• The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children now has 117 signatures and 45 ratifications and will come into force on 25 December 2003
  
  
• San Marino ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, bringing the total number of accessions/ratifications to 175
  
  
• General Assembly President announces awardees of 2003 United Nations prize in field of human rights. The Mano River Women's Peace Network (MARWOPNET) in West Africa is one of the recipients of this prestigious award, which is awarded every five years

• CSW 2005 Review and Appraisal
  The Division for the Advancement of Women, in collaboration with the UN regional commissions, has prepared a questionnaire to compile information from Governments on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome of the Twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly (2000). The deadline for responses to this questionnaire is 30 April 2004.
  
  
• Message of the Secretary-General to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
  
  
• Third Committee approves draft resolutions on women and migrant workers, human rights and cultural diversity, rural women (press release)

• "Enhancing Women's Capacity to Negotiate and Mediate", a training workshop on conflict management for women organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in close collaboration with the Centre for Conflict Resolution of the University of Cape Town took place from 15 - 19 September 2003 in Kigali, Rwanda.
  
  
• The Arusha Declaration of Commitments on the Role of the Domestic Judge on the Application of Internetional Human Rights Law at the Domestic Level was adopted on 11 September 2003
  
  
• Women and HIV/AIDS
  Ms. Carolyn Hannan's presentation at the workshop on HIV/AIDS and Adult Mortality in Developing Countries organized by Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs on 8-13 September 2003
  
  

• Romania ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on 25 August 2003, bringing the total number of accessions/ratifications to 55
  
  

July 2003

• Serbia and Montenegro acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on 31 July 2003, bringing the total number of accessions/ratifications to 54
  
  
• Revitalization and strengthening of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women [ Advance Unedited Version ]
  Note of the Secretary-General. This note contains the United Nations Secretariat's comments on the new recommendations as set out in the in the letter dated 20 June 2003 from the Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Economic and Social Council (E/2003/93)
  
  
• 78th session of the Human Rights Committee
  Ms. Angela E.V. King delivered a statement at the Human Rights Committee at its 78th session which took place in Geneva on 14 July to 8 August 2003
  
  
• Panel discussion to present "The Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol" took place on Monday, 14 July 2003 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The panel discussion was sponsored by the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) ( Press Release )
  
  

June 2003

• The 29th Session of CEDAW took place in New York from 30 June to 18 July 2003
  
  
• 
  Women, Peace and Security
  A study submitted by the Secretary-General pursuant to Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) wins the prestigious Notable Government Documents Award
  

May 2003

• Meeting the Needs of Global Working Families
  This is invitation-only conference was jointly sponsored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Harvard University's Work, Family and Democracy Initiative, and the Johnson Foundation. The conference was held from 21 to 23 May 2003 in Racine, Wisconsin, and brought together leaders from the United Nations, Intergovernmental Organizations, NGOs, business groups, unions and research centers. Ms. Carolyn Hannan, Director of the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, was representing the Division.
  
  
• The twelfth session of the UN Crime Commission focused on human trafficking, especially on women and children
  The 40-member body held its session in Vienna from 13 to 22 May 2003

April 2003

• International Symposium on a new vision for gender policy: Equality, Development and Peace
  Organized by the Korean Women's Development Institute, the symposium was held in Seoul, Korea from 17 to 18 April 2003. The Director of the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, Ms. Carolyn Hannan, delivered her statement entitled "Transforming Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming"
  

March 2003

• CSW urged integration of gender perspectives into WSIS
  The Chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women, Ms. Kyung-wha Kang, presented the agreed conclusions on "Participation and access of women to the media and ICTs" through a letter to the President of the World Summit on the Information Society Prep Com
  
  
• UN celebrates International Women's Day 2003 >>>



• Forty-seventh Session of the CSW
  The 47th session of the Commission on the Status of Women was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 3 to 14 March 2003 and closed on 25 March 2003. The 48th session was declared open on the same day for the sole purpose of electing the new Chairperson and other members of the Bureau
  
  >>> Agreed Conclusions
  >>> Resolutions and Decisions

February 2003

• Seven Women Elected to the International Criminal Court >>>
  

January 2003

• Twenty-eighth Session of CEDAW
  The twenty-eighth session of CEDAW was held at the UN Headquarters in New York from 13 to 31 January 2003. The Committee examined the reports of the following States parties: Albania, Canada, Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Kenya, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland