Boost for women's rights

The agreement aims to improve women's rights worldwide

Delegates from 180 countries have agreed on a new UN plan to improve women's equality.

The agreement was reached shortly after 0500 (1200 BST) following an all-night debate covering abortion and sexual rights amongst other key issues.

"It was absolutely worth it," said UN Assistant Secretary-General Angela King, a special adviser on the advancement of women.

"I feel that all those millions of women who are looking at us are totally vindicated, and they have something to grasp to assist them for their battles for equality," she added.

The new document reaffirms the 150-page action plan adopted at the 1995 UN women's conference in Beijing.

We have a very strong document which reaffirms human rights and social development

Angela King, UN Assistant Secretary-General

It adds tougher measures dealing with domestic violence and trafficking in women, and tackles the impact on women of HIV/AIDS and globalisation.

But delegates failed to reach agreement on the contentious issue of abortion.

Proposed references to sexual rights and sexual orientation were also dropped from the final text.

Target date

The new document maintains many of the earlier proposals discussed at Beijing in spite of some fears that the original plans would be toned down.

"I'm very happy that the dire predictions that there would be a rollback of Beijing have proven false," said Mrs King.

"Instead for, we have a very strong document which not only reaffirms Beijing and other relevant conferences on human rights and social development but also moves forward."

The final text calls on governments to set a target date of 2005 to eliminate the gender gap in primary and secondary education.

The agreement calls for:

Legislation to end domestic violence

Improved property rights for women

Increased female participation in politics

Improved education for women worldwide

The plan also moves "substantially beyond Beijing in the roles men and boys can play to achieve gender equality," said Mrs King.

Delegates also agreed on strong measures to tackle domestic violence, now including marital rape.

The traditional practices of forced marriage and "honour killings" are addressed for the first time in an international agreement, with the draft text calling for their eradication.

Many of the issues that delayed negotiations here - sexual rights, sexual orientation, abortion, sex education and family values - also dominated the 1995 conference.

Compromise

After a lengthy fight in Beijing, references to sexual orientation - vehemently opposed by several Catholic and Islamic nations - were dropped from the final text.

Conservative activists fear that sexual rights could be broadly interpreted as condoning homosexuality.

Cuba and the United States also clashed for days over Havana's insistence on referring to the negative effect of US sanctions, especially on women and girls.

The dispute was ended when both countries agreed to compromise language taken from a previous UN conference.

Several organisations issued a joint statement registering disappointment with the final document, but reaffirming their commitment to work for implementation of the Beijing proposals.