UN Women Executive Director to visit Colombia

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will visit Colombia from 8-9 May. She will meet with Government officials and Members of Congress, as well as representatives of the private sector, the diplomatic corps and civil society. UN Women Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean, Luiza Carvalho, will also accompany the visit.

The inclusion of gender equality in the ongoing peace talks between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the role of women in a post-conflict scenario, as well as the need to incorporate women in development, will receive high attention throughout the Executive Director’s visit in the country. UN Women has promoted the integration of a gender perspective and the participation of survivors of violence of the conflict within the discussions currently taking place in Havana, as well as the full participation of Colombian women in development processes.

“UN Women Executive Director will hold several exchanges with representatives of the Colombian civil society, in its diversity, which will provide a broad vision of the situation of women in the country and of the challenges that remain so they can exert their role in national development,” highlighted Belén Sanz Luque, UN Women Representative in the country.

The Executive Director’s mission will also include a visit to Marinilla, in the department of Antioquia, where she will meet representatives of the Association of Women of Eastern Antioquia (AMOR), a community association working in the prevention of sexual violence against women and the promotion of their human rights in communities most affected by the conflict. UN Women has supported AMOR in its efforts to increase women’s participation in peace processes as voters and candidates.

This will be Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka’s first visit to Colombia since taking over as UN Women Executive Director. Prior to this visit, the Executive Director inaugurated a global meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, along with the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Helen Clark. Held on 6 May in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Executive Director delivered opening remarks.