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Alicia Bárcena

Executive Secretary

Antonio Prado

Deputy Executive Secretary

María Nieves Rico

Chief, Division for Gender Affairs

Ricardo Pérez

Chief, Publications and Web Services Division

The Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030 was adopted by the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean at its thirteenth session, which was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Government of Uruguay and took place in Montevideo from 25 to 28 October 2016.

Distr.: General • LC/CRM.13/5 • March 2017 • Original: Spanish • S.17-00033 • © United Nations • Printed in Santiago

Applications for authorization to reproduce this work in whole or in part should be sent to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Publications and Web Services Division, publicaciones@cepal.org. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and to inform the United Nations of such reproduction.

Contents

Maintitle

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Contents

Introduction

A. The Regional Gender Agenda and its synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

B. The Montevideo Strategy: a political commitment to achieving gender equality in the region by 2030

C. The Montevideo Strategy: pillars for implementing the Regional Gender Agenda within the sustainable development framework by 2030

D. Follow-up to the implementation of the Montevideo Strategy by 2030

Introduction

Since the twelfth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (Santo Domingo, 2013), the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, under the leadership of their ministers of women’s affairs and officials from the machineries for the advancement of women, have expressed their determination and the need to establish a regional strategy to implement the Santo Domingo Consensus (paragraph 9 of the agreements adopted by the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women at their fiftieth meeting) and other regional agreements.

At the fifty-second meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Santo Domingo from 30 to 31 July 2015, governments discussed the idea of developing a strategy for the effective implementation of the different regional agreements on women. At the fifty-third meeting of the Presiding Officers, held in Santiago from 26 to 28 January 2016, the countries agreed to devise a strategy for the implementation of commitments undertaken by governments as part of the Regional Gender Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, in keeping with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted at the seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015.

The Regional Gender Agenda encompasses commitments made by the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean on women’s rights and autonomy, and gender equality, at the sessions of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, from the first Regional Conference on the Integration of Women into the Economic and Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (Havana, 1977) to date, on the terms under which the governments of the region adopted them, as reflected in 40 years of the Regional Gender Agenda,[1] and in accordance with their domestic legislation.

As part of the process of drawing up the Montevideo Strategy, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as the technical secretariat of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, undertook a systematic review of the language used over the last 40 years in the agreements that comprise the Regional Gender Agenda. That review took into account the socioeconomic context and discussions on the Sustainable Development Goals with the governments of the region and civil society, and led to the identification of the agreements linked to different implementation pillars. In this regard, the measures of the Montevideo Strategy under each implementation pillar build on existing agreements and make progress towards operationalizing and giving full effect to the Regional Gender Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean by 2030.

The methodology for devising the Montevideo Strategy was shared with and approved by governments at the three subregional preparatory meetings for the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: the meeting with Mexico and the Central American and Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries (Mexico City, 2 and 3 June 2016); the meeting with the South American countries (Santiago,

4 and 5 July 2016); and the meeting with the English-speaking and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries (Port of Spain, 26 and 27 July 2016).

Following an extensive consultation process, the different contributions of government officials, representatives of civil society organizations and United Nations system bodies were compiled. ECLAC prepared a first draft of the Montevideo Strategy, which was sent in August 2016 to States members of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean with the request that they submit new comments in writing. To further strengthen the participatory process of drafting the Montevideo Strategy, a meeting was held at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, on 23 and 24 August 2016, with specialists from the women’s movement and academic institutions, at which the first draft of the Montevideo Strategy was shared and discussed, and suggestions and comments were noted.

ECLAC used the contributions received to prepare an updated version of the document, to be considered by the States of the region at the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean as the basis for negotiations, with a view to adopting the Montevideo Strategy.

A. The Regional Gender Agenda and its synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region in the world where, for the past four decades without fail, countries have been holding regular meetings to discuss and make a political commitment to eradicating discrimination against women and girls and gender inequality, and advancing towards the guarantee of full enjoyment of women’s and girls’ autonomy and human rights. The Inter-American Commission of Women of the Organization of American States, established in Havana in 1928, and the first World Conference of the International Women’s Year, held in Mexico City in 1975, are important precedents that helped to create the conditions at the regional level in which an agenda of rights and non-discrimination could be developed and intergovernmental bodies specializing in women’s human rights and gender equality could be established.

At the first Regional Conference on the Integration of Women into the Economic and Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (Havana, 1977), the member States gave ECLAC a mandate to convene a Regional Conference on Women at regular intervals of no more than three years. Since then, 12 sessions of the Regional Conference have been held: Havana, 1977; Macuto, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 1979; Mexico City, 1983; Guatemala City, 1988; Curaçao, 1991; Mar del Plata, Argentina, 1994; Santiago, 1997; Lima, 2000; Mexico City, 2004; Quito, 2007; Brasilia, 2010; and Santo Domingo, 2013.

The Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean has been the main forum for the negotiation of an ambitious, broad and comprehensive Regional Gender Agenda. This agenda comprises the commitments made by Latin American and Caribbean governments on women’s rights and autonomy and gender equality that were adopted at sessions of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. These commitments are reflected in the Regional Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Latin American Economic and Social Development (1977), the Regional Programme of Action for the Women of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1995-2001 (1994), the Santiago Consensus (1997), the Lima Consensus (2000), the Mexico City Consensus (2004), the Quito Consensus (2007), the Brasilia Consensus (2010) and the Santo Domingo Consensus (2013).

The Regional Gender Agenda is the result of the political will and coordinated efforts of member States and the active contribution of the women’s and feminist movements, as well as the support of the United Nations system and the inter-American human rights system. Synergies have been built and the agenda has been strengthened and enhanced by the obligations assumed by States upon ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) and its optional protocol, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and its optional protocols, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo, 2000) and two of its protocols (the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), the conventions of the International Labour Organization, in particular Nos. 100, 111, 156, 169, 183 and 189, the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Belém do Pará, 1994), the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance (2013), the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons (2015) and other relevant treaties, covenants and conventions, which establish an international legal framework to protect, respect and guarantee all the human rights of women and girls in all their diversity, as well as the principle of non-discrimination, and to achieve gender equality.

