in all activities and programs for gender equality;
26. Create an enabling international environmental for women's advancement where peace and solidarity prevail, and promote a balance between economic development and social development among regions, strengthen cooperation particularly in providing least developed countries and developing countries with financial and technical resources and personal training to enhance capacity-building;
27. Respect, within the international framework, the different paths for gender equality developed by countries in accordance with their own situation; enhance mutual understanding and experience sharing for common development.
(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2005)
