Beijing +25

Review of the Beijing Platform for Action

On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA), and based on the Economic and Social Council Resolution adopted in June 2018 (E/RES/2018/8), the five United Nations Regional Commissions have been mandated to undertake a regional review and appraisal of progress made in the implementation of the BPFA since the last review that took place five years ago.

Accordingly, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the Regional Office for the Arab States of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women ROAS), the League of Arab States (LAS), and the Arab Women Organization (AWO) accompanied Arab States in the preparation of their national-level reviews, based on which the consolidated regional review was prepared and presented to the Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

The regional review for the Arab region feeds into the global review on the implementation of the BPFA after twenty-five years of its adoption that took place during the sixty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status of Women held in March 2020. The outcome of the sixty-fourth session was presented to the General Assembly in September 2020 through a high-level meeting to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary and accelerate the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

In order to facilitate the conduct of comprehensive and systematic national reviews, UN Women and the United Nations Regional Commissions have developed a common Guidance Note for Comprehensive National-Level Reviews.  Member States were invited to review national-level implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, covering the period 1995 to 2019, and submit their national review reports to the regional commission and UN Women by 1 May 2019. 

To enhance the transfer of knowledge and skills and the participation of all actors, ESCWA, UN-Women ROAS, LAS and AWO worked collaboratively to execute several activities with the aim of supporting the Arab countries in their national review processes of Beijing+25, leading to the preparation of the Beijing+25 Review Report for the Arab Region.

These activities were organized in Beirut, Lebanon and include:

• a training workshop to support the process of preparation of national reports;
• a consultative workshop with Arab civil society organizations on Beijing +25;
• the Beijing +25 review report for the Arab region;
• an expert group meeting to review and validate the Beijing +25 review report for the Arab region;
• a high-level regional conference on the Arab regional review of Beijing +25.