Similarly, the Regional Gender Agenda reaffirms the commitment of governments to the Declaration and Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Durban, 2001), the programme of activities for the implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), the International Conferences on Financing for Development (Monterrey, 2001; Doha, 2008; and Addis Ababa, 2015), and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), and the outcomes of the corresponding review processes. The Regional Gender Agenda converged, in 2015, with the commitments of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, then, in 2016, with those of the New Urban Agenda of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) and resolution 71/1 of the United Nations General Assembly, entitled “New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants”.

The Regional Gender Agenda also dovetails with agreements made by other subsidiary bodies of ECLAC, in particular the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development adopted by the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean at its first session, and the agreements adopted by the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC, the Conference on Science, Innovation and Information and Communications Technologies, the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee.

The Regional Gender Agenda is open to the future and to incorporating new commitments in a dynamic manner as they are undertaken by the member States of ECLAC. In addition to being progressive, it is cumulative, as each document recognizes the political and programmatic value of preceding agreements and complements them, taking into account new socioeconomic and political situations at the regional and global levels. On the basis of the analysis of the agreed language, the commitments undertaken over the past 40 years can be grouped into three categories: (a) approaches that guide public policies; (b) critical dimensions for gender equality and women’s autonomy, recognized as rights; (c) and implementation pillars, which are described below.

(a) The five approaches or perspectives that guide public policies and objectives linked to women’s autonomy and rights are: (i) gender equality; (ii) women’s human rights; (iii) intersectionality and interculturality; (iv) parity-based, representative and participatory democracy, and secularism; and (v) sustainable and inclusive development. These interrelated approaches also guide the measures of the Montevideo Strategy.

(b) The Regional Gender Agenda comprises agreements on gender equality and women’s autonomy that address multiple issues that can be grouped together under certain critical dimensions that are integral to human rights, thereby recognizing women as rights-holders and States as the guarantors of those rights, while reaffirming that those rights are universal, indivisible, inalienable and interdependent:

(i)Right to a life free of all forms of violence and discrimination: violence against women in its various manifestations (private, public, symbolic, institutional, cyber, economic, obstetric, political, in armed conflicts, in natural disasters, deprivation of liberty, harassment in the workplace, sexual harassment, sexual abuse and exploitation, migrant smuggling, trafficking in women, forced prostitution, rape, femicide); forced marriage and cohabitation imposed on girls and adolescents; public safety and cities; legislation and access to justice; educational content and the media; stereotypes, sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, homophobia, lesbophobia, transphobia

and discrimination.

(ii)Sexual and reproductive rights with respect to: comprehensive sexual education and information; safe, good-quality abortion services, in those cases where abortion is legal or decriminalized under the relevant national legislation; contraception; integrated social health-care services; maternal mortality; sexual orientation and gender identity; universal and accessible services; disability and old age; eradication of child pregnancy; prevention of adolescent pregnancy and motherhood; sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS; health emergencies; healthy maternity; technological development; different forms of family.

(iii)Economic, social and cultural rights with respect to: income, employment and integration into the labour force; work and control of resources; land rights; sexual division of labour; unpaid and care work; social protection and security; education, science and communications technologies; transformation of cultural norms; intergenerational transmission of poverty; female heads of household and well-being, time use and allocation; fiscal and macroeconomic policies; social policies; public investment; rural areas; paid domestic work and informality; companies and business ventures; credit; technology and innovation; territory and production models.

(iv)Civil and political rights with respect to: political participation and leadership; political parties and electoral systems; representation and parity; women’s and feminist organizations and movements; migration; conflicts and peace processes; e-government.

(v)Collective and environmental rights with respect to: land and territory; water and forests; ancestral knowledge; natural disasters and extreme weather events; climate change; rural and urban areas; risk management and mitigation; right to development; international cooperation.

(c) The Regional Gender Agenda includes agreements on the tools and means to advance effective guarantees of women’s rights and autonomy under the principles of equality and non-discrimination, which are the foundations for the Montevideo Strategy implementation pillars and measures: (1) normative framework; (2) institutional architecture;

(3) participation; (4) capacity-building and -strengthening; (5) financing; (6) communication; (7) technology; (8) cooperation; (9) information systems; and (10) monitoring, evaluation and accountability. These

10 pillars are considered to be interconnected priorities that create the conditions and means for the full and effective implementation of public policies aimed at eliminating inequality and ensuring that women in all their diversity can enjoy all human rights.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is in synergy with the Regional Gender Agenda. The Declaration contained in the 2030 Agenda affirms that it is the responsibility of States to respect, protect and promote human rights (paras. 10, 19, 35), and recognizes that realizing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will make a crucial contribution to progress across all the Goals and targets, and, to that end, the systematic mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the implementation of the Agenda is crucial (para. 20). It also states that there are different approaches, visions, models and tools available to each country to achieve sustainable development (para. 59) and that each government will decide how these global targets should be incorporated into national planning processes, policies and strategies (para. 55). Thus, in order to address the structural challenges and priorities of Latin America and the Caribbean, the existing commitments in the Regional Gender Agenda and the 2030 Agenda should be seen as complementary and the actions taken to achieve them should be linked to commitments arising from both agendas.

At the thirty-sixth session of ECLAC, held in Mexico City from 23 to 27 May 2016, the governments of the region established the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development. This Forum, which will be the regional mechanism for follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, will receive annual reports from the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (resolution 700(XXXVI) of ECLAC) on progress made in the implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda and the Goals, targets and means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda from a gender perspective. In turn, the conclusions and recommendations agreed at the intergovernmental level in the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development will inform the global process in the framework of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the Economic and Social Council Forum on Financing for Development.

Against this backdrop, the Montevideo Strategy will serve as a road map for the effective implementation of regional and global commitments on women’s human rights and autonomy, and carrying out the actions and measures detailed under its 10 implementation pillars will help to put gender equality at the centre of sustainable development by 2030.

B. The Montevideo Strategy: a political commitment to achieving gender equality in the region by 2030

The Montevideo Strategy is a regional political commitment that will guide the full implementation of the agreements adopted by the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (the Regional Gender Agenda), and make these agreements the road map for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the regional level from the perspective of gender equality and women’s autonomy and human rights. Thus, the Montevideo Strategy is a political and technical instrument that will support a qualitative leap towards the implementation and strengthening of multidimensional and comprehensive public policies that ensure the fulfilment of human rights and women’s autonomy and the achievement of gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean. It draws on the lessons learned and issues outstanding after 20 years of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the 15 years of implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, and proposes measures to overcome the main obstacles to institutionalizing gender equality and women’s rights in State structures. These measures will guide sectoral and cross-cutting public policies aimed at eliminating gender inequalities and fostering sustainable development.

