Beijing Plus Ten.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Women's Conference, the Fourth World Conference on Women. Normally, this world conference is held every 10 years. However, because of attempts to roll back previous commitments to women at recent world conferences, it was decided that the Fifth World Conference on Women would not be held in 2005. Instead, the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action was reviewed at the 2005 annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The League has been at the forefront of the UN CSW since its origins. The League was one of 42 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) invited by President Harry S. Truman to attend the Charter Conference for the formation of the United Nations in San Francisco. At that 1945 meeting, the United States Delegation asked the League to lead the formation of the CSW.

In 1995, two national board members, Bobbie Hill and Terry McCoy, and LWVUS UN Observer Margery Cohen represented the League at the Fourth World Conference on Women and the NGO Forum. Former LWVUS President Ruth Hinerfeld's generosity made the trip to Beijing possible.

The 1995 Beijing conference's goal was to adopt a Platform for Action (PFA) that would empower and improve the lives of women and girls by establishing a guide for national governments to set public policy. It also provided benchmarks for citizens to measure their governments' implementation of the Beijing commitments. For the first time, the adopted platform spelled out specific human rights for girls.

The NGO Forum, held 30 miles outside Beijing, attracted over 30,000 women from around the world. They came to network and raise the world's consciousness about the status of women, and they returned to their countries determined to support the PFA. The League presented workshops on "candidates' debates" and "issue forums," each of which attracted more than 50 attendees, including three Chinese women and a dozen League members.

While this year's "Beijing Plus Ten" meeting might not have been as exciting as Beijing, the energy was amazing. Among the participants were eighty government ministers and over 1,800 government delegates from 165 member countries, including seven first ladies. This year's Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu were speakers.

The energy boost came via 2,600 NGOs from all over the world at the formal meetings and at a huge number of NGO side events. They shared their expertise and best practices and networked to further the rights of women worldwide.

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The first week of the two-week meeting saw controversy. Instead of a new outcome document, the 45 CSW member countries decided that the Commission would produce a simple political statement reaffirming the Beijing Outcome document and calling for further action from governments. The United States could not agree to the statement without an amendment stating that the Beijing Document did not give women the right to abortion and did not create any new human rights for women. At week's end, the US delegation accepted the declaration without amendments.

Delegates were briefed on the progress made by women in the elimination of discriminatory laws, economic improvement, increased political participation and improvements in the education of girls. They also learned that much remains to be achieved. Mentioned, in particular, were violence against women and girls, including sexual trafficking; increasing incidents of HIV/AIDS in women; and unequal access under law in many areas, including the right to own land and property, inequality in employment, and lack of access and rights to health care, including reproductive rights.

Delegates and NGOs discussed best practices and ways to go forward to improve women's lives. It is hoped that the enthusiasm reflected in the "Beijing Plus Ten" meetings will translate into political will at home to implement the best practices and improve the lives of women and girls. Since Beijing, League members have monitored what the UN has done for women and girls, and the progress or lack thereof. Our commitment has never faltered, and our work continues.

by LWVUS UN Observers Doris Schapira, Margery Cohen and Patty Day