Media Advisory: Interministerial Beijing+30 Regional Review Meeting “Reviewing 30 years of Beijing Commitments to Accelerate Gender Equality in the UNECE Region”

What: The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), in close collaboration with the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO), convenes the interministerial Beijing+30 Regional Review Meeting, titled “Reviewing 30 years of Beijing Commitments to Accelerate Gender Equality in the UNECE Region,” on October 21-22, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland.

The interministerial meeting, held every five years since 2000, aims to reinvigorate political commitment to promote gender equality and empower women and girls in the UNECE region. It also seeks to build regional agreement on priority actions to speed up the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) and fast-track the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Specifically, the conference has the following objectives:

• Identify challenges and assess progress in implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in the UNECE region over the past five years.
• Layout critical policy actions to accelerate the implementation of the BPfA and the SDGs.
• Consolidate regional inputs for the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which will focus on the review and appraisal of the implementation of BPfA and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly.

Who: Ministers, senior officials, and representatives from relevant ministries, UN Nations entities, regional institutions and organizations, civil society organizations, youth organizations, academia, independent experts, and other stakeholders from 56 countries in the UNECE region.

How: During high-level roundtables, the participants will deliberate on priorities related to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including: (i) Accelerating women’s economic empowerment: the path to peaceful, just, and inclusive societies; (ii) Women in leadership and their full and equal participation in decision-making; (iii) Ending violence against women and girls; (iv) Leveraging financing for gender equality; (v) Closing the gender gap: effective policies to deliver on SDGs in the UNECE region.

In addition, key trends in gender equality across the region will be unveiled¹, offering an overview of progress made in the 12 critical areas of BPfA over the past five years, alongside key data, challenges, and future priorities in advancing gender equality and women’s rights across the UNECE region. The session will conclude with statements from Member States.

Context: In 2025, the global community will mark the 30th commemoration of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). The progress in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action is reviewed by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) every five years. To date, four reviews have taken place – in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2020 – each producing an outcome document that reinforces global commitment to the empowerment of women and girls and outlines priority actions for the next five years.

The sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 10 to 21 March 2025. The main focus of the 69th session will be on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly. The review will include an assessment of current challenges that affect the implementation of the BPfA and the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and its contribution towards the full realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the UNECE region, the regional review will culminate in the interministerial Beijing+30 Regional Review Meeting, which will be part of the regional review process contributing to the global dialogue in 2025.

Additionally, 2025 will mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, as well as 10 years since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

For media accreditation or registration, please check here: https://indico.un.org/event/1007257/

For more information, see the UNECE webpage and the ‘Beijing+30 in Europe and Central Asia’ In Focus page.

For interview opportunities, please contact:

• Salome Benidze – salome.benidze@unwomen.org
• Victoria Puiu – victoria.puiu@unwomen.org

¹ The key findings stem from the regional synthesis report, the background document for the Beijing+30 regional review meeting as part of the global 30-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. Its findings are based on the information obtained from the national reports for the Beijing+30 review, unless otherwise indicated. The report evaluates progress in light of international and regional standards. In addition to the mutually reinforcing aspects between the Beijing Platform for Action and the SDGs, it highlights the role of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).