Global unions push key demands ahead of Beijing+30

(Photo: Beijing+25 Review Conference © UN Women/Pathumporn Thongking / ESCAP)

In 2025, the global community will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). This will be the main theme for the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women that will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 10 to 21 March 2025.

The main focus of the sixty-ninth session will be on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly. The review will include an assessment of current challenges that affect the implementation of the Platform for Action and the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and its contribution towards the full realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The review outcomes will be the basis for the Beijing+30 Declaration. 

UN member states were called upon to undertake comprehensive national-level reviews of the progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The UN regional commissions used the national reports to prepare regional synthesis reports over the course of 2024 and have been discussing it during the regional reviews. 

Regional review processes include the preparation of regional reports and the organization of regional intergovernmental meetings. This is ongoing process in all five regions run by the United Nations regional commissions:

• Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
• Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)
• Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)  
• Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
• Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)

Global trade unions have submitted written statement to the Commission on the Status of Women raising key trade union demands for Beijing +30 Declaration. The global trade union movement calls for the Beijing +30 Declaration to support the workers call for a New Social Contract rooted in a gender-transformative agenda and centres key demands around 5 main issues:  gender equality for social justice, democracy and peace; women`s labour rights as human rights; decent work for women; equal pay for work of equal value; a world of work free from gender-based violence and harassment. 

The full text of statement could be found here.