UN Women Executive Director visits Mexico to launch EU-UN initiative to end violence against women and girls

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is visiting Mexico from 29 to 30 May, where she will take part in a series of high-level events and meet will key government officials, civil society, women’s groups, as well as private sector and other development partners to build alliances for advancing gender equality.

Her participation in the launch of the Spotlight Initiative, a EU-UN global efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls, will be a highlight of the visit. In Mexico, the Spotlight Initiative is geared to tackle femicide, as well as all forms of violence against women and girls. Among the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world, 14 are in Latin America and the Caribbean region, with 12 women being killed every day; while in Mexico, an average of nine women are murdered every day[1]. Ending violence against women and girls is a prerequisite to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which world leaders have committed to fulfill by 2030.

Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka will also be part of the Youth Leaders Forum in the University of Claustro de Sor Juana, Mexico City, where she will call on the youth to join UN Women’s Generation Equality campaign, leading up to the 25^th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action in 2020, one of the most important most visionary agenda for the empowerment of women and girls adopted , at the Fourth World Conference on Women.

In her meetings with civil society and women’s groups, the Executive Director will recognize and celebrate the critical role that they have played in shaping the gender equality and women’s rights movements, as well as discuss the pressing challenges in the region. During her meetings with key national government officials and at the International Cooperation Roundtable (Mesa de Cooperación Internacional), she will emphasize the commitments and responsibility of governments around the world to guarantee women’s and girls´ rights for any meaningful progress on the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

At the Women’s Forum America, taking place on 30 May, she will highlight the fundamental role of women´s empowerment and leadership.

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