UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet visits Argentina

On the first day of her mission to Argentina on 25 April, UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, met President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman in Casa Rosada, the seat of the presidency.

During the meeting they discussed the work of UN Women in Argentina, particularly to eradicate violence against women, and to boost women's participation in peace processes.

Ms. Bachelet also attended the international conference, “Promoting Gender for Peace: Reflections from the Latin American Experience, organized by the Security and Defense Network of Latin America (Resdal) and Argentina's Ministry of Defense. There she spoke about the recent progress and challenges in the field of gender, peace and security.

“Peacekeeping missions are operating in a different way, she said. “Police patrols have been aligned with women's movements, and UN Women reports from Darfur indicate that this is helping to reduce the attacks on women.

The Executive Director added that the presence of women in patrols to protect civilians in conflict countries “allows better interaction with women in communities, and facilitates obtaining information not only about their needs, but on their perception of threats to security in the territory.

In the context of the conference, Defense Minister Arturo Puricelli, along with Social Development Minister, Alicia Kirchner, signed a Letter of Intent to strengthen the government's collaboration with UN Women. The Letter reaffirms the intention to cooperate on mainstreaming gender into education, training troops and promoting South-South cooperation in the field of women, peace and security.

During the visit, Ms. Bachelet met with the highest authorities of the Supreme Court in Argentina, who reinforced the judiciary's commitment to continue pursuing justice for women. Previously, Ms. Bachelet was honored with the award “Juana Azurduy Generala for her work in defending women's right.