UNITED NATIONS, March 6: As the women advocacy groups accused governments of rolling back on their promises made 10 years ago at the Beijing women conference , the United Nations women's rights committee adopted a declaration reaffirming priorities set in 1995 at the conference.
The declaration was adopted after the United States delegation withdrew a proposed amendment to the text. The declaration, reaffirmed the relevance of the Beijing Platform for Action.
Although that action plan contains only one reference to abortion, the issue was contentious enough to prompt the proposed amendment by the United States, whose delegate said she accepted the declaration reaffirming the Beijing document only on the understanding that neither was legally binding. She stressed that the United States did not recognize abortion as a method of family planning, and did not support abortion in its reproductive health assistance.
Women advocacy groups in a report here maintained that women are worse off today than they were 10 years ago, and accused the governments of failing to keep their pledge to achieve gender equality.
Governments worldwide have adopted a "piecemeal and incremental" approach to women's rights that cannot achieve the goals in the landmark platform of action adopted at a 1995 UN conference in Beijing, it says.
The report is the work of women's rights activists in 150 countries. Compiled by the Women's Environment and Development Organization, an international advocacy group based in New York, it was released On Thursday to coincide with a high-level UN meeting on implementing the platform.
The message was clear, starting with the title: "Beijing Betrayed." "The women of the world don't need any more words from their governments -- they want action, they want resources and they want governments to protect and advance women's human rights," the report said.
"The realities women document often contrast sharply with the officials' reports," June Zeitlin, the executive director of Women's Environment and Development, said.
"What we see are powerful trends - growing poverty, inequality, growing militarization, and fundamentalist opposition to women's rights," she said.
The Platform for Action addresses 12 critical areas of concern: poverty, education, health, violence, armed and other conflicts, economic participation, power-sharing and decision-making, national and international machineries, human rights, mass media, environment and development, and the needs of girls.
