Economic and Social Council: Press Release

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the Economic and Social Council Youth Forum today:

After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Economic and Social Council Youth Forum reconvened today in a virtual format to mark its tenth anniversary, with speakers emphasizing the critical role that the world’s 1.8 billion young people can — and must — play in “building back better” and fulfilling the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Pursuing gender equality cannot, and will not, be stopped by pandemics, sanctions, conflict, budget shortfalls or the perpetuation of conservative traditions, ministers and other Government representatives told the Commission on the Status of Women during a videoconference meeting on the penultimate day of its sixty-fifth session.

Domestic violence hotlines and programmes aimed at closing gender pay gaps are among an array of tools several States are using to integrate women’s empowerment into national sustainable development strategies, delegates told the Commission on the Status of Women, as it continued its sixty-fifth session with an interactive dialogue and general discussion.

The Commission on the Status of Women continued its sixty-fifth session today, with policymakers from Algeria, Mongolia, Egypt, Rwanda and the United Arab Emirates presenting national achievements in building out the normative, legal and policy frameworks essential for supporting women in all spheres of life.

While COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated structural inequalities disproportionately affecting females, new approaches are turning the pandemic into an opportunity to boost their involvement in politics and public life, ministers told the Commission on the Status of Women today, as it continued its sixty-fifth session with a morning-long general discussion.

The Commission on the Status of Women continued its sixty-fifth session today, resuming a general discussion and hosting an interactive dialogue via videoconference to investigate how building gender-sensitive COVID-19 response plans can shape more resilient, inclusive communities.

Current and former Government officials, many speaking candidly from personal experience, explored the daily threats faced by women in positions of authority — both offline and in the world’s “new public space”, the Internet — as the Commission on the Status of Women continued its work today.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message for the Commission on the Status of Women’s sixty-fifth session (CSW65) Ministerial Round Table on “Getting to parity:  good practices towards achieving women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life”, 15 March:

Ministers highlighted obstacles and shared best practices to accelerate the race towards gender equality, as the Commission on the Status of Women continued its session today with a general discussion and two ministerial round tables.