Speech: “Without women’s mobilization…peace-making and peace-building will not be possible”—Lakshmi Puri
Remarks by UN Women Deputy Executive Director and Assistant Secretary- General, Lakshmi Puri, during a high-level roundtable discussion with Ambassadors and representatives of Member States in Geneva on accelerating progress towards the 2030 agenda in the context of increasing vulnerabilities and crises.Date:
Excellences,
Distinguished guest,
Dear friends,
I can’t thank and commend you enough for being champions for development, human rights and peace and security.
Geneva is major arena for the reaffirmation, the elaboration, the deepening, for the implementation and achievement of the gender equality project in the different dimensions in humanitarian, sustainable development, peace and security, environment. It is important to link what we are trying to achieve through the multilateral processes in New York and through our interventions around the world to what is happening here and what is radiating out of here, from Geneva to the world.
This is the second year of the implementation of the Agenda 2030, we have only 13 more years to reach the goals. That is the deadline for our Planet 50-50 for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
We have a new Secretary-General and he has set out his vision and thrive to put the UN at the forefront of the gender equality and women’s empowerment Movement. Movement is a very holistic concept that goes beyond government action and civil society action, but something that encompasses everybody, every sector and everything. There are geopolitical challenges that we face now in terms of multilateralism, populism, questioning of global solidarity, and the coming together of multiple crisis which give rise to this perpetuation of discontent. So how can we, a multilateral system reaffirm the faith, credibility and relevance of multilateralism and global solidarity and also cooperation of all areas and be the solution finder? This is the context in which we are meeting today.
As already mentioned, there are multiple crises; economics slow down, financial, job related which is driven by the fourth industrial revolution, desperate migration, refugee, terrorism. This is the point in the history of the world when the largest number of countries are in crisis or affected by crisis, and in all of that women and girls are at the heart of it, on the frontlines of it in terms of impact and response, means and ends, right and effectiveness. Therefore, we must look at crisis in relation to gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights.
It is also the best of times because in the last 5 years we have seen a historic shift in the gender equality and women’s empowerment and women’s rights global compact. It’s an international commitment that has been built to the Beijing +20 process, gender equality related norms and standards themselves, but also from Rio +20 to Agenda 2030 for Sustainable development. There is now the embedding of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the larger in sustainable development agenda in its three dimension of economic, social and environmental. In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, gender equality is regarded both as a vision of the whole agenda and an objective in itself. Goal number five is about achieving and not just promoting, gender equality and empowering all women and girls. This is one of the most ambitious goals set.
We have translated that goal into a campaign and a slogan: Planet 50-50 by 2030 – Step it up for Gender Equality. And often we are asked if this is possible, but when you set a goal you have to make it happen and everything must be accelerated. The gender equality global compact is also part of the international agreements in the climate change area, the new urban agenda which demands from the local level a local gender equality agenda, in the cities, in the rapidly urbanizing world.
In the peace and security area, the Global Review on UN Security Council resolution 1325 and related resolutions are part of the growing set of gender equality international commitments, demanding full, effective and accelerated implementation, and recognizing women’s rights and agency in peace processes. UN Security Council resolution 2242 recognized that without women’s mobilization, being peace actors and the needed support for their action, effective conflict prevention, peace-making and peace-building will not be possible. This also led to an update in the peace and security agenda, recognizing its link to humanitarian and to terrorism and extremism.
Humanitarian risk prevention, preparedness, response and resilience building also wage critically in gender equality and women’s empowerment. We are looking at disproportional impact of humanitarian crisis, natural disasters, pandemics, displacement, climate change, and how they affect women. Among women, the more marginalized, in remote areas, disabled – are impacted even more, compounded by the existing inequality, discrimination and violence. But also in terms of death and health, safety, security, special needs and vulnerabilities, additional care burden, sexual exploitation.
It’s important that women are recognized and supported, and resources are invested in them as leaders, agents and actors in the prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, reconstruction and resilience building and to develop continuum. We are trying to bring the gender equality perspectives into all of these areas in setting and developing norms and standards, and their implementation, tracking and making sure that this is happening at all levels. It is critical to forge UN system coalition and partnership, strategic partnerships with women’s organizations, private sector, Philanthropy sector, humanitarian actors- advocacy outside the UN as well. Advocacy campaigns, movement building and movement protecting, and programming are part of our global action.
Last year, the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) adopted a set of Agreed Conclusions setting out a roadmap on the gender responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda. At UN Women, we have codified this roadmap into the Ten I’s of implementation—inspiration, indivisibility, integration, institutions, information, inclusion, innovation, investment, implementation and impact—into the publication Driving the Gender-Responsive Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I call on all of you to use this publication as a templet to guide you in your engagement, in the normative work and in the implementation nationally. There is nothing more universal in the 2030 Agenda than gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights. Everyone needs to contribute and make our mission possible, our mission achievable.
In closing, I would like to commend the strong commitment, endorsement and support to the gender equality agenda that has been expressed, and for the mainstreaming and prioritizing that agenda in all the biggest projects of humanity today: development, sustainable development, humanitarian response and resilience building, human rights, and peace and security.
My big take away from the discussion today is that we must continue to seek recommitment, consolidation, elaboration, deepening, of implementation to ensure mainstreaming is translated to implementation. And we must come together as a block and remain vigilant for the roll-back in women’s rights and gender equality agenda. This year’s 61st session of CSW (CSW61) was the litmus test and we passed it with flying colors, not only work against the roll back but also push the frontiers in one of the most critical areas: women’s economic empowerment and the changing world of work. Our efforts now should be about pushing the frontiers and implementing the commitments.
The commitment and investment for gender equality and closing the gender gap must be reflected in your investment in our project and UN Women. UN Secretary-General has established an Executive Committee that serves as a core management committee for strategic thinking, strategizing the big issues of the UN but also it is also about crisis management and reflecting each of those crisis countries as we go along. UN Women is part of the Executive Committee and works towards ensuring that gender is mainstreamed across the humanitarian, development peace and security continuum.