UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet to Address Council of Europe and Attend World Economic Forum in Davos
Date:
Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, will travel to Strasbourg, France on 25 and 26 January to meet with officials of the Council of Europe and address the Parliamentary Assembly to strengthen collaboration for women's rights worldwide. She will then travel to Davos, where she will meet with representatives of government, civil society and business, and participate with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in a panel on “Women as the way forward, the first major public session of the World Economic Forum on women's leadership. This session will be webcast live.
In Strasbourg, Ms. Bachelet will hold meetings with the Council's Secretary General, Thorbjorn Jagland; Deputy Secretary General, Maud de Boer Buquicchio; and the new President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council, Jean Claude Mignon. Ms. Bachelet will address the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination about the role of UN Women in promoting women's rights worldwide.
On 26 January, Ms. Bachelet will provide a testimony to a joint debate of the Parliamentary Assembly on women's rights, and the Council of Europe's Convention on Ending Violence against Women. The meeting comes days before the European Summit on 30 January in Brussels.
Friday 27 January kicks off the agenda at the World Economic Forum in Davos, with a series of bilateral meetings with government representatives and business groups. Ms. Bachelet will participate in the panel, “Women as the way forward, the first public meeting in Davos focused on women's leadership, and moderated by Nick Kristof, columnist for The New York Times, including panelists Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook; Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand; and Desmond M. Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner, peace activist of South Africa, and president of The Elders, a non-governmental organization dedicated to peace and human rights.
Ms. Bachelet will focus her interventions on the urgent need to promote gender equality and women's economic empowerment as a key element to financial recovery and sustainable growth.
The Executive Director of UN Women will also participate as a panelist in the session “Social protection to social empowerment, with the Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation, Sharan Burrow; expert in economics from MIT, Peter Diamond; Minister of Finance of Brazil, Guido Mantega; and the Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of Austria, Michael Spindelegger.
On this occasion, Michelle Bachelet will emphasize that social protection is an investment that benefits all, in both the short and long-term, to reduce poverty and inequality, increase productivity and stabilize the economy.
The former head of state will conclude public activities at the World Economic Forum official dinner, “Women Leaders, where she will moderate a debate on new models of leadership.