As we mark the 30-year milestone of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) at the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) reflects on the strides made, challenges faced, and gaps that persist in advancing women’s human rights and Development Justice across Asia and the Pacific. The BPfA, adopted in 1995, set transformative goals to address systemic inequalities faced by women. However, despite three decades of advocacy, the journey toward achieving these goals is far from complete.
This qualitative scorecard, developed by APWLD, bridges BPfA’s aspirations with realities on the ground, drawing on feminist perspectives and evidence-based analysis. It assesses progress against BPfA’s strategic objectives, highlights barriers, and provides illustrative case studies for five critical areas of concern:
- Women and the Media
- Women and Poverty
- Human Rights of Women
- Women and the Environment
- Women in Power and Decision-Making
The analyses in this scorecard are drawn from APWLD’s work on these thematic areas over the past five years, since the last review of the BPfA. Based on the BPfA commitments, we selected specific Strategic Objectives of focus and developed assessment criteria based on actions outlined, grounded in feminist aspirations. The analyses draw on Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR), country assessments and advocacy work with our members and partners.
Through an intersectional lens centring the voices of grassroots women, marginalised communities, and women human rights defenders, this scorecard serves as an accountability tool and a call to action. It bridges past commitments to present realities, highlighting structural inequalities and the need for feminist approaches to dismantle these structural barriers and drive transformative change for women’s human rights and Development Justice.
Critical Reflections and the Path Ahead
Across the five critical areas of concern analysed in this qualitative scorecard, alongside insights from APWLD’s work and advocacy, a clear and undeniable thread emerges: women’s human rights and Development Justice continue to be obstructed by deeply entrenched systems of oppression. These are not just barriers, they are deliberate consequences of colonial legacies, corporate impunity, as well as militarised and patriarchal authoritarian governance that concentrate power in the hands of the few at the expense of the many. More than just to seek reform, feminist movements strive to dismantle and transform these systems.
CSW must reclaim its role as a space for radical feminist advocacy and transformative action to meet the scale of today’s intersecting crises. The coming years should focus on dismantling structural barriers, amplifying feminist movements, and ensuring that the BPfA remains a living framework, one that is responsive to the urgent realities of women and marginalised communities. Only through collective action and systemic change can we move from commitments to meaningful and lasting transformation.
See the Beijing+30 Qualitative Scorecard here.
