At the 52nd meeting, held on 25 March 2015, the President of the Human Rights Council made the following statement:
“The Human Rights Council:
1
Notes that 2015 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995 and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which have contributed greatly to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, while recognizing the importance of the implementation of these commitments and translating them into effective action by all States, the United Nations system and all other relevant stakeholders;
2
Welcomes the progress made towards achieving gender equality, but also notes that major challenges and obstacles remain in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly2 and the declarations of the Commission on the Status of Women on the tenth and fifteenth anniversaries of the Fourth World Conference on Women;
2Resolution S-23/2, annex, and resolution S-23/3, annex.
3
Stresses that the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is essential to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals;
4
Welcomes the inclusion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls as a stand-alone goal in the proposed sustainable development goals, and looks forward to the integration of a gender perspective into the post-2015 development agenda;
5
Calls uponStates to take concrete steps towards promoting and protecting all human rights of women and girls, eliminating all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls and removing impediments to the development of their full potential as equal partners with men and boys, directed to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women in all spheres of life, including decision-making processes at all levels, bearing in mind that the equal enjoyment of the right to education is one of the keys to the empowerment of women and girls and for ensuring equality and non-discrimination;
6
Reaffirms that Governments bear the primary responsibility for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and that international cooperation has an essential role to play in assisting developing countries in progressing towards the full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action;
7
Endorses the pledge made by States in the political declaration on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women adopted at the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women on 9 March 2015, and looks forward to the global leaders’ meeting on gender equality and women’s empowerment on 26 September 2015.”
