Commission on the Status of Women-Follow-up to Beijing and Beijing + 5

Gender equality and women's empowerment in the new millennium -- presentation by Carolyn Hannan, Director of the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, at the Interfaith Institute - Woman: Her spiritual journey, 31 October 2004

Women's Rights and Empowerment: Gender Equality in the New Millennium -- presentation by Carolyn Hannan, Director of the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, 24 October 2004

Round Table Discussion "CEDAW at 25: Are we moving forward?", 13 October 2004, UNHQ, New York

United Arab Emirates acceeded to the Convention (CEDAW) on 6 October 2004, bringing the total number of ratifications/accessions to 179

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Niger acceeded to the Optional Protocol to CEDAW on 30 September 2004, bringing the total number of ratifications/accessions to 67

Intervention by Carolyn Hannan, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women at the Beijing +10 Campaign on Discriminatory Laws and Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, convened by Equality Now, Bangkok Conference Centre

UNESCAP High-level intergovernmental meeting to review regional implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the regional and global outcomes was held 7-10 September 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand
- Statement by Carolyn Hannan, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Officer in Charge of the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
- Gender mainstreaming: A key strategy for promoting gender equality at national level -- Presentation by Carolyn Hannan at a panel "Moving Beijing forward: Strategies and approaches for creating an enabling environment"

Micronesia acceeded to the CEDAW Convention on 1 September 2004, bringing the total number of ratifications/accessions to 178

Opening statement by Ms. Carolyn Hannan, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women and Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women

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Review and Appraisal Home Page
The Division for the Advancement of Women is pleased to announce the launching of the home page of the "Review and Appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Outcome Document of the Twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly"

Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, thirtieth session and thirty-first session (A/59/38) (Suppl. No. 38) is now available online

CEDAW opened its 31st session at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 6 July 2004.

Press Release: "Empowerment of women in arab society has become central to arab vision of reform", Secretary-General says in message to arab regional conference in Beirut. , 8 July 2004

Press Release: "Arab women to launch call for peace at Beijing+10 regional conference in Beirut, 8-10 July", 6 July 2004

Press Release: "Africa cannot develop unless women exercise real power", says Secretary-General in message to Addis Ababa session, 6 July 2004
ECOSOC 2004 Coordination Segment
The Coordination segment, which took place from 1 to 7 July 2004, discussed the "review and appraisal of agreed conclusions 1997/2 on mainstreaming the gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system". (link to current Press Release)

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CSW 2005 Review and Appraisal
The Division for the Advancement of Women, in collaboration with the UN regional commissions, has prepared a questionnaire to compile information from Governments on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome of the Twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly (2000). The deadline for responses to this questionnaire is 30 April 2004.

Meeting-cum-Training on Strengthening the capacity of national machineries through the effective use of ICTs, 19 to 23 Apr 2004, Namibia

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Swaziland acceeds to CEDAW
On 26 March 2004, Swaziland acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, bringing the total number of States parties to 177.
Former Secretary-General of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, China) elected President of PanAfrican Parliament
On 18 March 2004, Ms. Gertrude Mongella was elected president of Africa's first pan-continental parliament.
Kiribati acceeds to CEDAW
On 17 March 2004, Kiribati acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, bringing the total number of States parties to 176
CSW concludes its forty-eighth session
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded its forty-eighth session on 12 March 2004 with the adoption of agreed conclusions of the two themes of the session.
International Women's Day, 8 March 2004
The Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) has selected "Women and HIV/AIDS" as this year's theme for International Women's Day. Click here for the archived webcast of the panel discussion which took place at Conference Room 2 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

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WomenWatch Portal re-launched
The WomenWatch website is a joint initiative of the members of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE). The portal, which was re-launched on 20 February 2004, includes a database-driven Directory of Resources, and provides direct access to information and resources on different thematic issues and regions/countries
Women's anti-discrimination Committee expresses concern regarding women's human rights in Iraq
Belarus ratifies the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women bringing the total number of States parties to 60