United Nations -- More than 40 non-governmental organizations and foundations along with the U.S. government have been working for several months to plan a wide array of events and play host for the thousands expected to attend the Special Session of the UN General Assembly in June on the subject of "Women 2000: Participation, Development and Peace in the 21st Century."

The events, scheduled for the first week and a half of June, will review the progress made in the last five years to meet the many goals for women set out in the so-called "Platform for Action" adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995. More than 150 delegations are expected to attend the UN General Assembly session from June 5 to 9, also referred to as "Beijing+5." Thousands more non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are also expected to attend as members of official delegations or be in New York to attend the parallel events of the NGO Forum, which begins on June 2.

At a press conference at UN headquarters March 15, Ellen Chesler, co-chair of the Beijing +5 Host Committee, said that "a variety of nongovernmental organizations are planning celebrations that mark the progress that has been made and other events to hold governments accountable for the historic commitments they made at Beijing."

Preparations have been underway for a number of months. The Beijing+5 Host Committee is composed of more than 40 NGOs and foundations. It is working in partnership with the government and the private sector and collaboratively with the NGO Committee on the Status of Women.

Representatives of the U.S. Government, New York State Government and the City of New York want to make certain that not only the members of the official delegations but also the many women from non-governmental organizations around the world can also take part in the celebration. "This is really about bringing together local and national and international women's groups in support of this platform," Chesler said.

Committee members said that because of the tremendous visibility of Beijing and with regional meetings held all over the world in the years since, there is likely to be interest beyond accredited delegates from the 188 UN member states. They admit that they don't know precisely how many people they will be hosting but estimate that there will be between 6,000 and 20,000.

In 1995, the committee pointed out, 6,000 official delegates from 189 countries attended the Beijing conference. In addition, some 30,000 women participated in a parallel NGO Forum to discuss the goals of the Platform for Action and returned to their countries to work for the empowerment of women.

"As the host committee, it is our goal to make sure that there are facilities for everyone," Chesler said.

U.S. Ambassador Betty King said that as the host country, the United States welcomes its role and has every intention of fulfilling its obligations and making sure that everyone who comes to New York will be able to take part in the historic event.

King, who is the U.S. Representative to the UN's Economic and Social Council, told the committee preparing for the session March 3 that "the United States and our NGO partners believe that there will be more guests for this session than can be accommodated in the United Nations building at any one time. While it is very unclear how many people will be in New York, we are working hard to be sure that all who come to New York, particularly from long distances, feel a part of this important UN event."

For example, "plans are also underway for a satellite conference to connect the UN activities to women around the world on the morning of Thursday, June 8," King said.

The Beijing+5 Host Committee is working with UN officials to have an event on opening day outside the UN to accommodate a large number of participants, Ambassador King said. During the special session, the United States Customs House, which is located a few subway stops from the United Nations, will be open for participants. United Nations televised proceedings will be piped into its auditorium that can accommodate 350 persons.

There are also meeting rooms at the Customs House, which also will have a cybercafe. Newly refurbished, the historic building houses the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.

King also mentioned a few of the other events being planned. U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the chief U.S. envoy to the United Nations, will host a reception for delegations at the Hayden Planetarium, a new annex to the Museum of Natural History, on June 6. An opening reception will be held on June 2 co-sponsored by the Conference of Nongovernmental Organizations (CONGO), and a celebratory event will be held at the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island in the New York Harbor on June 8.

A full list can be found on their website at www.beijingplus5hostcomm.com. which will be up an running by the end of March.

Promita Sengupta, coordinator for the Beijing+5 NGO Host Committee, said that the website, in addition to listing a myriad of daily events -- that will begin June 2 and run through the end of the conference on June 9 -- will also have links to other websites on the conference.

As they did in Beijing, the conference of NGOs will coordinate workshops, roundtables, panels and cultural events by NGOs from around the world. As at previous conferences, the NGO events are expected to draw experts, celebrities, and public figures to promote their concerns. Each group finances its own events and participation.

For example, NGO fora on emerging issues at universities and other centers in Manhattan will include one on Women and Human Rights, June 4; The Girl Child, June 4; Women and Science and Technology, June 5; Women's Economic Empowerment, June 6; Women and the Media, June 6; and Women and Health, June 7, King said.

"Visitors will be hosted by New York City NGOs at their centers or organizations including crisis centers, women's microcredit and employment projects, health programs, etc. There is a richness of NGOs in New York City that touch on virtually every area of the Platform for Action," King said.

Sengupta also said that the NGO Committee is also "committed to helping NGOs be more effective in the process whether here (at the UN) or in their home countries."

Working for the empowerment of women is "not just limited to one week in New York," she said. "We are very committed to ensuring that governments know that NGOs are prepared and understand what is going on and that when governments go home they are going to be held accountable."

At a large conference such as Beijing +5, the coordinating committee will undertake additional activities to make sure that the NGOs around the world who wish to participate in the process in some away shape or form are properly informed, said Rebecca Nichols, CONGO executive director. "Daily briefings, supporting documents both official and unofficial, an parallel caucuses will be available to NGOs, Nichols said.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Tarr-Whelan, head of the U.S. delegation to the preparatory conference, said that "NGOs are having an increasing influence" on the work of the conference, especially from the perspective of the U.S. delegation.

Several American NGOs will be members of the official U.S. delegation. In addition, the United States plans to hold daily briefings for NGOs, Tarr-Whelan said.

Since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, NGOs have played an increasingly visible and effective role at UN conferences. In 1994, hundreds of NGOs took part in the International Conference on Population in Cairo as members of delegations, activists, and lobbyists, providing much of the language for the its program of action, the committee said.

Since 1995 the NGOs' role has expanded even more. Governments and UN agencies realize that sustainable development and improving the status of women can never be achieved through a top-down model, but needs to be driven by forces within society, individuals, NGOs and other parts of civil society as both policy makers and crucial players, the committee said.