Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995

The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW or Beijing), held in Beijing, China, September 4–15, 1995, was the largest and most influential of all the World Conferences on Women. Nearly 180 government delegations and 2,500 nongovernmental organizations met to discuss a broad range of issues concerning women. They drew on and moved beyond language agreed upon at earlier international conferences, including the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994. The Beijing Conference was a turning point in the world's understanding of women's human rights.

IWHC worked with a newly formed and ongoing alliance of international feminists called HERA to defend and strengthen the ICPD agreements won in 1994. In particular, we worked to secure agreements on sexual and reproductive health, reproductive rights, sexual rights, and the rights of adolescents to information and services. Despite sustained conservative opposition, the central principles of the ICPD Programme of Action, including sexual rights, were fully reaffirmed and extended in the final agreement. 

Click here to read the Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 4-15 Sept. 1995), including the Platform for Action, in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, or Russian.