INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is an international convention adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Described as an international bill of rights for women, it came into force on 3 September 1981. The United States is the only developed nation that has not ratified CEDAW.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women.  Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. Signed by Pakistan on 12th March 1996.

The Convention defines discrimination against women as "...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."
 

Beijing Declaration (12+1 areas of Concern),  

Fourth World Conference on Women.

Beijing, China - September 1995
Action for Equality, Development and Peace

• Critical Areas of Concern Women and Poverty
• Education and Training of  women
• Women and Health
• Violence against Women
• Women and Armed Conflict
• Women and the Economy
• Women in Power and Decision-making
• Institutional Mechanism for the Advancement of Women
• Human Rights of Women
• Women and the Media
• Women and the Environment

Other UN Conferences that addressed Women's Issues:
· 

• Habitat II, Istanbul, 1996
• World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 1995
•  International Conference on Population and Development,    
      Cairo, 1994
•  UN Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 1993
• UN Conference on Environment (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro,  
      1992

I.L.O. Convention.

ILO Convention 100 was  ratified by Pakistan in 2001.Thereafter 20% of the seats in the National Assembly and the Senate were reserved  for Women.

The Millennium Development Goals, 1990-2005
The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000, commits the states to:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than one U.S.    dollar a day.
• Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
• Increase the amount of food for those who suffer from hunger.

2. Achieve universal primary education

• Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary    schooling.
• Increased enrollment must be accompanied by efforts to ensure that all    children remain in school and receive a high-quality education

3. Promote gender equality and empower women

• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education     preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.

4. Reduce child mortality

• Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five.

5. Improve maternal health

• Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio.

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
• Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major    diseases.

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country    policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources.
• Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to    safe drinking water.
• Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum    dwellers, by 2020.

8. Develop a global partnership for development

• Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-   based, predictable and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to    good governance, development and poverty reduction—nationally and    internationally.
• Address the least developed countries’ special needs. This includes    tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for    heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt;    and more generous official development assistance for countries    committed to poverty reduction.
• Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing    States.