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1. About the PPA
The Pacific Platform for Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights (PPA):
- provides a roadmap for accelerating achievement of gender equality and enhancing the well-‐being of women and girls;
- supports action on national, regional and international gender equality commitments made by Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs), particularly under the Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
- guides PICTs, regional agencies and development partners in prioritising strategic approaches to achieve gender equality;
All Pacific Island governments and administrations, civil society organisations, CROP1 agencies and development partners supporting initiatives in the Pacific Islands region are encouraged to use the PPA to guide their policies and actions. Successful implementation of this Platform also relies on robust and active engagement with civil society organisations (CSOs), faith-‐based organisations (FBOs) and the private sector. The Platform will benefit all partners by providing an instrument to support their advocacy and to encourage governments to fulfil their obligations.
2. Problem
Progress to achieving gender equality in the region has been slowed by structural and underlying social, cultural and economic barriers, such as:
- harmful social norms and exclusionary practices
- Gender equality is not acknowledged as priority in legal and policy frameworks
- limited resourcing for addressing gender inequality issues
- Limited capacity within governments for gender-‐responsive policies and programmes
- Weak leadership and political will for addressing gender equality.
3. Context
In the past 20 years, PICTs have made commitments to achieving gender equality and have acknowledged how critical it is to sustainable development. The Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration (PLGED),2 which was endorsed by Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in 2012, is particularly important. This high-‐level declaration sets out specific policy actions to progress gender equality ‘in the areas of gender-‐responsive government programmes and policies; decision-‐making; economic empowerment; ending violence against women; and health and education’.
Recognising the legacy of the Pacific Platform for Action and the Revised Pacific Platform for Action, the new Pacific Platform for Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights is presented as an extension of the RPPA rather than as a new instrument. The new PPA aligns with international and regional commitments on gender equality made by PICTs, especially the PLGED. It is designed to accelerate progress on these commitments, which share a core set of priority areas.