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Ministerial Declaration of the Conference of Ministers
of Gender Equality
Reaffirm our strong support for and
commitment to the full implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action
adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development,
1994, as well as the key actions for the further implementation of the
ICPD Programme of Action agreed at ICPD+5 and the Copenhagen Declaration
and Action Programme; Emphasise that gender equality can not
be achieved without guaranteeing women’s sexual and reproductive health
and rights, and reaffirm that expanding access to sexual and reproductive
health information and health services are essential for achieving the
Beijing Platform for Action, the Cairo Programme of Action and the
Millennium Development Goals; Emphasise that gender equality is an
important goal in itself and essential to the achievement of all
Millennium Development Goals and that a gender perspective should be fully
integrated at the high-level review of the Millennium Declaration,
including the Millennium Development Goals; Recognize that full enjoyment of all
human rights by women and girls is an inalienable, integral and
indivisible part of universal human rights and is essential for the
advancement of women and girls, peace and development; Encourage the active involvement of men and boys in the
achievement of gender equality; 1. Institutional mechanisms Underline that institutional structures
and mechanisms at European and at national level are the main
vehicles through which the Platform for Action can be achieved and that
they must act as catalysts for gender mainstreaming and gender equality. Agree to Ensure that gender equality bodies and
structures have the human and financial resources and capacities necessary
to function effectively. Guarantee strong political commitment, at the
highest level, as well as clear mandates and functions, in order to ensure
the empowerment and advancement of women and the implementation of
legislation, to develop specific actions as well as to apply gender
mainstreaming; Enhance dialogue and cooperation with
civil society and social partners; Guarantee gender equality under and
before the law and create an enabling environment to translate rights into
reality; Take concrete steps to implement both
gender mainstreaming and specific actions to achieve gender equality,
including the design and implementation of multi-year national action
plans for gender equality and the further development of gender expertise
and gender training; Identify processes and tools that will
encourage greater accountability for addressing gender equality issues; Develop methods and tools for gender
mainstreaming such as gender budgeting, gender audit and gender impact
assessment as a priority for the future; Continue to improve the collection,
compilation and dissemination of timely, reliable, comparable data
disaggregated by sex; Set time-bound targets and progressively
update them inter alia through the involvement of national and
international statistical organisations; Monitor progress by regular reporting and assessing results in order to create a more consistent and systematic monitoring and assessment of the implementation of the Platform for Action.
2. Gender equality and employment,
economy and poverty Recognize that gender equality is fundamental to the
achievement of full employment and economic growth, reinforcement of
social protection and poverty eradication; Recognize that women’s employment
rates, women’s unemployment, the gender pay gap, sex segregation in the
labour market, the unequal share of the burden of unpaid labour between
women and men and the gender-specific imbalances in decision making,
remain challenges for the EU. Agree to Strengthen efforts to combat social
exclusion and to remove obstacles to women’s participation in the labour
market, including through measures to combat discrimination and
exploitation in the workplace; Develop along with measures to increase
competitiveness and productivity, strategies to increase the number of
women in employment and in quality jobs, to ensure and protect the rights
of women workers and to remove structural and legal and attitudinal
barriers to gender equality at work; Focus on policies to enable women and
men to balance their working and private life and family responsibilities;
Reform tax and benefit systems, where appropriate, to provide financial
incentives for women to take up, remain and return to work and encourage
men to share responsibilities and tasks in the family; Tackle the gender pay gap through a
multifaceted approach addressing underlying factors including sectoral and
occupational segregation, education and training, job classifications and
pay systems; Promote and support women’s self employment, development of
small enterprises, and their access to credit including micro-credit and
capital on terms equal to men; Integrate gender analysis into the
design, implementation and evaluation of measures, especially those
relating to macro-economic policies and poverty reduction. Use
quantifiable measurements, targets and benchmarks to allow for a proper
monitoring and evaluation of progress; Remove barriers and promote opportunities for women, including women migrants and other marginalized women, to access and participate in economic decision-making at all levels.
Reaffirm our commitment to the promotion
of gender equality and women’s empowerment, including through
development cooperation and partnership and recognize that gender equality
and women’s empowerment are of fundamental importance for the
achievement of sustainable development and eradication of poverty. Agree to Ensure the full enjoyment by all women
and girls, including migrant women, of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms and develop specific strategies and benchmarks to measure
progress; Support, encourage and disseminate
research, and collect sex and age-disaggregated statistics on factors and
multiple barriers that affect the full enjoyment by women of their
economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, including their
right to development, and on violations that are particular to women and
girls and disseminate the findings and utilize the collected data in
assessing the implementation of the human rights of women; Develop
preventative methods to combat gender based violence and trafficking in
human beings for sexual and other forms of exploitation and monitor their
implementation; Strengthen measures to address all the
factors, that encourage trafficking in women and girls, by strengthening
existing legislation with a view to providing better protection of the
rights of women and girls and to prosecute and punish the perpetrators,
through both criminal and civil measures and take comprehensive measures
to discourage the demand; Mainstream a gender perspective into
national immigration and asylum policies, regulations and practices, as
appropriate in order to promote and protect the rights of all women and
girls, including the consideration of steps to recognize
gender-related persecution and violence when assessing grounds for
granting refugee status and asylum; Implement and encourage initiatives,
policies and programmes and monitor their implementation, as appropriate,
following the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000)
concerning women, peace and security and the Council of Europe Declaration,
Programme of Action and Resolution on democratisation, conflict prevention
and peace building, to promote the roles of women and men in conflict
prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace building and post-conflict
democratic processes, in particular through the full realisation of the
human rights of women and the non-violent resolution of conflicts, the
equal participation of women and men in decision-making, the promotion of
gender equality and gender mainstreaming, the combating of gender based
violence against civil populations, in particular women and girls; Ensure that the needs of women in
post-disaster relief and reconstruction situations are properly understood
and are addressed in programmes, promote the role of men and women in
post-disaster and reconstruction, including in decision making; Ensure women’s equal access to
information on disaster reduction by means of formal and non-formal
education, including through gender sensitive early warning systems and
empower women to take related action in timely and appropriate manner; Intensify our efforts to support
developing countries to integrate gender mainstreaming and empowerment of
women within policies and programmes, by appropriate technical and
financial assistance; Continue to develop, adopt and fully
implement laws and other measures, as appropriate, such as policies and
educational programmes, to eradicate harmful customary or traditional
practices, including female genital mutilation, early and forced marriage
and crimes committed in the name of honour, which are obstacles to the
full enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental
freedoms; Take concrete steps to create an
educational and social environment to encourage women and men, girls and
boys to achieve their full potential and to mainstream gender into all
educational policies and programmes; Achieve the goal of equal participation
of women and men in decision-making and ensure equal political, economic
and social participation of women in all spheres to provide the balance
that is needed to strengthen democracy; Increase the participation and access of
women to expression and decision making in and through media and new
technologies of communication; Promote balanced and non-stereotyped
portrayal of women in the media; Emphasise the urgent need to link the
fight against HIV/AIDS with support for reproductive and sexual health and
rights, in particular to ensure strong political commitment and funding
for sexual and reproductive health information, services and research,
ensure access, extend treatment and care, and ensure reproductive choices
to people affected by HIV, in accordance with the ICPD Plan of Action. * The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and
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