The General Assembly,
 
      Recalling its resolutions 50/42 of 8 December 1995 and 50/203 of 22
December 1995,
 
      Taking note of Economic and Social Council resolutions 1996/6 of 22 July
1996 on the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and 1996/34 of
25 July 1996 on the system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women,
1996-2001,
 
      Reaffirming the importance of the outcome of the previous World
Conferences on Women, held at Mexico City in 1975, at Copenhagen in 1980 and
at Nairobi in 1985,
 
      Recognizing the significance of the outcome of the Fourth World
Conference on Women, held at Beijing in 1995, to make a real change for the
empowerment of women and thus to the fulfilment of the goals adopted in the
Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women,
 
      Deeply convinced that the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for
Action, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, are important
contributions to the advancement of women worldwide and must be translated
into effective action by all States, the United Nations system and other
organizations concerned, as well as non-governmental organizations,
 
      Recognizing that the implementation of the Platform for Action rests
primarily at the national level, that Governments, non-governmental
organizations and public and private institutions should be involved in the
implementation process and that national mechanisms also have an important
role to play,
 
      Bearing in mind that promotion of international cooperation is essential
for the effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform
for Action,
 
      Recognizing that the implementation of the Platform for Action requires
commitment from Governments and the international community,
 
      Recognizing also the important role played by States, the United
Nations, the regional commissions and other international organizations, as
well as by non-governmental organizations and women's organizations, in the
preparatory process of the Conference and the importance of their involvement
in the implementation of the Platform for Action,
 
      Taking into account the fact that the follow-up to the Conference should
be undertaken on the basis of an integrated approach to the advancement of
women within the framework of a coordinated follow-up to and implementation of
the results of the major international conferences in the economic, social and
related fields, as well as the overall responsibilities of the General
Assembly and the Economic and Social Council,
 
      Reaffirming its decision that the General Assembly, the Economic and
Social Council and the Commission on the Status of Women, in accordance with
their respective mandates and with Assembly resolution 48/162 of 20 December
1993 and other relevant resolutions, will constitute a three-tiered
intergovernmental mechanism that will play the primary role in the overall
policy-making and follow-up and in coordinating the implementation and
monitoring of the Platform for Action, and reaffirming the need for a
coordinated follow-up to and implementation of the results of major
international conferences in the economic, social and related fields,
 
      Reaffirming that the Commission on the Status of Women has a central
role as a functional commission assisting the Economic and Social Council in
the monitoring, within the United Nations system, of the implementation of the
Platform for Action and in advising the Council thereon and should therefore
be strengthened,
 
      Reaffirming also that the Economic and Social Council should continue to
oversee system-wide coordination in the implementation of the Platform for
Action and ensure overall coordination of the follow-up to and implementation
of the results of all United Nations international conferences in the
economic, social and related fields and report thereon to the General
Assembly,
 
      1.    Takes note with appreciation of the report of the
Secretary-General on the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World
Conference on Women;
 
      2.    Takes note of initiatives and actions taken by Governments and the
international community towards the implementation of the Beijing Declaration
and the Platform for Action adopted by the Conference;
 
      3.    Calls once again upon States, the United Nations system and all
other actors to implement the Platform for Action, in particular by promoting
an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective at all
levels, including in the design, monitoring and evaluation of all policies, as
appropriate, in order to ensure effective implementation of the Platform;
 
      4.    Welcomes the contribution of the report of the Secretary-General
in translating the concept of mainstreaming into practical action, including
the ongoing work to develop methodologies to facilitate the application of a
gender perspective into all policies and programmes throughout the United
Nations system;
 
      5.    Calls for intensified efforts at the international level to
integrate the equal status and all human rights of women into the mainstream
of United Nations system-wide activity and to address these issues regularly
and systematically throughout the relevant United Nations bodies and
mechanisms;
 
      6.    Stresses that Governments have the primary responsibility for
implementing the Platform for Action, and reaffirms that Governments should
continue to commit themselves at the highest political level to its
implementation and should take a leading role in coordinating, monitoring and
assessing progress in the advancement of women;
 
      7.    Calls upon States, with the assistance of non-governmental
organizations, to continue to disseminate widely the Beijing Declaration and
the Platform for Action;
 