The Montevideo Strategy redefines the role of the State in equality policies, by ensuring fulfilment of women’s human rights and autonomy as a central pillar of medium- and long-term national sustainable development strategies. It is therefore an instrument whose scope encompasses the entire State structure and that recognizes the leadership of machineries for the advancement of women. The measures set forth in the Strategy require the commitment and active participation of sectoral ministries, planning and budgeting departments, decentralized agencies, parliaments and the judiciary, among other government stakeholders.

The success of the Montevideo Strategy at the regional level, as well as its adaptation at the national and subnational levels, requires active engagement by civil society in all its diversity in public policy monitoring and evaluation and follow-up of commitments, especially by women’s and feminist movements and organizations, and those representing young, indigenous, Afro-descendent and rural women, migrant women, older women, women with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons, as well as academia, trade unions and human rights defenders. The private sector must also be involved, especially the business sector, which must act in conformity with women’s human rights and with labour, environmental, taxation and transparency standards, and promote gender equality and women’s autonomy and empowerment.

The Montevideo Strategy recognizes the region’s heterogeneity, the special needs and particular challenges facing landlocked developing countries, small island developing States, middle-income countries, highly indebted and vulnerable Caribbean countries, least developed countries, countries in situations of conflict, post-conflict countries and those affected by unilateral measures contrary to international law. It is directed towards all those who face gender discrimination in Latin America and the Caribbean and its implementation will benefit all women, regardless of age, income, sexual orientation, gender identity, territory of residence, migratory status, race or ethnic origin, or physical or mental capacity.

There are multiple points of intersection between the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the pillars of implementation of the Montevideo Strategy. Sustainable Development Goal 17 of the 2030 Agenda is aimed at strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development the other 16 Goals have specific implementation targets.

The Montevideo Strategy is also consistent with the agreed conclusions of the sixtieth session of Commission on the Status of Women (New York, 14-24 March 2016). At that session, the Commission addressed women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development, by means of commitments to strengthening normative, legal and policy frameworks, financing, women’s leadership and participation, information systems and review processes, and national institutional arrangements for gender equality.

1. Overcoming the structural challenges to the achievement of gender equality by 2030

The Montevideo Strategy is aimed at closing the gap between de jure and de facto equality by strengthening public policies to ensure the autonomy and full exercise of the human rights of all women and girls, ending discrimination, prejudice and all forms of resistance. In order to achieve gender equality, it is necessary to overcome certain structural challenges entrenched in the current unequal power relations in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is also necessary to consider the trends and contextual factors now crystallizing into new challenges: slowing economic growth, rising poverty, a resurgence of conservatism, demographic changes and shifts in family structure and composition, and the demise of the prevailing development pattern, which has brought rising inequality and environmental crisis.

The structural challenges to be overcome include: (i) socioeconomic inequality and the persistence of poverty; (ii) discriminatory, violent and patriarchal cultural patterns and the predominance of a culture of privilege; (iii) the sexual division of labour and the unfair social organization of care; and (iv) the concentration of power and hierarchical relations in the public sphere. These challenges exacerbate each other and generate complex socioeconomic, cultural and belief systems that hinder and reduce the scope of policies on gender equality and women’s autonomy. The Montevideo Strategy seeks to dismantle these structural challenges, which are described below, in order to make progress towards substantive equality.

(a) Socioeconomic inequality and the persistence of poverty in the framework of exclusionary growth

Latin America and the Caribbean continues to be the world’s most unequal region. The reduction in income inequality in recent years, which was driven by steady economic growth and bolder social policies, did not bring a more balanced distribution between capital and labour. At the same time, in several countries, even as income inequality declined, the femininity index of poverty in households rose. This is consistent with the persistence of gender gaps in the labour market, wages, employment quality and access to social protection and security, as well as a social organization that assigns unpaid domestic work and care to women, together with policies and care services that are inadequate to ensure co-responsibility between men and women, the State, the market, families and the community. Barriers also remain with respect to women’s access to production resources, such as credit, land, water, training, technologies and time. All this speaks to the structural nature of gender inequality.

The limitations of existing development policies, especially macroeconomic policies, the systemic regressiveness of fiscal policy and the loss of money through tax evasion and avoidance in the region are exacerbated by the low tax burden on the highest-income individuals and corporations, overreliance on indirect taxes with gender biases and the increasing adoption of fiscal austerity measures and cuts in social investment budgets. All these are major obstacles to overcome in order to mobilize sufficient public resources to achieve gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights.

Although, historically speaking, the Latin America and the Caribbean region has contributed less than other parts of the world to climate change, it is extremely vulnerable to the impacts. Among other reasons, this is because of its geographical location, its biodiversity and its patterns of production specialization, which are mostly intensive in natural resources and fossil fuels, but not in knowledge, technologies and quality employment creation, especially for women.

This situation is compounded by adverse economic conditions. There are worrying projections of increasing income poverty, as a result of slower economic growth, rising unemployment, mounting inflationary pressures and increased tax evasion. In contexts of slowdown and adjustment, it is important to take active measures to prevent macroeconomic policies and fiscal reforms from deepening women’s poverty, increasing the unpaid work and care burden and limiting —or reducing outright— financing and budgets for equality policies and machineries for the advancement of women, especially their work to prevent and eliminate gender-based violence.

Given the demise of the prevailing development pattern, it is time to make the transition towards sustainable production and consumption patterns that incorporate policies on the redistribution of wealth, income and time. Overcoming poverty and narrowing equality gaps are essential to achieving substantive equality. It is also necessary to work for an international order conducive to the exercise of full citizenship and all human rights, including the right to development, which will benefit all women and girls and society as a whole.

(b) Discriminatory, violent and patriarchal cultural patterns and the predominance of a culture of privilege

Regional progress in access by girls, female adolescents, young and adult women, in all their diversity, to the education system, and by young and adult women to the labour market and decision-making and their increased participation in these spheres —as well as the involvement of some men in care work— does not belie the persistence of discriminatory, sexist and racist sociocultural patterns that continue to reproduce inequality and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The past few years have seen a resurgence in discriminatory and violent patriarchal practices, discourses and cultural patterns based in the culture of privilege that restrict the full exercise of sexual and reproductive rights, and the recognition of different forms of family, sexual diversity and gender identity. The discrimination and violence that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons face by reason of their sexual orientation and gender identity are evident in the obstacles they encounter in access to health care, good-quality employment, legal forms of union and family composition, and identity registration. This resurgence is a warning signal of the need for governments to take action to prevent backsliding in the guarantee the rights of all persons and the autonomy of women.

