United Nations A/RES/63/159 General Assembly Distr.: General 4 February 2009 Sixty-third session Agenda item 56 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2008 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/63/425)] 63/159. Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly The General Assembly, Recalling its previous resolutions on the question, including resolution 62/137 of 18 December 2007, Deeply convinced that the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1 and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century” 2 are important contributions to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and must be translated into effective action by all States, the United Nations system and other organizations concerned, 0F 1F Reaffirming the commitments to gender equality and the advancement of women made at the Millennium Summit, 3 the 2005 World Summit 4 and other major United Nations summits, conferences and special sessions, and reaffirming also that their full, effective and accelerated implementation are integral to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, 2F 3F Welcoming progress made towards achieving gender equality, but stressing that challenges and obstacles remain in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session, Recognizing that the responsibility for the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session rests primarily at the national level and that strengthened efforts are necessary in this respect, and reiterating that enhanced international cooperation is essential for full, effective and accelerated implementation, _______________ 1 Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II. 2 Resolution S-23/2, annex, and resolution S-23/3, annex. 3 See resolution 55/2. 4 See resolution 60/1. 08-48033

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