Addis Ababa — The following document was released by UN Economic Commission for Africa: The first meeting of the Committee on Women and Development (CWD) convenes in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 2-5 April 1999, to discuss progress in the preparation for the upcoming 6th African Regional Conference scheduled to take place in November 1999.

The Committee -- one of several such bodies established inthe context of the streamlined inter-governmental machinery of the renewed Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) -- is an advisory forum of experts and policy makers that provides guidance to ECA on its programme on the advancement of African women. CWD convenes on a biannual basis to address issues relating to women's economic empowerment, legal and human rights protection, and improved access to education and health.

Present at the four-day meeting will be 18 African Ministers responsible for women's affairs, as well as civil society representatives from the 53 ECA member States, and experts from UN agencies and regional institutions. Their task will be to evaluate the progress made so far in the implementation of the Beijing and Dakar Platforms of Action.

The meeting will be officially opened by Ms. Alice Tiendrebeogo, Burkina Faso's Minister for the Promotion of Women. Ms. Josephine Ouedraogo, Director of ECA's African Centre for Women (ACW), will outline the role of the CWD within the framework of the new strategic directions of the Commission.

ACW will also report on the just-completed 43rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, with a special emphasis on African participation and the conclusions of the discussions on the Additional Protocol on the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

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For more information, please contact:

Dorothy Oben African Centre for Women ECA United Nations P.O. Box 3001 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel: +251-1-51 16 24 ext. 33579 Fax: +251-1-51 27 85 E-mail: ecainfo@un.org Web: http://www.un.org/depts/eca