There also persist certain patriarchal cultural patterns that exclude and obscure the identity and knowledge of women —especially rural, indigenous, Afro-descendent and migrant women— thereby denying the pluricultural and multilingual nature of the Latin American and Caribbean region. These patterns, together with neoconservatism, make up systems of discrimination and privilege that are driven, as well, by the intersections of gender and other types of inequality in society linked to socioeconomic status, race or ethnic origin, age, place of residence and physical and mental capacities.

Patriarchal cultural patterns also underlie the wage gap, vocational orientation, the social organization of care and the violence perpetrated against women and girls. With sights set on 2030 and sustainable development, it is time to move from a culture of privilege to one of rights and equality, dismantling the androcentric understanding of the human being and its expression in public policies, and including boys, young men and men as agents and beneficiaries of this change. It is necessary, therefore, to eliminate all types of sex-based distinction, exclusion or restriction aimed at or resulting in the denial of effective enjoyment of human rights in the political, economic, social, cultural and environmental spheres. Substantive equality will be possible only when all people are acknowledged as equals in dignity and treated and recognized as bearers of rights.

(c) Sexual division of labour and unfair social organization of care

A number of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have made advances in conducting time-use surveys in order to account for time spent on unpaid work, and in recognizing care as a need and a right, which has led to the implementation of specific polices. Yet, despite this progress, the region still shows a rigid sexual division of labour based on unequal power relations, which prevents the reduction of this burden on women. This is evident in the fact that women’s increasing participation in the labour market and in the public sphere has not been accompanied by greater participation of men in unpaid domestic and care work, and in the fact that children and adolescents continue to be socialized under these patriarchal patterns. At the same time, market-based care work is performed mainly by women in three sectors of the economy: paid domestic work, health and education.

The social organization of care continues to be unfair and unbalanced, with heavy implications in terms of the equality gap between men and women, between women of different socioeconomic levels and between countries and territories. Many Latin American and Caribbean women form part of global care chains in which, given the lack of engagement by men, care work is transferred from one woman to another, on the basis of power relations structured by sex, class and place of origin. In the coming decade, an accelerating process of population ageing in the region will increase the burden of caring for older persons, the chronically ill and persons with some kind of disability, and the costs of health care and pension systems will rise. At the same time, although fertility rates are expected to fall by 2030, this decline will continue to be stratified by socioeconomic level and by race and ethnic origin.

All these elements will continue to prevent women from exercising economic autonomy unless they are tackled now by means of public policies to address the care demands of persons with some degree of dependence. Such policies must explicitly consider the rights of caregivers, whether paid or unpaid, to ensure that their opportunities to participate in decision-making processes and their labour and production options are not curtailed. Programmes and projects must be designed bearing in mind that the social organization of care is a responsibility that must be shared by men and women and redistributed between the various forms of family, social and community organizations, businesses and the State.

The sexual division of labour and the dominant cultural patterns have an impact on environmental problems and on the consequences of climate change for the day-to-day life of households. Rural, indigenous and campesino women are guardians of biodiversity but, under conditions of significant fragility and exploitation, they have less access to and control over land and production resources, and they shoulder the main responsibility for providing food for their families, collecting water and firewood, and tending vegetable plots and animals. Their responsibilities and disempowerment thus worsen their vulnerability and prevent them from developing adaptation and response capacities. Mitigation of climate change requires taking measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and analysing how the gender order relates to the prevailing cultural patterns of production, consumption, energy use and technology. In this context, it is important to consider women’s contribution to mitigation as producers, workers and consumers, as well as researchers in the areas of clean, safe technology and energy, and public policymakers.

The challenges of eliminating poverty and inequality, care needs and demands, and the environmental crisis all demand that the existing sexual division of labour be overcome; this is essential to achieving equality by 2030.

(d) Concentration of power and hierarchical relations in the public sphere

Over the past few decades, despite the steady process of democratization, in Latin America and the Caribbean institutional, social and cultural structures have remained in place that restrict women’s access to power and to decision-making processes, as well as to justice and enforceability of rights.

In addition, in some countries of the region, there is a tendency towards the concentration of political and economic power, a resurgence of antidemocratic positions, and cultures of authority and tutelage over women’s bodies, which limit both women’s autonomy and the development of society overall. It is especially worrying to see that, at the same time as channels are opening up for the participation of civil society in public life, women human rights defenders and social protest are being criminalized in contexts of socioenvironmental conflicts, and in a framework of impunity. In addition, there is insufficient recognition of the contribution made by women’s and feminist movements and organizations and those representing Afro-descendent, indigenous and young women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons to democracy, cultural change and peaceful coexistence based on public policies for equality.

In order to achieve gender equality by 2030, it is essential to progress in interrelated processes: the deepening and fine-tuning of democracies and the democratization of political, socioeconomic and cultural regimes. Both are conditional upon achieving parity in the distribution of power. Parity democracy —as a quantitative and qualitative criterion— is thus central to the process of generating the conditions for women’s full exercise of human rights and citizenship.

In short, ending inequality and poverty, transforming discriminatory and violent patriarchal cultural patterns and the culture of privilege, dismantling the sexual division of labour, and consolidating parity democracy are four interrelated drivers, four substantive highways towards gender equality and development patterns based on human rights, women’s autonomy and sustainability. These four drivers cut across all the measures under the implementation pillars of the Montevideo Strategy and provide the political orientation for public policies aimed at transforming gender relations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

C. The Montevideo Strategy: pillars for implementing the Regional Gender Agenda within the sustainable development framework by 2030

The Montevideo Strategy is aimed at giving effect to the pillars for the implementation of public policies that will help to eliminate gender inequalities and to guarantee the human rights and autonomy of women in all their diversity. The Strategy’s implementation pillars are: (1) normative framework; (2) institutions; (3) participation; (4) capacity-building and -strengthening; (5) financing; (6) communication; (7) technology;

(8) cooperation; (9) information systems; and (10) monitoring, evaluation and accountability. These pillars are interrelated and putting them into effect will help to establish sustainable sectoral and cross-cutting policies aimed at eliminating gender inequalities and guaranteeing the effective enjoyment of human rights by all women, without discrimination.

