a
ccess and participation of
women and girls in education,
training and science and
technology, including for the
promotion of women’s equal
access to full employment and
decent work
4. The Commission welcomes the establishment
of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality
and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women)
and its operationalization, which will strengthen
the ability of the United Nations to support the
achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and welcomes the appointment
of Michelle Bachelet as the first Under-SecretaryGeneral and Executive Director of UN-Women.
5. The Commission acknowledges the important
role of national machineries for the advancement
of women, which should be placed at the highest
possible level of government, the relevant contribution of national human rights institutions where
they exist, and the important role of civil society,
especially women’s organizations, in advancing
the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action and in promoting the full and
equal access and participation of women and girls
in education, training and science and technology.
1. The Commission on the Status of Women reaffirms
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the
outcome documents of the twenty-third special
session of the General Assembly and the declarations adopted by the Commission on the occasion
of the tenth and fifteenth anniversaries of the
Fourth World Conference on Women.
2. The Commission reiterates that the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities and the Optional Protocols thereto,
as well as other conventions and treaties, such as
the relevant conventions of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
and the International Labour Organization, provide
a legal framework and a comprehensive set of
measures for the promotion of gender equality in
education and employment.
6. The Commission stresses that education is a human
right, and that equal access to education, training and
science and technology empowers women and girls
in the context of global economic and technological changes and promotes development, all human
rights, human rights education and learning at all
levels, as well as gender equality, the elimination of all
forms of discrimination and violence against women
and girls and the eradication of poverty.
7. The Commission reaffirms that the best interest
of the child shall be the guiding principle of those
responsible for his or her education and guidance in
the exercise by the child of his or her rights and that
responsibility lies in the first place with his or her
parents or legal guardians.
3. The Commission recalls the United Nations
Millennium Declaration and General Assembly
resolution 65/1 of 22 September 2010, and recognizes the interdependence of all the Millennium
Development Goals. The Commission also recalls
the ministerial declaration of the 2010 high-level
segment of the Economic and Social Council on
implementing the internationally agreed goals
and commitments in regard to gender equality
and empowerment of women. It takes note of the
Budapest Science Agenda — Framework for Action,
adopted at the World Conference on Science in
1999, and of the Dakar Framework for Action:
Education for All, adopted at the World Education
Forum in 2000.
8. The Commission welcomes the progress made in
increasing women’s and girls’ access to and participation in education and training, including science
and technology education. The Commission recognizes the potential of education and training and
science and technology, to contribute to the economic empowerment of women, which also leads
to accelerating progress towards achieving the
internationally agreed development goals, including
the Millennium Development Goals, by 2015.
1