Explanatory Note on the Beijing +10 Sign-On Letter

This is a call for your organization or network to sign-on to a letter in support of the reaffirmation and full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. This letter is being circulated to all concerned with Beijing + 10 being a progressive meeting, where governments commit to stronger action for the realization of women's rights and do not backtrack on commitments they have already made.

The ten-year Review and Appraisal of implementation of the BPfA and the Outcome Document of Beijing + 5 will take place during the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, February 28-March 11, 2005 (Beijing + 10). It is very likely that governments will adopt a political declaration at the close of this meeting. This declaration will be short but important in terms of its message. The sign-on letter below calls for governments to support full reaffirmation and implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

We urge you to take part in this action. To sign the letter, please go to http://www.peacewomen.org/un/Beijing10%20/SignOnLetterB10.html, where the signatories of the letter will also be posted.

We hope that your organization or network will use this sign-on letter in your lobbying, campaigning and media work at the national level, in preparation for the Beijing + 10 meeting. Work at the national level in advance of the Beijing + 10 meeting is going to be crucial since much if not all of the negotiation on a political declaration will take place in advance of the meeting itself.

If the political declaration is still under negotiation when the Beijing + 10 meeting begins we will make full use of this letter and the signatures attached in media and other work in New York. For this reason the larger the number of organizations which sign-on and the broader the geographical spread of those that do sign-on the more powerful will be the message!


Respectfully,
NGO CSW International Planning Group