The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted at the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. It is an internationally agreed plan for achieving equality for women across 12 critical areas – poverty, education and training, health, the economy, power and decision-making, human rights, armed conflict, institutional mechanisms, the environment, violence against women and the girl child.
Following the 1995 Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women, the United Nations General Assembly mandated the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to integrate into its program a follow-up process to the Conference, regularly reviewing the critical areas of concern in the Beijing Platform for Action and to develop its role in mainstreaming a gender perspective in United Nations activities.
The CSW meets annually in February/March in New York and is the principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. The meeting is attended by representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited NGO’s from all regions of the world.