23rd plenary meeting

4 May 1982

Preparations for the 1985 World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women

The Economic and Social Council,

Considering that the General Assembly, in its resolution 35/136 of 11 December 1980, decided to convene in 1985, at the conclusion of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, a world conference to review and appraise the achievements of the Decade,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 36/126 of 14 December 1981, in which the Commission on the Status of Women was requested to give priority at its twenty-ninth session to the question of the preparations for the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women, with a view to submitting to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh session, through the Economic and Social Council, specific proposals on that question,

Recalling also General Assembly resolution 35/10 C of 3 November 1980, by which the Assembly decided that preparatory committees should be established for special conferences only if that function could not be appropriately performed by an existing intergovernmental organ,

Emphasizing the importance of undertaking at the conclusion of the Decade a critical review and appraisal of progress at international, regional and national levels in the achievement of the goals of the Decade - equality, development and peace - and the subthemes of education, health and employment, and the obstacles encountered in the implementation of the World Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Women's Year and the Programme of Action for the Second Half of the United Nations Decade for Women, and also of developing a forward-looking perspective on the status of women,

Emphasizing also the need to identify the most effective strategies and methods of work at the international level and to establish priorities for the United Nations system,

Bearing in mind the positive response of many Governments to the World Plan of Action, in the form of national mechanisms or legislation,

Also bearing in mind the need in the coming years to realize the full potential of those mechanisms or legislation to enable women to maintain and consolidate gains made during the Decade,

Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General on the preparations for the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women, to be held in 1985,

1. Decides that the Commission on the Status of Women shall be the preparatory body for the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women and shall operate on the basis of consensus, and invites the widest possible participation by States Members of the United Nations in the deliberations of the preparatory body;

2. Further recommends that the Commission on the Status of Women, acting as the preparatory body for the Conference, should meet at Vienna in extraordinary session in 1983 and again in 1985 with conference preparations as the sole item of the agenda, and that its thirtieth regular session, in 1984, should be extended to allow additional time for conference preparations;

3. Decides also to recommend to the General Assembly that the Advancement of Women Branch of the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat should serve as the secretariat of the preparatory body, as well as of the Conference;

4. Recommends that the General Assembly should make the necessary budgetary allocations, in the light of the proposals made by the preparatory body at its first session, to enable the Advancement of Women Branch to perform those duties;

5. Recommends that, with a view to the achievement of the goals of the Decade, a forward-looking draft perspective on the status of women to the year 2000 should be prepared by the preparatory body for consideration by the Conference based on the experience gained in the implementation of the World Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Women's Year and the Programme of Action for the Second Half of the United Nations Decade for Women;

6. Encourages Member States to consider establishing national committees to assist, for example, in national-level preparations for the Conference, consultations on issues and themes and the preparation of national reports;

7. Invites the regional commissions to conduct consultations, within existing resources, on issues and themes for the Conference and on organizational arrangements at the regional level to prepare for the Conference, and to submit the results of those consultations to the preparatory body;

8. Invites Member States to submit their views, in writing, on the proposed goals and specific themes of the Conference by 1 July 1982, so that the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs can prepare a report based on those views by 31 January 1983, for consideration at the 1983 extraordinary session of the Commission;

9. Also invites non-governmental organizations having consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and intergovernmental organizations to submit their views, in writing, on their contributions to the Conference and on possible issues and themes for the Conference to the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs, for consolidated presentation to the preparatory body;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to undertake interagency consultations on issues and themes for the Conference with a view to presenting an interagency report on the question to the preparatory body at its first session;

11. Decides to consider the report of the Commission on the Status of Women on its first session as the preparatory body for the World Conference at its first regular session of l983, under the item entitled "United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace".