UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 9/9

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”) brought Heads of State and Government to Brazil in 2012, to appraise progress in the implementation of agreements struck since the landmark 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. At “Rio+20”, countries renewed their political commitment to sustainable development, agreed to establish a set of sustainable development goals and established a high-level political forum on sustainable development. Importantly, the outcome document, entitled “The future we want”,also reaffirms the commitments of States to “women’s equal rights, access and opportunities for participation and leadership in the economy, society and political decision-making” and includes explicit references to accelerating the implementation of commitments in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Declaration. The outcome document also states that “gender equality and the effective participation of women are important for effective action on all aspects of sustainable development” and calls for the repeal of discriminatory laws and for ensuring women’s equal access to justice.

http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HR-PUB-14-2.pdf