These pillars are closely associated with the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The targets on finance and systemic issues under Sustainable Development Goal 17 are taken up in implementation pillars 5 and 8 of the Montevideo Strategy (financing and cooperation). The technology targets of Sustainable Development Goal 17 and target 5.b (Sustainable Development Goal 5) are covered by implementation pillar 7 (technology). Capacity-building is incorporated in implementation pillars 2 and 4 (institutional architecture, and capacity-building and -strengthening). The targets on data, monitoring and accountability under Sustainable Development Goal 17 are covered by implementation pillars

9 and 10 (information systems, and monitoring, evaluation and accountability). The means of implementation, target 5.c (Sustainable Development Goal 5), to adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels, are considered in implementation pillar 1 (normative framework). In addition, the implementation pillars of the Montevideo Strategy go further in highlighting two fundamental means for the full and effective implementation of public policies on equality in Latin America and the Caribbean in pillars 3 and 6, namely participation and communication.

The Montevideo Strategy sets out 74 measures for the 10 implementation pillars that have been agreed at the regional level by the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean. These measures can be adapted to the priorities and needs of individual countries and included in sustainable development plans for application at different levels (national, subnational, local, regional and international). This multi-scale approach seeks to reduce inequality within and among countries. The level at which measures are implemented will depend on the political and administrative structure of each country, while regional and international measures will be carried out jointly by intergovernmental bodies at those levels.

1. Normative framework: equality and the rule of law

The normative framework comprises the statutory, legal and political basis for women’s rights and gender equality. It includes all the laws, policies, equality plans, planning tools, programmes, standards, regulations and intervention protocols, as well as binding and non-binding international instruments that define the scope of public policy. The normative framework is developed by various State actors from the executive, legislative and judicial branches at different territorial levels.

Measures:

1.a Incorporate the commitments undertaken by governments in the Regional Gender Agenda of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, into national, subnational and local policies, plans and programmes on equality, women’s rights and sustainable development.

1.b Ratify and enforce human rights treaties; review laws, policies, plans, programmes and protocols periodically, and modify them if necessary, to bring them into line with international standards on women’s human rights, gender equality and non-discrimination; and ensure that all women’s rights are respected, protected and guaranteed and prevent setbacks.

1.c Modify or adapt the national legal framework by incorporating the principle of equality and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex as set out in articles 1 and 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

1.d Adopt comprehensive and specific laws and regulations on gender equality and women’s human rights, including legislation on the right to a life free of all forms of gender-based violence, and ensure their full and effective implementation.

1.e Design and execute plans on gender equality, depatriarchalization and women’s rights with non-transferable, progressive and sufficient budgets and targets engaging different levels of government.

1.f Mainstream gender equality and women’s rights in national development plans and planning instruments.

1.g Establish mandatory periodic reviews of the implementation of gender equality plans and modify policies and programmes by incorporating recommendations to overcome any obstacles.

1.h Design and implement comprehensive and intersectoral intervention protocols, with an intersectional, intercultural, gender and human-rights-based approach, that establish quality standards to ensure non-discrimination on the basis of gender and the adaptability of programmes and services, which should have sufficient, non-transferable allocations of financial resources and be applied at different levels of

the State.

1.i Remove all legal and institutional barriers to women’s effective and equal access to justice, without discrimination, by ensuring participation, transparency, independence and high-quality, timely assistance from specialized personnel, and access to comprehensive remedies for damages in the event of rights violations in order to end impunity.

1.j Ensure that laws, regulations and protocols include mechanisms and procedures to ensure the enforceability of women’s rights.

1.k Adopt laws and norms to ensure women’s equal access to political power, by fostering gender parity in participation throughout the public sphere.

1.l Endeavour to ensure that the position of Latin American and Caribbean countries in international discussions on macroeconomic policy, and trade, investment and financial agreements, incorporates the commitments of the Regional Gender Agenda and their link with Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular that the position on sustainable development be transmitted to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development by the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development.

1.m Promote measures, policies and programmes for the full engagement of boys, young men and men as strategic allies in achieving gender equality, promoting and guaranteeing women’s rights and eliminating all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls.

2. Institutional architecture: multidimensional and comprehensive gender equality policies

Gender institutional architecture is the outcome of political and technical processes and constitutes the organizational structure that oversees public policies on women’s rights and gender equality in all branches and at all levels of the State. The design and modalities of national institutions are heterogeneous and comprise machineries for the advancement of women, gender equality entities in sectoral ministries, the legislative branch, the judiciary, decentralized agencies and intersectoral and inter-institutional coordination bodies.

Measures:

2.a Afford machineries for the advancement of women the highest level in the institutional hierarchy, supported by the normative framework, so that, in executing their functions, they can fulfil their role as the governing and managing bodies of policies on gender equality and women’s rights and autonomy, and ensure that gender equality is mainstreamed throughout the State structure.

2.b Strengthen machineries for the advancement of women by providing sufficient technical, human, political, administrative and financial resources and guarantee their sustainability over time, with a particular focus on the subnational and local levels.

2.c Promote the establishment and consolidation of gender equality and women’s rights bodies in sectoral ministries (including ministries of public administration, where they exist), decentralized agencies, subnational, municipal and local governments, and the legislative and judicial branches, by providing them with human, technical and political resources and a specific budget.

2.d Establish permanent government mechanisms, with specific mandates, division of duties, resource allocations and work plans, for intersectoral and inter-institutional coordination, especially between machineries for the advancement of women and central planning and budgeting units, to participate in the preparation and implementation of development plans and public budgets, mainstreaming the gender perspective in planning and budgeting at the national, subnational and local levels.

2.e Ensure ongoing coordination, facilitated by the technical secretariat of the Conference, among the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the other subsidiary bodies of ECLAC and the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, in order to ensure coordinated follow-up to the Regional Gender Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in accordance with their respective mandates.

