The Tunis Forum on gender equality

The Governments of Sweden and Tunisia in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women are hosting the Tunis Forum on Gender Equality in the capital of Tunisia, from 24 to 26 April 2019.

The Forum is taking place one year before the 25^th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), and one year before the 20^th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which envisaged women’s full and meaningful participation in peacebuilding and conflict resolution. The Forum also precedes the presentation of the first Global Sustainable Development Report at the SDG Summit that will be held in New York. Connecting the key elements of these processes, the Forum will highlight the important role that civil society plays in advancing gender equality and sustaining the hard-won gains.

Imminent speakers of the Forum include Prime Minister of Tunisia, Youssef Chahed, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Margot Wallström; and Minister of Women, Family, Childhood and Elders of Tunisia, Neziha Labidi, among others.

The Tunis Forum is expected to gather around 500 participants from around the world, including women activists and male champions of gender equality, representatives from national, regional and local governments, civil society, private sector, academia, and international organizations. It will specifically focus on youth participation so that the Forum is inclusive of, and responsive to, the concerns of future generations of global leaders. The agenda of the Forum was shaped by a consultative process that engaged nearly 6,000 people from different parts of the world.

The Forum will be one of the first global gatherings to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the visionary Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as discuss women’s leadership in local governance, the women, peace and security agenda, and the linkages between innovation, technology and gender equality. In addition, the Forum will be an opportunity to mobilize women and men who are champions for gender equality from Parliaments, governments and civil society and reinforce their voice, networking and advocacy to make international commitments a lived reality for women and men, everywhere.

The Tunis Forum follows the Stockholm Forum held in April 2018 and will involve a host of concurrent sessions, co-organized by multiple organizations to enable a rich array of discussions

See the full programme of the Forum here.

Voices from the forum

From where I stand: “Local and global political and economic systems create and maintain social inequality”

Take five: We need “initiatives to raise the status of women, led by Muslim leaders”

Ask an activist: Twenty-five years since the adoption of Beijing Platform for Action, how far have we come, and is the Platform relevant for young people?

Take Five: “The economic participation of rural women is essential for growth and a more equitable distribution of wealth”

Ask an activist: What are the main challenges for LGBTI+ people in Jamaica and what solutions should be prioritized?

Media contact:
Faten Bejaoui, Communication Officer, UN Women Tunisia
Email: faten.bejaoui[at]unwomen.org