“You are a demanding movement and there is no turning back.” UN Undersecretary General Noeleen Heyzer said this in her keynote speech delivered during the opening program of the Asia Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing+15 to the applause of more than 500 participants. (October 22 to 24 at the Miriam College, Manila.) “Women have learned to blend challenge with joy and commitment towards freedom from want, fear and discrimination,” added Heyzer. She is also the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Executive Secretary.

Irene M. Santiago, Leticia Ramos Shahani, Noeleen Heyzer, Patricia Licuanan at the opening of the Asia Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing+15

Flanking Heyzer in this photo are three Filipino feminists who held top positions in UN conferences and NGO fora for women: Irene M. Santiago (MCW CEO and Chair) as executive director of the NGO Forum on Women in Beijing 1995; Leticia Ramos Shahani, the secretary general of the 1985 World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya; and Dr. Patricia Licuanan, now president of Miriam College and host to the AP NGO Forum, who served as chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women when it was the preparatory commission for the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing 1995.

The outcome of the Beijing Conference was a milestone agenda for women’s empowerment. The Beijing Platform for Action deals with removing the obstacles to women’s public participation in all spheres of lives through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making. Its implementation is mainly a responsibility of governments, reviewed each five years.

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