The Ninth Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, being held in Mexico, today received the visit of some of the region's main specialists, who will deal with and analyse a range of current issues from a gender perspective.
The event, which runs from 10 to 12 June 2004, in the Conference Area of the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry, on Avenida Ricardo Flores Magón N° 1, Tlatelolco, Mexico City, has been organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry, and the National Women's Institute (Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres, INMUJERES) of Mexico.
Throughout the day there will be two forums, one dealing with "Poverty, the Economy and Gender Equity" and a second on "Empowerment, Institutional Development and Gender Equity". The first panel will include Josefina Vázquez Mota, Mexico's Minister of Social Development, Matilde Ribeiro, Minister, Special Secretariat for Promoting Racial Equality in Brazil, and Cecilia Loría, General Director of the National Institute for Social Development (INDESOL), along with other important figures and experts.
The second panel will be moderated by Patricia Olamendi, Under-Secretary for Global Issues in Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry, and include as panellists Michelle Bachelet, Chile's Minister of Defence, Elizabeth Odio, member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ana María Romero de Campero, former ombudsperson in Bolivia, Lourdes Arizpe, President of Mexico's Inter-American Social Sciences Council, and Glenda Simms, Director of Jamaica's Bureau of Women's Affairs.
From 1pm to 2pm two parallel activities will take place. In room 2, there will be a meeting organized by the United Nations' Women's Development Fund (UNIFEM), dedicated to the Millennium Development Goals, adopted by the UN General Assembly in New York in 2000.
In room 1, the Regional Programme for Training in Gender and Public Policies (Programa Regional de Formación en Género y Políticas Públicas, PRIGEPP) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will hold a meeting on the new technologies.
This Regional Conference is evaluating progress in applying international commitments that form part of the Regional Action Programme for Women of Latin America and the Caribbean, adopted in 1994 by the Sixth Regional Conference, and ratified in 2000 by the Lima Consensus.
Delegations from several ECLAC member countries are attending, headed by senior government officials, including Ministers and Secretaries of State, along with the directors and representatives of United Nations bodies and programmes, other groups specializing in women's issues, autonomous institutions and non-governmental organizations from all over the continent.
The Conference' work will focus on international commitments to women's advancement adopted at world summits held in the 1990s, the Millennium Development Goals passed by the United Nations' General Assembly in New York in 2000 and the Platform of Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China, in 1995. On this occasion, activities to commemorate next year's 10th anniversary of this meeting (Beijing + 10) will also be approved.
The Regional Conference on Women is a subsidiary body of ECLAC, which meets regularly to identify women's needs at the regional and subregional levels, present recommendations, regularly evaluate activities to implement regional and international agreements and plans in this area, and provide a forum to debate these issues.