3. Popular and citizen participation: democratization of policy and society

Popular and citizen participation, and in particular that of women’s and feminist organizations and movements, in the implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda refers to their contribution to the design, application and follow-up of policies at the national and international levels. To achieve active and substantive participation, a safe and enabling environment must be created by strengthening organization processes, building capacities, facilitating access to information and justice, and establishing channels for dialogue with the general public, including over the Internet, and parity-based participation mechanisms that are effective, institutionalized, permanent and representative of the diversity in women’s and feminist movements and organizations and those representing young, indigenous, Afro-descendent and rural women, older women, migrant women, women from diverse ethnic, religious and linguistic backgrounds, women living with HIV/AIDS, internally displaced women, women living in poverty, women deprived of liberty, women with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons.

Measures:

3.a Support women’s leadership in social and political organizations, promoting parity-based participation in democracy, institution-building and the advocacy capacities of civil society organizations, women’s and feminist movements, and, in particular, leadership among adolescents, young women, indigenous women, Afro-descendent women, rural women, migrant women, women living with HIV/AIDS, women with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons, respecting their organizational expressions.

3.b Establish mechanisms that guarantee participation on a parity basis by women in all their diversity in the public sphere, in elected and designated positions encompassing all functions and at all levels of the State.

3.c Create and maintain a safe and supportive environment for the full and effective participation of civil society through an enabling policy framework, a human rights protection system that safeguards freedoms and ensures effective access to justice, timely public information and citizen participation channels, including mechanisms for the free, prior and informed consent of rural and campesino communities and different indigenous peoples and ethnic groups.

3.d Establish or strengthen effective, institutionalized and permanent citizen participation mechanisms that are representative of the diversity in civil society organizations, to ensure their contribution to the design, implementation, follow-up and evaluation of public policies on gender equality and women’s human rights, especially macroeconomic, production and sustainable development policies and policies on the mitigation of and response to extreme weather events, risk management and resilience-building at the regional, national, subnational and local levels.

3.e Foster the development of online participation and consultation platforms to involve all citizens, individuals and groups in decision-making, particularly young people and women of all ages, Afro-descendent women and those who live in rural, ethnic or indigenous communities or far from decision-making structures, ensuring equal access to information and broad-based consultations.

3.f Allocate sufficient budgets for the functioning of social oversight and accountability mechanisms, observatories and other instruments, and for the participation of civil society organizations, particularly feminist movements and organizations of women of all ages.

3.g Promote spaces for the participation of civil society, especially women’s and feminist movements, in the framework of regional integration bodies and regional and global intergovernmental bodies, such as the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean and other subsidiary bodies of ECLAC, the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Population and Development, the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the Economic and Social Council Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up.

3.h Work towards the creation of a regional fund in support of women’s and feminist movements and organizations, taking into consideration the input of civil society.

4. State capacity-building and -strengthening: public administration based on equality and non-discrimination

Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda will require the development and strengthening of the capacities of institutions and of the human resources involved in designing and executing policies at all levels of State. Institutional capacities are strengthened through policy planning, management and monitoring, ensuring coherence between gender equality policies and development policies. Tools for strengthening human resources include training, the exchange of experiences, knowledge transfers and technical assistance at the national, regional and international levels.

Measures:

4.a Design and implement plans for training and ongoing education, in partnership with academic centres, feminist organizations and international organizations, on gender equality, women’s rights, intersectionality and interculturality in all public institutions, particularly the justice system, security forces and the health and education sectors, in order to have human resources skilled in the design and implementation of sectoral and cross-cutting gender policies nationwide.

4.b Incorporate continuing training on gender equality and women’s rights, intersectionality and interculturality into civil service training programmes, and attach importance to this training as part of civil servants’ development and career advancement.

4.c Design, and implement continuing training, management and evaluation strategies to build an organizational culture open to gender, intersectional and intercultural policies.

4.d Design specific training processes to build the leadership capacities of women of all ages in order to achieve parity-based participation in decision-making roles and, in particular, in senior management, executive and technical positions.

4.e Implement regional training, capacity-building and experience-exchange programmes (online and in-person) on the Regional Gender Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goal indicators and development planning, with the support of ECLAC.

5. Financing: mobilizing sufficient and sustainable resources for gender equality

Financing the Regional Gender Agenda includes national and international public funding sources. Both available and potential sources are considered in order to mobilize the maximum available resources to guarantee the fulfilment of women’s rights and gender equality. Financing refers to the amount, level and composition of resource allocations and revenue sources that increase funding progressively and in line with equality priorities.

Measures:

5.a Design, implement and evaluate macroeconomic policies, particularly fiscal policies (income, spending and investment), from a gender equality and human rights perspective to safeguard the progress made and mobilize the maximum available resources.

5.b Assess, using costing exercises with a gender perspective, the budgetary needs of various State institutions linked to achieving the Regional Gender Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, and identify available and potential sources of public financing that respond to the economic and social needs of each country.

5.c Promote and adopt progressive fiscal policies and allocate budgets with a gender perspective to ensure sufficient, non-transferable, sustainable resources that cover all levels and areas of public policy aimed at reversing gender inequalities and guaranteeing women’s rights.

5.d Ensure that fiscal adjustment measures or budget cuts aimed at addressing economic slowdowns are in line with the principles of human rights and non-discrimination, bearing in mind that these measures should be temporary and used exceptionally for the duration of the crisis, and should avoid worsening women’s poverty rates, increasing their burden of unpaid and care work, and reducing financing and budgets for equality policies and machineries for the advancement of women.

5.e Monitor changes in the amount, level, composition and disbursement of budget allocations for policies aimed at reducing gender inequalities and guaranteeing women’s rights, and disseminate that information.

5.f Ensure that the private sector, particularly the corporate sector, contributes effectively to the financing of women’s entrepreneurship, public services and social protection by paying progressive taxes, and that the State avoids the granting of tax privileges.

5.g Carry out gender impact assessments of fiscal policies before and after implementation, to ensure that these policies do not have a negative effect, explicit or implicit, on gender equality, women’s rights or autonomy, for example, increasing the unpaid and care workload or women’s poverty rates.

5.h Strengthen regional cooperation to combat tax evasion and avoidance and illicit financial flows, and improve tax collection from the wealthiest and highest-income groups by introducing corporate income, wealth and property taxes, among others, in order to have greater resources for gender equality policies.

5.i Urge the agencies of the United Nations and the inter-American system to ensure that their gender machineries have sufficient resources for the full implementation of policies on gender equality and women’s rights.

5.j Allocate sufficient financial resources for human resource and institutional capacity-building and -strengthening, in particular in small, highly indebted Caribbean countries for the full and effective implementation of women’s human rights and gender equality policies.

