E/2001/27 E/CN.6/2001/14 Annex IV Comments by some Member States of the Commission on the Status of Women on the proposed system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 2002-2005 1. Comments should be obtained on achievements and obstacles in the implementation of previous plans within the United Nations system and in mainstreaming gender in various fields, including institutional capacity-building. 2. A more analytic approach should be used in the plan to identify obstacles in order to translate gender into practical strategies and actions and to ensure more effective monitoring and accountability as regards gender mainstreaming, including the development and use of indicators and identification of good practices. 3. More efforts should be made to ensure that concrete recommendations and actions to address obstacles and constraints identified in the assessment are fully integrated in the new plan so as to improve the effectiveness of activities undertaken by the United Nations system. 4. Further and intensified measures should be taken to ensure that all parts of the United Nations system input into the actions of this plan. 5. The plan should contain information on gender mainstreaming from all United Nations entities that are responsible for the achievement of the objectives of the Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. Further efforts should be made to include actions from all such entries, including the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 6. The system-wide medium-term plan should cover the implementation of the institutional and financial arrangements of the Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly as this would provide for a systemic approach to gender mainstreaming. 7. A more comprehensive approach should be used to integrate relevant decisions of other intergovernmental forums into the system-wide medium-term plan in the framework of an integrated 68 and coordinated conference follow-up of major United Nations conferences and summits. 8. The plan should further articula te the ways in which the system is working with non-governmental organizations, particularly women’s organizations and civil society. 9. In the area of education and training of women, actions should be identified with respect to literacy. Further efforts should be made to avoid duplication and to provide for improved coordination, and for the exchange of information with regard to lessons learned. 10. The wording “pregnant girls” as used in paragraph 97 of the system-wide medium-term plan (E/CN.6/2001/4) should be replaced by “pregnant adolescents”. 11. In the area of women and health, information on efforts to reduce maternal mortality should be included. 12. In the area of violence against women, in particular trafficking in women, information from the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention should be included. 13. In paragraph 116, a more comprehensive list on violence against women, which includes all forms of violence as reflected in the Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, should be provided. 14. In the area of women and armed conflict, given the prevalence of gender-based violence in refugee camps, more information on actions to be taken by UNHCR should be reflected, including evaluation of its guidelines on the protection of refugee women. Also, activities being undertaken with respect to internally displaced women and girls should be included. 15. As regards the girl child in the areas of armed conflict and refugees, the Office of the Special Adviser on Children and Armed Conflict and other relevant