United Nations – Discussions at the 60th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CWS) will be focused on creating a conducive environment for gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).
UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, told reporters on Thursday in New York that discussion would also focus on actions to ensure enabling laws and policies, solid institutional infrastructure, adequate financial resources to guide national action.
The CSW, which opens on Monday in New York, she said, would focus on the implementation of the ambitious agreement.
The high-level meeting , she said, underlined the determination of governments and activists to “move the needle on women’s rights and gender equality.
“Gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is a goal in itself, and recognised as a central means to achieving the SDGs.
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“Success depends on rigorous implementation.
“This gathering of so many of the key partners in the implementation of Agenda 2030 makes this a crucial opportunity to combine our strengths and align decisively around the central issues for action.
The priority theme for the 60th session will be women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development,” she said.
Mlambo-Ngouka said that research underlined the benefit of women’s empowerment and gender equality for societies everywhere.
For instance, she said, if women played an identical role to men in labour markets, as much as 28 trillion dollars could be added to global annual GDP by 2025.
“When women are at the peace tables their participation increases the probability of a peace agreement lasting at least two years by 20 per cent, and 35 per cent over 15 years.
“And a child born to a mother who can read is 50 per cent more likely to survive.
“Yet, global reviews undertaken in 2015, during the 20 years’ commemoration of the historic Beijing Conference, revealed while there has been progress on women’s rights and gender equality, it has not been enough.
“Today, only one in five parliamentarians is a woman and women continue to earn less, have fewer assets and bear the burden of unpaid work and care,” she said.
Violence against women, she said, continued to affect one in three women, making it one of the most widespread human rights violations.
The Commission, she added, would evaluate progress in the implementation of its agreed conclusions of 2013, on ending violence against women and girls.
This year, she said, no fewer than 1,000 NGOs and 8,100 of their representatives have registered for the meeting.
She said no fewer than 200 side events would be hosted on the UN premises by Member States and UN entities, many of them in collaboration with civil society. (NAN)