United Nations Radio

Progress that has been made in the advancement of women in Europe since the Beijing conference 15 years ago, are being threatened by the current global economic and financial crisis.

This observation is coming out of a meeting of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) starting in Geneva on Monday to review progress in Europe in the advancement of women since the 1995 conference.

Over 300 participants including government ministers from 56 Member Countries, non-governmental organizations in North America, Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus are discussing gender equality issues.

Malinka Koparanova, a senior social officer at the UNECE, says the global financial crisis has made the situation dire for women in some of the East European countries which have relied on remittances from migrant workers.

"The countries that are most affected by the lowering of the remittances because of the migration flows reversing in the recent months, these are Tajikistan and the Republic of Moldova. Migration in these countries has been very, very significant during the last years, so now with the start of the global crisis, there is a reverse and migrants are coming back."

Regarding the elimination of violence against women, she notes that progress has been made in passing laws but there is still a gap in implementing those laws.

Gail Walker, United Nations Radio.
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