Driven to Accelerate Gender Equality, Commission on Status of Women Considers Its Role Building Synergies with Economic and Social Council
The Commission on the Status of Women, continuing its sixty-second session today, took note of several documents related to its synergies with — and contributions to — the broader work of the Economic and Social Council and its High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development.
The Commission considered the note by the Secretariat “Input to the work of the Economic and Social Council and the High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development” (document E/CN.6/2018/11), which provided a summary of the Commission’s potential contribution to the Forum, to be held from 9 to 18 July. Recalling that the Council had been charged by the General Assembly with leading the oversight of the global follow-up and review process of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the note drew attention to the theme for the Forum’s upcoming session, “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies”, and its intention to conduct an in-depth review of Sustainable Development Goals 6, 7, 11, 12 and 15, as well as Goal 17 on partnerships.
Noting that the Commission’s multi-year programme of work enabled it to build synergies and linkages with the work of the Council and the High-Level Political Forum in order to contribute to the accelerated realization of gender equality and the empowerment of women, the note stated that the Commission would consider the priority theme “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”, in 2018, as well as the review theme “Participation in and access of women to the media, and information and communications technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women”. The Council’s thematic focus and the 2018 High-Level Political Forum could benefit significantly from the Commission’s work in those areas, especially its agreed conclusions.
The Commission also took note of a letter from the President of the Economic and Social Council to the Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, dated 11 December 2017 (document E/CN.6/2018/10), listing the resolutions and decisions adopted at the Council’s 2017 session that were relevant to the functional commissions. In addition to its ministerial declaration, a total of 32 resolutions and 84 decisions were adopted at that session. Those included the resolutions “Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women” (document E/RES/2017/10), “Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system” (document E/RES/2017/9) and “Social dimensions of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development” (document E/RES/2017/12).
The Commission on the Status of Women will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Friday, 23 March, to conclude its sixty-second session, taking action on draft proposals, as well as several other outstanding issues.