'Gender perspectives' emphasized.

Aloisia Woergetter of Austria, Chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group on the Elaboration of a draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, announced on 21 March that the Working Group had reached agreement on the inclusion of an enquiry procedure in the draft optional protocol, which would enable the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to request State parties to the protocol to explain and remedy complaints about serious violations of women's rights. A large majority of participating Governments was in favour of the optional protocol and for the procedures to be followed. She described that as "remarkable", noting that such support had not been thought possible in the past. The optional protocol would greatly strengthen the Convention and allow individual women to actually complain about violations of their rights before the United Nations. "I think, we can easily say that we are, at the moment, the most successful optional protocol drafting group." The group hoped that it could finish its work next year.

Sharon Brennen-Haylock of the Bahamas, Chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women, said that innovations introduced last year to improve the Commission's work had again been applied during its March session in New York. Four critical areas of concern to women had been discussed in panels, followed by dialogue among the Member States. The issues were: women and education; women in power and decision-making; women and the environment; and women and the economy. The moderators felt that the panel format was much more concrete than the usual practice of general debate on those issues. They also felt that suggestions which came out of the discussions were very useful and practical, and would certainly be helpful to delegations.

Another innovation emerging from those dialogues was the adoption of agreed conclusions instead of resolutions, she said. She described it as a "very big victory" for the Commission because of an earlier concern as to whether the new format would be a stronger way of reflecting the outcome of their work. Member States had also been very happy about the collaboration with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which previously had been restricted to plenary and the general debate. NGOs had been allowed to participate in informal consultations, interacting with Member States.

Angela King, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, said that the forty-first session of the Commission had heard what Member States were actually doing to deal with such issues as violence against women, women and decision-making, and how to empower women in practical ways. She made special mention of women and the environment, stating that the agreed conclusion on the issue would push the way forward towards the Commission on Sustainable Development and finally the special session of the General Assembly which would review Agenda 21, adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. "This definitely shows that the international community has come a far way in five years when women were considered as victims or a special group by the Rio conference." The emphasis now was on gender perspective - women and men working together as principal actors in preserving the environment and using it for the benefit of the whole society.