(Ed. Note: The following is taken from the May-June issue of e-resource, the electronic version of News from the Center, Isis Manila's bimonthly newsletter which updates members and friends of the Isis Resource Center and Women's Library about its activities, recent acquisitions, and abstracts of its database holdings.)


The United Nations General Assembly will convene a special session to

assess progress achieved in the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) entitled "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development And Peace For The Twenty-First Century" on 5-9 June 2000 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The review will focus on how the 12 critical areas of concern in the BPFA are being carried out and will include good practices, positive actions, lessons learned, overcoming obstacles and key challenges.

The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has been appointed as the preparatory committee for the special session. It met from 15-19 March this year and discussed the ramework and conduct of the five-year review. A large number of non-government organisations (NGOs) participated in the plenaries and provided significant input into the agreements reached by the CSW, especially in the recommitment to the 12 critical areas of concern of the BPFA, framework, NGO participation and the focus on the regional processes.

The Asian Caucus is a network of women's organizations in Asia that coordinates regional participation to the CSW meetings and has initiated preparations for the five-year review of the implementation of the BPFA within the region. Isis International-Manila serves as one of the members of the coordinating committee for the Asian Caucus. During the CSW, the

caucus met daily and agreed on a review process for the region. In attendance were epresentatives of women's organizations from Asia and the Pacific.

The Regional Review Process

The regional review process will have several components which include national, sub-regional and regional meetings and conferences; regional information and communication mechanisms; development of alternative reports and reviews of specific critical areas of concern of the BPFA.

Isis was identified as the regional information and communication focal point for the regional review process. The main strategies for information and communication adopted by Isis are:

The development of a BPFA Review section in the Asian Women's Resource

Exchange (AWORC) web site that highlights resources, activities and organisations of women in the region as we count down to June 2000. Aside from doing this, AWORC now serves as a channel for women's organisations to exchange information on the review process.

Organising the AWORC "Asian Women's Electronic Network Training Workshop" on 21-26 June 1999 at the Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, Korea. This workshop aims to train participants on basic web site development tools and other Internet-based group communication (e-mail, mailing lists, newsgroups, etc.) so that women's organisations may effectively use the technology to exchange and disseminate information on the BPFA (officially titled Women 2000).

Maintaining a mailing-list for the Asian Caucus to facilitate regional coordination, for online discussion of issues and for information sharing among women.

The use of Isis' publications and radio project to ensure that information reaches the broadest number of women in the region. Isis is also taking a lead role in organizing a review of Section J (Women and Media). This review consists of several components:

- Regional Review in September 1999

A regional review of Section J focusing on women and the media (including the status of women and information and communication technologies) to review developments since Beijing and draw up recommendations for Women 2000. This review aims to bring together women in media and information from the region. The review will be conducted during the regional NGO conference in Bangkok.

- State of Women and Media Report: Focus on Violence Against Women

Last year, in partnership with media professionals, communication experts, media watch groups, and women's organisations, Isis International-Manila produced a survey on media codes of conduct in 11 countries in Asia and the Pacific. The report underscores the lack of guidelines and codes of conduct to guide media's coverage, portrayal, and representation of women and cases

of violence against women. Country reports from the participating countries focused on the journalistic forms of mass communication and advertising and the corresponding codes of conduct that guide them.

The BPFA identified media as a critical area of concern focusing on measures to combat stereotyping, including appropriate legislation against pornography and the projection of violence against women. It also called for the development of codes of conduct that is consistent with freedom of expression. The report is now being finalized and will be published and

used as basis for a background paper on women and media for the UN Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) meeting in September.