26 May 1988

15th plenary meeting

National machinery for the advancement of women

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 40/108 of 13 December 1985, in which the Assembly endorsed the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women,

Bearing in mind Economic and Social Council resolution 1986/31 of 23 May 1986, in which it requested the Secretary-General, inter alia, to propose guidelines for national machinery to promote the advancement of women and ways to ensure the effective implementation of the Forward-looking Strategies,

Recalling Economic and Social Council resolution 1987/24 of 26 May 1987, in which it recommended the convening of expert group meetings to assist in the preparation of the work of the Commission on the Status of Women on priority themes and endorsed the topic "National machinery for monitoring and improving the status of women" as one of the three priority themes of the thirty-second session of the Commission,

Recognizing that national machinery or its equivalent is an essential element in the promotion and implementation of the Forward-looking Strategies and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

Bearing in mind the recommendations of the Seminar on National Machinery for Monitoring and Improving the Status of Women, held at Vienna from 28 September to 2 October 1987, and the Seminar on Information Systems for the Advancement of Women for National Machinery, held at Vienna from 25 to 29 January 1988,

1. Urges countries that have not yet done so to establish national machinery for the advancement of women, or its equivalent, including such machinery at the highest political level;

2. Urges Governments that have already established such machinery or its equivalent to recognize its essential importance in the promotion and implementation of national policies for the advancement of women, the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and therefore requests Governments to provide adequate political, financial and human resources to enable such machinery or its equivalent to function effectively;

3. Encourages Governments, in accordance with their own administrative systems, to make every effort in establishing or strengthening national machinery for the advancement of women, or its equivalent, to do so, as appropriate, on the basis of the recommendations of the Seminar on National Machinery for Monitoring and Improving the Status of Women and the Seminar on Information Systems for the Advancement of Women for National Machinery;

4. Stresses the importance, for Governments, of establishing and maintaining formal and informal mechanisms for co-operation between national machinery or its equivalent and specialized centres of responsibility in sectoral departments and ministries, including mechanisms to support greater co-ordination of efforts to promote the interests of women in both national and international policies;

5. Calls upon Governments to develop information systems that include statistics and indicators on the status of women;

6. Invites national machineries or their equivalents to exchange information, bilaterally and multilaterally, on issues of common interest, including information on innovative policies, programmes and research;

7. Requests the Secretary-General, in co-operation with the regional commissions, to promote such information exchange by supporting regional and subregional meetings of national machinery or its equivalent, using resources from the regular programme of advisory services for the biennium 1988-1989 and from the regular budgets of the five regional commissions thereafter, and by annually updating and distributing the Directory of National Machinery for the Advancement of Women;

8. Invites Governments of developing countries to give priority, within the context of their overall requests for development assistance, to proposals for assistance to strengthen national machinery for the advancement of women or its equivalent;

9. Recommends that international development agencies respond positively to requests from Governments for assistance in strengthening national machinery for the advancement of women or its equivalent;

10. Urges the national machinery for the advancement of women or its equivalent in each Government to participate actively in the preparation and follow-up of the work of the Commission on the Status of Women by co-ordinating the collection of all forms of information for the comprehensive reporting system to review and appraise the implementation of the Forward-looking Strategies and for reports for the Commission's consideration of priority themes;

11. Endorses the continuation of the information system on women initiated by the Secretary-General and its further development in official languages of the United Nations, consistent with the priorities determined by Governments and taking advantage of all sources of funding beyond those already mandated, including the contributions of interested Governments;

12. Recommends that statistics and other information on women be an integral part of all relevant major statistical and public information programmes of the United Nations system, including those of the United Nations Office at Vienna and the Department of Public Information of the United Nations Secretariat;

13. Recommends that the services of an interregional adviser be made available, through the regular programme of technical co-operation, to assist, on request, national machineries or their equivalents in carrying out effectively their review and appraisal of the implementation of the Forward-looking Strategies and in preparing the reports called for in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;

14. Decides that the questionnaire to be prepared by the Secretary-General to collect information for the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Forward-looking Strategies should contain a specific section on national machinery or its equivalent;

15. Recommends that Governments make every effort to support women's non-governmental organizations working to improve the status of women in accordance with the Forward-looking Strategies and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;

16. Calls upon Governments to ensure the effective participation of women and women's non-governmental organizations in decision-making at all levels in order to bring about a lasting improvement in the welfare of societies.