E/2010/27 E/CN.6/2010/11 Linkages between the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals 1. On 4 March 2010, the Commission on the Status of Women convened an interactive expert panel on the theme “Linkages between the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals”. The session was moderated by the Vice-Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, Takashi Ashiki. The panellists were: Eva Rathgeber, University of Ottawa/Carleton University; Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Resident Coordinator, Albania, Gülden Türköz-Cosslett; and Zo Randriamaro, Training Coordinator, Development Alternatives for Women in a New Era. An issues paper prepared by the Division for the Advancement of Women of the United Nations Secretariat provided the framework for the discussion. 2. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action provide the global agenda for women’s human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women. In recent years, understanding of the value of investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment to achieve internationally agreed development goals has clearly emerged. It has also been confirmed that the Platform for Action provides comprehensive guidance for achieving the Millennium Development Goals in a gender-responsive manner. However, gender equality perspectives are not well reflected in the current formulation of many of the Millennium Development Goals and their targets and indicators, and are often not explicitly integrated in strategies and plans to achieve the Goals. There is insufficient coherence between efforts to implement the Platform for Action and the strategies and actions to achieve the Goals, and this lack of coherence is a contributing factor in the uneven and slow performance towards realizing many of the Goals. There is therefore a need for increased attention to be paid to lessons learned and to promising practices in implementing the Platform for Action in different country contexts. Five years before the target date for achieving the Goals, lessons learned from the implementation of the Platform for Action could help to address gaps, adjust policy and identify concrete actions for accelerating progress. 3. Accountability for gender equality and the empowerment of women requires strengthening. In this regard, international human rights standards and instruments and related monitoring and review processes are especially pertinent, and greater efforts are necessary to overcome gaps and challenges in complying with obligations for equality and non-discrimination at the national level. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has been, and remains, central to the practical realization of the gender equality agenda and the rights of women. Other international human rights instruments, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Labour Organization conventions likewise provide guidance in ensuring economic and social rights for women and should serve as the basis for formulating relevant policies and strategies. 4. A key lesson that has emerged from the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action is the role of an enabling environment in the promotion of gender equality. This environment should in particular include gender- 10-30576 43