To strengthen the input into the report and debates on human rights of women in the EU, EIGE is calling a meeting of experts in the areas of implementing human rights instruments, ensuring equality and non-discrimination in law and in practice in the EU, women’s access to justice.
It aims to discuss the achievements as well as challenges to promoting women’s rights and ensuring gender equality within the European Union in the current political and economic climate.
The discussion will be rather focused on the strategic objectives of the BPfA in the area of Human Rights of Women, their relevance for the EU, progress as well as remaining challenges and the areas of relevance (indirectly potential indicators), which might be considered by future EU Presidencies. This area is the only one which still lacks EU wide indicators to monitor the implementation of the BPfA in the EU.
The outcomes of this meeting will be reflected in the Beijing +20 report and serve for further information to other EIGE’s activities and contributions.
Background
In the 4th World Conference on Women held in Beijing (1995) almost all UN Member States, including EU Member States, committed themselves to deliver on the strategic objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) in the 12 areas of concern. Human Rights of Women is one if its areas covering three strategic objectives:
- promote and protect the human rights of women through the full implementation of all human rights instruments, especially the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW);
- ensure equality and non-discrimination under the law and in practice;
- achieve legal literacy.
EIGE supports the Presidencies of the Council of the EU in delivering reports on the EU follow-up of the BPfA. For the current Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU, EIGE has been elaborating an extensive overview of the implementation of all twelve areas of concern of the BPfA at the EU level in the last five years.