From Human Rights to Program Reality: Vienna, Cairo, and Beijing in Perspective

This article examines the importance of the Vienna, Cairo, and Beijing Conferences to the development of women's human rights. The Vienna Conference provided women's groups the opportunity to promote women's rights as an integral component of human rights and to encourage the strengthening of U.N. mechanisms for enforcing women's human rights. At the Cairo Conference, several significant provisions were adopted in the Programme of Action, including provisions calling for the empowerment of women, the elimination of discrimination against girls, and the promotion of reproductive rights and reproductive health. Further progress must be made in Beijing. The article discusses the difficulties of implementing women's human rights gains into Egyptian law and practice.