6. Communication: access to information and cultural change

Communication of the Regional Gender Agenda refers to the plans, campaigns and actions undertaken to raise awareness on gender-related normative frameworks, institutional architecture, statistics and information, as well as campaigns for cultural change towards equality and to fulfil women’s and girls’ human rights, in particular sexual and reproductive rights.

Measures:

6.a Design and implement communications plans, with earmarked resources and impact measurement, aimed at the civil service, civil society, the academic sector, the media and society as a whole, to systematically disseminate the agreements, commitments and obligations of the Latin American and Caribbean States relating to women’s and girls’ human rights and gender equality, and their linkages with global, national, subnational and local priorities.

6.b Establish, using information and communications technologies (ICTs), communication plans for different specific audiences in order to ensure the continuous dissemination of legislation and regulatory policies to eliminate gender inequality and guarantee women’s human rights.

6.c Conduct continuous communication campaigns based on quantitative and qualitative studies, with the aim of producing cultural change for gender equality in all areas.

7. Technology: towards e-government and innovative and inclusive economies

Technology, as an implementation pillar of the Regional Gender Agenda, involves mechanisms for the development, transfer and dissemination of technology, as well as equal access and use. It entails technology transfer under favourable, concessional and preferential conditions for Latin American and Caribbean countries, including preferential terms, to ensure that technologies are socially appropriate, safe and environmentally sustainable, and help eliminate gender inequality. Emphasis is also placed on information and communications technologies (ICTs) as a means of advancing towards e-government policies taking into consideration women’s needs and the exercise of their citizenship and rights.

Measures:

7.a Design and carry out periodical ex ante and ex post assessments of the effects of technologies with respect to gender equality in such areas as women’s employment, health, the protection of the ancestral knowledge of women of different indigenous, ethnic and racial groups, harassment and violence through technological means, natural resources and production methods.

7.b Formulate and implement e-government policies, with a gender equality, intersectional and intercultural perspective, thereby enhancing the efficiency and quality of public services, access to information, transparency, use of open data, public participation and accountability, as well as ensuring data confidentiality and protection of users.

7.c Incorporate gender equality, intersectional, intercultural and intergenerational perspectives into the design and application of digital agendas and national strategies for innovation

and ICTs.

7.d Design and execute specific programmes to close the gender gaps in access, use and skills in science, technology and innovation, and encourage the parity-based participation of women in this area.

7.e Encourage, in the framework of the United Nations Technology Facilitation Mechanism, commitments regarding access to and the exchange, transfer and dissemination of technology under favourable, concessional and preferential conditions, and promote multidimensional evaluation to ensure that technology transfers are safe, socially appropriate, environmentally sustainable, and in keeping with commitments relating to women’s rights and gender equality.

8. Cooperation: towards democratic

multilateral governance

Latin American and Caribbean countries and the international community are called upon to cooperate and provide assistance, according to their capacities and resources, to support efforts to achieve gender equality and guarantee women’s rights. Cooperation agreements to fulfil the Regional Gender Agenda may be technical, scientific or financial in nature, or involve the transfer of technology or skills. Regional, South-South and triangular cooperation complement —but do not replace— North-South cooperation, and are based on the principles of horizontality, non-conditionality and mutual benefit.

Measures:

8.a Harmonize regional norms consistent with women’s human rights, and evaluate the extraterritorial effects of the legislation and policies adopted, with respect to transnational issues such as migration, trafficking of women and girls, smuggling of migrants, international organized crime, drug smuggling, forced displacement and the situation of refugees, global value chains and global care chains, financial volatility, wealth concentration, climate change, portability of pensions and the rights of Afro-descendent women and women of different indigenous and ethnic groups.

8.b Implement development cooperation agreements between countries and subregions, particularly to address extreme natural events or other critical situations, in the technical, scientific and financial fields and in relation to labour standards and the social, economic, cultural and environmental rights of women.

8.c Increase resources and technical support to build resilience in small island developing and coastal States that are susceptible to the impacts of climate change, disasters and extreme weather events.

8.d Strengthen the coordination between the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean and the gender machineries of the inter-American system and the regional and subregional integration blocs in order to ensure synergies in the implementation and follow-up of the Regional Gender Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

8.e Urge developed countries to meet their official development assistance commitments, particularly by devoting 0.7% of gross national income to this purpose, and contributing 0.15%-0.20% to the least developed countries.

8.f Promote cooperation and support for middle-income countries, particularly highly indebted and vulnerable Caribbean countries, by defining comprehensive methodologies for classifying countries based on structural development gaps in order to evaluate levels of development and gender inequality more accurately and comprehensively.

8.g Urge developed countries to increase non-conditional official development assistance planned, in a concerted manner, with sufficient resources to fund gender equality policies and mainstreaming of the Sustainable Development Goals.

8.h Promote the representation of Latin American and Caribbean countries, with delegations composed on the basis of parity, in global economic governance institutions that design and implement international norms on finance, trade and debt, and ensure that these norms are consistent with women’s human rights.

8.i Explore debt relief options for highly indebted and vulnerable Caribbean countries, promote solutions to address the debt overhang and guarantee the necessary resources for the implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda and the achievement of sustainable development.

9. Information systems: transforming data into information, information into knowledge and knowledge into political decisions

Gender information systems involve the processes of selecting, compiling, integrating, processing, analysing and disseminating information on gender inequalities, as well as on the progress made and challenges that remain in ensuring fulfilment of women’s rights. Qualitative and quantitative gender statistics and indicators may come from various sources, mainly from the data-producing agencies that make up the national statistical system.

Measures:

9.a Establish and strengthen national statistical systems with a gender perspective, which requires improving the coverage, quality and periodicity of sociodemographic and economic statistics through surveys, censuses and administrative records, using common classifications that ensure comparability.

9.b Ensure the disaggregation and dissemination of data by sex, age, race and ethnic origin, socioeconomic status and area of residence, in order to improve analyses to reflect the diversity of women’s situations.

9.c Develop and strengthen instruments to measure gender inequalities, such as surveys on time use, violence against women, sexual and reproductive health and use of public spaces, and ensure their funding and periodicity.

9.d Design and incorporate into public information systems indicators to measure the level of commitment to and guarantee of women’s human rights, differentiating structural, process and outcome indicators, and signs of qualitative progress.

