UN Expert Group meets in Azerbaijan to discuss Beijing Platform for action and Millennium Development Goals In 2005, the international community will review the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), marking respectively their tenth and fifth anniversaries. The Government of Azerbaijan hosted a meeting of the UN Expert Group, who, for the first time, gathered in Baku on 7-10 February to identify achievements, including good practice examples, as well as existing gaps and challenges in linking the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs at the national level, and make specific recommendations on ways and means to increase the practical integration of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and MDGs. Organised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), in preparation for the session of the Commission on the Status of Women scheduled for 28 February - 11 March 2005, which will consider the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Platform For Action and document adopted by the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly on "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", the meeting was attended by 13 UN experts, observers from the Government, UN Agencies, inter-governmental organisations, NGOs and academia. The forum was opened by Ms Zahra Guliyeva, Chairperson, State Committee for Women's Issues, who highlighted achievements made by the Government of Azerbaijan in implementation of national gender policies in line with the Beijing Platform For Action and the State Programme for Poverty Reduction and Economic Development priorities, as well as outlined the gaps to be bridged. Then Ms Sylvie I. Cohen of UNDESA, welcomed the meeting participants on behalf of her Department. In his opening remarks, Mr. Marco Borsotti, UN Resident Coordinator, thanked the UNDESA for initiating the forum in Baku and stressed that, "since launching the poverty reduction strategy in Azerbaijan, efforts were undertaken to develop a specific methodology and approach aimed at converting the global targets into a concrete reality. In Azerbaijan, there is still a need for defining, in concrete terms, the translation of gender mainstreaming and gender equality into reality of the post-Soviet development". The forum was held in the form of open plenary meetings providing background presentations that helped create a conceptual framework for discussions, which were followed by in-depth discussions of specific issues in working groups, with the view to integrate the Beijing Platform For Action, Millennium Declaration and MDGs, and to ensure that the raised constraints and challenges are addressed. The Expert Group Meeting offered an opportunity to make concrete, action-oriented policy recommendations in the report that will be made available to the Commission on the Status of Women, which will identify possible entry points for ensuring that achievements, gaps and challenges identified in the implementation of the Beijing Platform For Action, Millennium Declaration and MDGs are addressed in a consistent and harmonized manner. A final report with the main conclusions and recommendations of the expert group meeting will be placed at the UNDESA website. For more information contact: Ms. Irada Ahmedova, Development Adviser Tel: +99412 498 98 88 (ext.117) Photo Gallery

Webmaster

© United Nations Azerbaijan 2004