Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is a visionary agenda for the empowerment of women. It is also a reference framework for analysing the status of women worldwide, and assessing States’ efforts in support of women’s empowerment.

ESCWA has assumed a leading role in supporting Arab countries in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment since the preparatory phase of the Fourth World Conference on Women. Moreover, since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, ESCWA has been assisting its member States in preparing periodic national and regional reviews, and following up on regional and global recommendations arising from them. The reviews inform the regional report prepared by ESCWA, in collaboration with other regional organizations, on progress made towards the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the Arab region.

Our approach

Our partners

UN-Women, League of Arab States, Arab Women Organization, Save the Children, UNICEF, Danish Institute for Human Rights, KIVINFO

Our activities

To date, five reviews have been conducted – in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 – with each review resulting in an outcome document in which countries pledge to continue their efforts towards achieving global commitments relating to the rights of women and girls. The outcome document further outlines priority actions for the coming five years.