      8.    Welcomes the progress made by Governments thus far towards meeting
the commitment to developing, by 1996, comprehensive implementation strategies
or plans of action, including time-bound targets and benchmarks for
monitoring, and urges all Governments that have not yet done so to undertake
efforts in this regard, in order to implement fully the Platform for Action;
 
      9.    Also welcomes the contribution made to the elaboration of
guidelines for national strategies or plans of action by regional and
subregional conferences on the implementation of the Platform for Action, such
as the Outline of a Model National Action Plan by the Subregional Conference
of Senior Governmental Experts held at Bucharest from 12 to 14 September 1996,
which may assist other Governments, too, in meeting this commitment, and in
this respect encourages the support of, inter alia, the Division for the
Advancement of Women of the Secretariat;
 
      10.   Urges Governments that have not yet done so to establish or
strengthen appropriate national machineries for the advancement of women at
the highest political level, appropriate intra- and interministerial
procedures and staffing and other institutions with the mandate and capacity
to broaden women's participation and integrate gender analysis into policies
and programmes, so as to ensure the full implementation of the Beijing
Declaration and the Platform for Action, and takes note of regional
initiatives for strengthening national machineries;
 
      11.   Encourages non-governmental organizations to contribute to the
design and implementation of these strategies or national plans of action in
addition to their own programmes that complement government efforts;
 
      12.   Calls upon Governments to invite and encourage the active support
and participation of a broad and diverse range of other institutional actors,
including legislative bodies, academic and research institutions, professional
associations, trade unions, local community groups and the media, as well as
financial and non-profit organizations for the implementation of the Platform
for Action;
 
      13.   Recognizes the importance attached to the regional monitoring of
the global and regional platforms for action by regional commissions and other
subregional or regional structures, within their mandates, in consultation
with Governments, and the necessity of promoting cooperation among Governments
of the same region in this respect;
 
      14.   Invites the Economic and Social Council, in order to facilitate
the regional implementation, monitoring and evaluation process, to consider
reviewing the institutional capacity of the United Nations regional
commissions, in accordance with paragraph 302 of the Platform for Action, and
to consider, in this context, how best to integrate the inputs by the regional
commissions into the overall monitoring and follow-up to the Platform for
Action;
 
      15.   Calls upon States to take action to fulfil the commitments made at
the Conference for the advancement of women and for the strengthening of
international cooperation, and reaffirms that adequate financial resources
should be committed at the international level for the implementation of the
Platform for Action in the developing countries, in particular in Africa, and
in the least developed countries;
 
      16.   Invites the Secretary-General, in the implementation of the United
Nations system-wide initiative on Africa, to pay special attention to the
needs and role of women as actors and beneficiaries in the development
process; 
 
      17.   Recognizes that implementation of the Platform for Action in the
countries with economies in transition requires continued international
cooperation and assistance, as indicated in the Platform for Action;
 
      18.   Calls upon Member States to allocate sufficient resources for
undertaking gender impact analyses in order to develop successful national
implementation strategies for the Platform for Action;
 
      19.   Stresses that full and effective implementation of the Platform
for Action will require a political commitment to make available human and
financial resources for the empowerment of women, the integration of a gender
perspective in budgetary decisions on policies and programmes, as well as
adequate financing of specific programmes for securing equality between women
and men; 
 
      20.   Welcomes the input of the Commission on the Status of Women to the
discussion on the eradication of poverty in the coordination segment of the
Economic and Social Council, inter alia, in relation to mainstreaming a gender
perspective in poverty eradication activities and the use of available funding
sources and mechanisms, with a view to contributing to the goals of poverty
eradication and targeting women living in poverty;
 
      21.   Urges Governments, the United Nations system, including the
Bretton Woods institutions, relevant international organizations,
non-governmental organizations and the private sector to empower women through
concrete actions, policies and programmes, including integration of gender
perspectives;
 
      22.   Requests Governments and the international community to implement
specific programmes for the eradication of poverty and illiteracy, ensuring
women's equal access to education, training, employment and the promotion of
entrepreneurial activities, and strongly urges the international community to
support national efforts towards the advancement of women in developing
countries, particularly in Africa, and in the least developed countries;
 
      23.   Reaffirms that, in order to implement the Platform for Action, a
reformulation of policies and reallocation of resources may be needed, but
that some policy changes may not necessarily have financial implications;
 
      24.   Reaffirms also that, in order to implement the Platform for
Action, adequate mobilization of resources at the national and international
levels, as well as new and additional resources to the developing countries,
in particular in Africa, and the least developed countries, from all available
funding mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral and private sources for
the advancement of women, will also be required;
 
      25.   Calls upon those States committed to the 20:20 initiative to
integrate a gender perspective fully into its implementation, as referred to
in paragraph 358 of the Platform for Action;
 
      26.   Recognizes that the creation of an enabling environment, at the
national and international levels, is necessary to ensure the full
participation of women in economic activities, and calls upon States to remove
obstacles for the full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the
Platform for Action;
 
      27.   Calls upon Member States to commit themselves to gender balance,
inter alia, through the creation of special mechanisms, in all government-
appointed committees, boards and other relevant official bodies, as
appropriate, as well as in all international bodies, institutions and
organizations, notably by presenting and promoting more women candidates;
 
      28.   Also calls upon Member States to aim at and support gender balance
in the composition of delegations to the United Nations and other
international forums;
 
      29.   Reaffirms that the implementation of the Platform for Action will
require immediate and concerted action by all to create a peaceful, just and
humane world based on all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the
principle of equality for all people of all ages and from all walks of life,
and to this end, recognizes that broad-based and sustained economic growth in
the context of sustainable development is necessary to sustain social
development and social justice;
 
      30.   Stresses, in relation to the United Nations, that the Platform for
Action needs to be implemented through the work of all the bodies and
organizations of the system during the period 1995-2000, specifically and as
an integral part of wider programming;
 
      31.   Also stresses that the means of implementation of the Platform for
Action should include mainstreaming a gender perspective in the context of
preparation of the programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999;
 
      32.   Welcomes the endorsement by the Economic and Social Council of the
revised system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 1996-2001
and its decision to undertake, in 1998, a comprehensive mid-term review of the
implementation of the revised plan as a basis for future programming and
coordination of activities for the advancement and empowerment of women by the
United Nations system, including a review of the progress made in
mainstreaming a gender perspective in all activities of the United Nations
system;
 
      33.   Requests the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chairman of the
Administrative Committee on Coordination, to formulate a new system-wide
medium- term plan for the advancement of women to cover the period 2002-2005,
to submit a new draft plan to the Economic and Social Council at its
substantive session of 2000 in order to provide guidance for the medium-term
plans of the individual organizations of the United Nations system and to
submit the draft plan to the Commission on the Status of Women at its
forty-fourth session for comments;
 
      34.   Reiterates the need for an enhanced framework for international
cooperation for gender-related issues in the integrated and comprehensive
implementation, follow-up and assessment of the Platform for Action, taking
into account the results of global United Nations summits and conferences;
 
      35.   Welcomes the decision of the Economic and Social Council to devote
its 1997 coordination segment to mainstreaming a gender perspective, and
reiterates its invitation to the Council to consider devoting one high-level
segment and one operational segment to the advancement of women and the
implementation of the Platform for Action, before the year 2000, taking into
account the multi-year programme of work of the Commission on the Status of
Women and all other functional commissions of the Council and the need for a
system-wide approach to the implementation of the Platform for Action;
 
      36.   Also welcomes the establishment of the Inter-Agency Committee on
Women and Gender Equality, and notes the work done by the Special Adviser to
the Secretary-General on Gender Issues for the system-wide implementation of
the Platform for Action;
 
      37.   Further welcomes the fact that the Inter-Agency Committee on Women
and Gender Equality will serve as a forum for information exchange and the
promotion of programme coordination and collaborative arrangements among
organizations of the system and will be responsible for addressing, on a
comprehensive system-wide basis, all aspects of the implementation of the
Platform for Action and gender-related recommendations emanating from other
recent international conferences within the purview of the United Nations
system;
 
