SUMMARY
At its thirty-seventh session, the Commission on the Status of Women
recommended to the Economic and Social Council the adoption of seven draft
resolutions and two draft decisions.
In draft resolution I (Improvement of the status of women in the
Secretariat), the Council would urge the Secretary-General to fully implement
the action programme contained in his report (A/47/508) in order to remove the
obstacles to the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat and to
achieve the targets set for the participation of women in the Secretariat. It
would also request the Secretary-General to further develop policy measures
aimed at the prevention of sexual harassment in the Secretariat.
In draft resolution II (Draft declaration on the elimination of violence
against women), the Council would urge the General Assembly to adopt the draft
declaration, urge Member States to adopt, strengthen and enforce legislation
prohibiting violence against women, and request the Secretary-General to
report on implementation of the declaration, once adopted.
In draft resolution III (Communications on the status of women), the
Council would request the Secretary-General to continue to publicize the
communications mechanism of the Commission and to report thereon to the
Commission at its thirty-eighth session. It would invite each regional group
to appoint, one week before each session of the Commission, a member to the
Working Group on Communications.
In draft resolution IV (Women, environment and development), the Council
would urge the Commission on Sustainable Development and other bodies to
develop appropriate mechanisms to ensure support for the objectives and
activities relating to the role of women in sustainable development, request
the Secretary-General to include information on the subject in the report on
the effective mobilization and integration of women in development, and
request the Commission to include the issue in its discussions of preparations
for the Fourth World Conference on Women. The Council would also agree to
review the current and planned activities of the Commission in order to assess
the degree to which the recommendations in Agenda 21 were already included in
its activities or could be included in future activities.
In draft resolution V (Women and children under apartheid), the Council
would demand the immediate and unconditional release of any political
prisoners and detainees, urge those involved in the multi-party forum to deal
with issues concerning women, request the Centre against Apartheid to
strengthen its cooperation with the Division for the Advancement of Women,
appeal to the international community to support programmes and projects
directed towards women, call upon the Secretary-General to monitor incidents
of political and domestic violence directed against women and children, decide
that the Commission would remain seized of the issue, and request the
Secretary-General to submit to the Commission at its thirty-eighth session a
report on the implementation of the resolution.
In draft resolution VI (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women), the Council would support the request of the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for additional
meeting time for its future sessions, welcome its draft general recommendation
on article 16 and related articles 9 and 15, request States parties to the
Convention to work to withdraw their reservations to the Convention, and urge
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