UN commission proposes action to prohibit violence against women; China offers to host fourth women's conference.

• Position: United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

Action to prohibit violence against women, ensure equal opportunities for disabled women and give priority to international protection of refugee and displaced women and children was recommended by the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-fifth session (27 February-8 March, Vienna).

The 43-member body also launched preparations for the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace.

Fifteen resolutions, which also focused on women in vulnerable situations--including migrants, prostitutes and battered women--and the integration of women in development, were approved by the Commission. Most texts will go to the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly for final adoption later this year.

The Commission asked that discussions start on the possibility of preparing an international instrument that explicitly addresses the issue of violence against women. The first step should be to develop a framework for that instrument, in consultation with the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). An expert meeting on this issue should be convened in 1991 or 1992, with the participation of CEDAW and the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control, the Commission specified.

"Violence against women is an issue of equal rights that derives from a power imbalance between women and men in society", the Commission stated. It urged Governments to adopt, strengthen and enforce legislation prohibiting such violence and to take administrative, social and educational measures to protect women from all forms of physical or mental violence.

Governments were also urged to ensure "the full and explicit integration of women's concerns" in development policies. International financial and technical assistance to specific development programmes should continue, the Commission stressed.

Migrant women should be provided with information and assistance regarding immigration, labour, financial and other relevant laws and regulations, as well as on conditions of work and of life in the State of employment. States were invited to sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, adopted by the Assembly in 1990.

International measures should be taken to ensure greater protection for refugee women and children from physical violence, sexual abuse, abduction and circumstances that could force them into illegal activities.

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