Participation of African women in The 8th Africa Regional Conference on Women (Beijing +15) and The Meeting of African Union Ministers Responsible for Women Affairs and Gender
Banjul, The Gambia, November 13-21, 2009.
The year 2010 will mark 15 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA). This is an opportunity for women in Africa to examine their respective government’s efforts at implementing the BPfA since the last review in 2004, and hold them accountable for commitments they made to women’s human rights. Women’s organisations will also be able to intensify efforts to ensure that the targets and goals set in the BPfA are achieved, especially as part of the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
In November 2009, in keeping with its mandate from the General Assembly and African governments to monitor the implementation of regional and global conventions for the advancement of women in Africa, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) convened the 8th Africa Regional Conference on Women (Beijing +15) in Banjul, The Gambia. The Regional Conference which takes place every five years, focused on looking at the progress made in the implementation of the BPfA in national programmes and provided an indication of areas where actions and initiatives within the framework are most urgent to ensure the full and effective accelerated implementation.
On 15th and 16th November 2009, the Africa NGO Taskforce on Beijing +15, convened a two day Consultative meeting for women’s organizations to discuss the findings of the draft African NGO Shadow Report on Beijing +15, to dialogue on the key issues emerging and make recommendations for further actions. A total of 100 participants from 15 countries attended the Consultative meeting. Key conclusions and recommendations emanating from the Consultative meeting were presented by the CSOs to the Experts and Gender Ministers meeting and several of these recommendations were integrated into the final report of the Experts, and adopted by the Ministers thereafter.