27 July 1989

36th plenary meeting

Co-ordination of activities of the United Nations system to advance the status of women and to integrate women in development

The Economic and Social Council,

Reaffirming its essential role in reviewing and co-ordinating all activities of the United Nations system relevant to women's issues,

Recalling all relevant resolutions on co-ordination matters pertaining to the status of women particularly Economic and Social Council resolutions 1985/46 of 31 May 1985, 1986/71 of 23 July 1986, 1987/65 of 8 July 1987, 1987/86 of 8 July 1987, 1988/22 of 26 May 1988, 1988/59 of 27 July 1988 and 1988/60 of 27 July 1988 and decision 1987/182 of 8 July 1987,

Noting, in particular, the report of the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination on plans and programmes of the organizations of the United Nations system to implement the system-wide medium-term plan for women and development for the period 1990-1995, the report of the Secretary-General on the preparation of a system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women for the period 1996-2001, and the report of the Secretary-General on the scope and general approach of the cross-organizational programme analysis on the activities of the United Nations system related to the advancement of women,

Recalling the system-wide medium-term plan for women and development for the period 1990-1995, accepted by the Economic and Social Council in resolution 1987/86,

Considering the central role of the Commission on the Status of Women in promoting international co-operation to integrate women fully in economic development programmes and activities,

Recalling General Assembly resolutions 42/193 of 11 December 1987 and 43/182 of 20 December 1988 on the preparation of an international development strategy for the fourth United Nations development decade,

1. Decides to continue to include the question of the system-wide co-ordination of activities to advance the status of women and to integrate women in development in its programme of work under the item on co-ordination in order to monitor the implementation of the system-wide medium-term plan for women and development in the programmes and programme budgets of the organizations of the United Nations system;

2. Requests the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination, to report to the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Economic and Social Council, biennially in odd-numbered years beginning 1991, on the extent to which the system-wide medium-term plan is incorporated into the programmes and programme budgets of the organizations of the United Nations system, using as a baseline indicator the cross-organizational programme analysis of the activities of the United Nations system for the advancement of women;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to integrate the parts of the reports of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Council on the programme budget aspects of the implementation of the system-wide medium-term plan into the biennial report on monitoring the progress made by the organizations of the United Nations system in implementing the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women established by Council resolution 1988/22;

4. Recommends that all substantive reporting to the Commission on the Status of Women on the implementation of the system-wide medium-term plan be consolidated in a concise, detailed and analytical way in the biennial report on monitoring the progress made by the organizations of the United Nations system;

5. Requests the Secretary-General, to the extent possible, to subsume under the comprehensive reporting system existing reporting obligations to the Commission not otherwise provided for in the present resolution regarding the implementation to the Forward-looking Strategies;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to make available to the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-fourth session documents related to the cross-organizational programme analysis of the activities of the United Nations system for the advancement of women, including the analysis itself and the relevant portions of the report of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination on its twenty-ninth session, as well as the report of the Secretary-General on the effective mobilization of women in economic development and the report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women;

7. Urges all United Nations bodies, including the regional commissions, and the specialized agencies that have not yet done so to adopt and implement comprehensive plicies for the advancement of women on the basis of the system-wide medium-term plan for women and development, and to incorporate them in their organization's medium-term plans, statements of objectives, programmes and other major policy statements;

8. Endorses the timetable proposed by the Secretary-General for the preparation of a system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women for the period 1996-2001;

9. Requests the Secretary-General, in formulating the system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women for the period 1996-2001 to pay particular attention to the strengthening of national machinery for the advancement of women and to specific sectoral themes that cut across the three objectives, equality, development and peace, of the Forward-looking Strategies, such as literacy, education, population, health and the full participation of women in decision-making;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to take the necessary measures to ensure that specific action is taken to integrate the Forward-looking Strategies into related activities mandated by the General Assembly, in particular those mandated in the following resolutions: 42/104 of 7 December 1987 on the International Literacy Year, 42/186 of 11 December 1987 on the Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond, 42/193 of 11 December 1987 and 43/182 of 20 December 1988 on the preparation of an international development strategy for the fourth United Nations development decade, 43/15 of 27 October 1988 on the prevention and control of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and 43/181 of 20 December 1988 on the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000;

11. Requests the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole for the Preparation of the International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade, to attach high priority to issues related to the full integration of women in the development process, particularly by focusing on such prerequisites as literacy, education, employment, child care, population, health and participation in decision-making, and to stress the importance of the improvement of the situation of women for the fulfilment of such prerequisites.