Somaliland National Aids Commission

During a high-level panel on the opening day of the 54th Commission on the Status of Women, UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya A. Obaid, speaking on behalf of the United Nations, called attention to the links between the right to sexual and reproductive health and women's empowerment, gender equality and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Throughout the first two weeks of March, the 54th Commission on the Status of Women will conduct a 15-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This Platform, which emerged from the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, reinforced the importance of women's rights and empowerment as established a year earlier in Cairo. It called for action on 12 key issues: poverty, education and training, health, violence against women (one of UNAIDS nine priority areas), armed conflict, economy, power and decision-making, institutional mechanisms, human rights, media, environment and girls.