In 2025, the global community will mark several milestones: the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995; the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325; and the final five years of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
This anniversary provides an opportunity to strengthen gender-responsive action and advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and other global commitments. In committing to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Member States recognized the fundamental role of gender equality for achieving a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable future for all. Recent decades of experience in development policy and practice have further reinforced that addressing gender inequality has a strong impact on all three dimensions of sustainable development–social, economic and environmental. The advancement of gender equality is also a critical component of Our Common Agenda and the Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs.
In 2025, the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will be dedicated to review and appraise the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) 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 BPfA 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. In accordance with ECOSOC Resolution E/RES/2022/5, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is leading the Asia-Pacific regional intergovernmental review of the BPfA, in close collaboration with UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and supported by the rest of the United Nations systems under the umbrella of the Asia-Pacific Issue-Based Coalition on Promoting Human Rights, Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.
Given the significant relevance of the Beijing+30 review to the mandates and implementation of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA), the annual meeting of the SPECA Working Group on Gender and SDGs will focus on emerging issues of critical importance for accelerating the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ESCAP and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will jointly convene the annual meeting of the SPECA Working Group on Gender and SDGs on 7 November 2024, 14:00-17:00 (Thailand Standard Time).