      38.   Welcomes developments in coordination at the inter-agency level,
including work done by the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality
which is expected to move forward the conceptual discussion of mainstreaming,
and stresses the need for further work to mainstream a gender perspective into
the day-to-day work of United Nations staff throughout the system and in
intergovernmental action beyond the social sectors and operational activities;
 
      39.   Also welcomes Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/6, in
which the Council strengthened the mandate and the terms of reference of the
Commission on the Status of Women and endorsed the Commission's multi-year
work programme for the period 1996-2000, and also welcomes the agreed
conclusions 1996/1 of the Commission on the Status of Women of March 1996 on
the Commission's methods of work for dealing with the implementation of the
Platform for Action;
 
      40.   Invites once again all other functional commissions of the
Economic and Social Council, within their mandates, to take due account of the
Platform for Action and to ensure the integration of gender aspects in their
respective work;
 
      41.   Welcomes the measures taken by the Secretary-General to date to
ensure coordination of policy within the United Nations for the implementation
of the Platform for Action and the mainstreaming of a system-wide gender
perspective in all activities of the United Nations system, including
training, in accordance with paragraph 326 of the Platform for Action;
 
      42.   Requests the Secretary-General to present action-oriented
recommendations to the Economic and Social Council at its coordination segment
on means to enhance system-wide coordination on gender issues and to
mainstream a gender perspective throughout the United Nations system;
 
      43.   Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to disseminate the
Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action as widely as possible,
including to the competent organs of the United Nations and the specialized
agencies;
 
      44.   Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to ensure that the
Division for the Advancement of Women can effectively carry out all the tasks
foreseen for it in the Platform for Action by, inter alia, providing
sufficient human and financial resources within the regular budget of the
United Nations;
 
      45.   Requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the
Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, to ensure that the
resident coordinators fully incorporate a gender perspective in integrating
the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women into the coordinated
follow-up to recent global United Nations conferences;
 
      46.   Welcomes the decision of the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women to amend its reporting guidelines in line with
the recommendations of paragraph 323 of the Platform for Action to enable it
to consider reports submitted by States parties, and invites States parties to
include information on measures taken to implement the Platform for Action in
their reports;
 
      47.   Notes the importance of the activities undertaken by the United
Nations Development Fund for Women and the International Research and Training
Institute for the Advancement of Women in the implementation of the Platform
for Action;
 
      48.   Commends the work of the International Research and Training
Institute for the Advancement of Women on the issues addressing, inter alia,
the process of the economic and political empowerment of women, statistics and
indicators in gender issues, and requests the Institute to incorporate in its
biennial work programme appropriate actions in order to carry out research and
training components relevant to the twelve critical areas of concern and the
implementation of the Platform for Action, within its area of expertise;
 
      49.   Also commends the work of the United Nations Development Fund for
Women in providing a strategic and focused response to the follow-up and
implementation of the Platform for Action through its advocacy and operational
activities in support of women's economic and political empowerment, and
encourages the Fund to provide technical support to operationalize the
Platform for Action at the national level through, inter alia, the resident
coordinator system and taking into account decision 1996/43 of 13 September
1996 of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme/United
Nations Population Fund;
 
      50.   Encourages the International Research and Training Institute for
the Advancement of Women, the United Nations Development Fund for Women and
the Division for the Advancement of Women to strengthen their cooperation and
coordination;
 
      51.   Encourages international financial institutions to review and
revise policies, procedures and staffing to ensure that investments and
programmes benefit women and thus contribute to sustainable development;
 
      52.   Invites the World Trade Organization to consider how it might
contribute to the implementation of the Platform for Action, including
activities in cooperation with the United Nations system;
 
      53.   Decides to appraise the progress on an annual basis and to retain
in the agenda of its forthcoming sessions the item entitled "Implementation of
the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women", with a view to
assessing, in the year 2000, the progress achieved in the implementation of
the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the
Platform for Action in an appropriate forum;
 
      54.   Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly
at its fifty-second session and thereafter annually, through the Commission on
the Status of Women and the Economic and Social Council, on ways to enhance
the capacity of the Organization and of the United Nations system to support
the ongoing follow-up to the Conference in the most integrated and effective
way, including human and financial requirements and measures taken and
progress achieved in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the
Platform for Action.