9.e Build or strengthen inter-institutional partnerships between bodies that produce and use information, particularly between machineries for the advancement of women, national statistical offices, academic institutions and national human rights institutions.

9.f Publish and disseminate, through open-access digital means, good-quality, timely and free information on legislative discussions, approved and executed budgets and judicial decisions.

9.g Strengthen the statistical capacities of machineries for the advancement of women in Latin America and the Caribbean to mainstream the gender perspective in all statistical generation or integration projects.

9.h Promote the production of information for follow-up on the commitments assumed under the Regional Gender Agenda, seeking complementarity with the indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development.

9.i Intensify coordination between the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and encourage cooperation between countries and participation in the sessions of the United Nations Statistical Commission.

10. Monitoring, evaluation and accountability: guaranteeing rights and transparency

The monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda and accountability are part of the cycle of planning and implementing policies on gender equality and women’s rights, and permit an analysis of the obstacles and advances in the fulfilment of commitments adopted by States. Accountability implies the use of mechanisms to disseminate relevant, sufficient, timely and reliable information, and the provision of forums for dialogue with civil society, which performs a citizen oversight function. Coordination between the different accountability instruments reduces overlap, promotes positive synergies and transparency, and helps to consolidate open governments.

Measures:

10.a Create or strengthen monitoring systems, according to agreed criteria, that comprehensively and periodically evaluate the level of implementation of laws, norms, policies, plans and programmes on gender equality and women’s rights at the regional, national and subnational levels.

10.b Take into consideration the information compiled from monitoring and evaluation to create or strengthen accountability mechanisms relating to advances concerning and fulfilment of the Regional Gender Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and, particularly, allocated budgets at all levels of public administration.

10.c Promote inter-institutional coordination among machineries for the advancement of women, national human rights institutions and the Follow-up Mechanism to the Convention of Belém do Pará (MESECVI) and the Protocol of San Salvador, to ensure complementarity and avoid overlap in the monitoring and evaluation of policies on gender equality and women’s rights.

10.d Ensure that the reports presented by countries to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women are broader and more detailed, and that they are submitted in accordance with the schedule set out by the United Nations, that civil society is consulted in the follow-up and evaluation of the policies to which the reports refer, and that legislative changes made are consistent with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

10.e Report to the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development on the fulfilment of the agreements and commitments undertaken under the Regional Gender Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

10.f Report on the regional advances and obstacles concerning the full and effective implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda and its synergies with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women.

10.g Ensure that civil society organizations enjoy effective access to public information so that they can fulfil their role of monitoring policies on equality and women’s rights.

D. Follow-up to the implementation of the Montevideo Strategy by 2030

The Montevideo Strategy is a regional agreement that ECLAC member States will adapt to their priorities, plans for gender equality and rights, sustainable development plans and national policies and budgets.

States are responsible for systematically assessing the progress made in the implementation of the Montevideo Strategy through an open and participatory follow-up framework that includes regional accountability mechanisms and the active participation of civil society organizations.

From the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2016 until 2030, governments will be able to report voluntarily on their progress in the application and adaptation of the Montevideo Strategy at one of the two annual meetings of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, in accordance with a timetable for reporting on implementation pillars in specific areas of interest to be agreed on by the governments of the region.

Moreover, each year, pursuant to resolution 700(XXXVI) of the thirty-sixth session of ECLAC, the Chair of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the support of the secretariat, will report to the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development on the progress made in the implementation of the Montevideo Strategy. These reports will contribute to the global process in the framework of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the Economic and Social Council Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up.

These reports will also be included in the region’s contribution to the sessions of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and the special regional consultations organized by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), as a regional input to the global discussion on gender equality and women’s rights, and the follow-up to the Sustainable Development Goals.

ECLAC has a mandate to convene the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean at intervals of no more than three years (Regional Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Latin American Economic and Social Development, 1977, paragraph 88.1). Hence, four sessions of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to be held between now and 2030 (2019, 2022, 2025 and 2028), one every three years. At each of these sessions, a progress report will be presented on the execution of the Montevideo Strategy and on fulfilment of the goals on gender equality and women’s autonomy included in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Regional Gender Agenda.

The aim of the follow-up to the implementation of the Montevideo Strategy by 2030 is to monitor States’ efforts to fully and effectively implement the Regional Gender Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a view to guaranteeing women’s human rights and autonomy and moving towards more equal and sustainable development patterns.

[1] LC/G.2682.

Annex 1

Explanation of position by the Republic of Nicaragua

[Translation of the Spanish by the secretariat]

Republic of Nicaragua

Central America

MINISTRYFOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Managua, Nicaragua

MRE/DGOCI/00859-E-2/10/2016

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Nicaragua has the honour to write to the esteemed Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and to the Chair of the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean in order to submit the general explanation of position of Nicaragua regarding the document “Montevideo Strategy for implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the sustainable development framework by 2030”.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Nicaragua, on behalf of the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity of Nicaragua, wishes to reiterate its position of principle, by which our Government, in accordance with its constitution and laws and as a signatory of the American Convention on Human Rights, affirms that every person has a right to life, this being a fundamental and inalienable right, and that this right begins at the moment of conception. Abortion or the termination of a pregnancy can under no circumstances be considered means of regulating fertility or birth control as was stated at the International Conference on Population and Development. All domestic legislation on this issue is a sovereign matter to be decided by the people of Nicaragua.

Therefore, our Government wishes to express its reservation regarding all mention of sexual and reproductive rights in the document “Montevideo Strategy for implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the sustainable development framework by 2030”, which will be adopted at the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Montevideo, from 25 to 28 October 2016.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Nicaragua requests the withdrawal of its previous note No. MRE/DGOCI/00859-E/10/2016 and avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the esteemed Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and to the Chair of the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean the assurances of its highest consideration.

Managua, 27 October 2016

The Honourable Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

H.E. the Chair of the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean.

(Signed)

Department of International Organizations and Conferences

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Republic of Nicaragua, Central America

Table of Contents

Maintitle

Copyrights

Contents

Introduction

A. The Regional Gender Agenda and its synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

B. The Montevideo Strategy: a political commitment to achieving gender equality in the region by 2030

C. The Montevideo Strategy: pillars for implementing the Regional Gender Agenda within the sustainable development framework by 2030

D. Follow-up to the implementation of the Montevideo Strategy by 2030