Economic and Social Council

The Commission on the Status of Women approved the first‑ever set of agreed conclusions focused on empowering women and girls in the context of climate action, as it concluded its sixty-sixth session late tonight.

A crisis, whether it is the COVID-19 pandemic or the devastating effects of climate change, can be an opportunity to empower women and advance gender equality by putting women in the centre of the recovery process, speakers told the Commission on the Status of Women during a panel discussion today.

Despite progress in bringing women to the table when shaping climate change responses, more must be done to ensure equality in local to global decision-making roles, delegates and civil society representatives said today, as the Commission on the Status of Women concluded the general discussion segment of its sixty-sixth session.

Following are Un Secretary-General  António Guterres’ remarks to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as a follow-up to the report entitled Our Common Agenda, in New York today:

The Commission on the Status of Women continued its work today, hearing presentations from 12 Member States about their national efforts to implement the agreed outcome on its 2017 session’s theme “Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work”.

Strong female-based societies, indigenous women, women legislators and girls are agents of positive change and role models for sustainability, protecting the Earth and forging monumental achievements along the common global path towards sustainable development, delegates said today, calling for action to include their knowledge and experiences, as the Commission on the Status of Women continued the general discussion segment of its sixty-sixth session.

Delegates urged the Commission on the Status of Women, on the third day of its annual session, to account for the differentiated impact climate change has on vulnerable groups ill-equipped to address the phenomenon — particularly rural, coastal and indigenous women — and empower these individuals to lead national and international efforts in response.

Targeted investments to promote gender equality — from global to local levels — must ensure that promises made are kept as the world forges an inclusive, sustainable path to tackle climate change consequences, delegates told the Commission on the Status of Women on the second day of its annual session.

Responses to climate change, natural disasters and environmental degradations require active participation of women, who are the most affected by the impacts of those global challenges, speakers told the opening day of the Commission on the Status of Women’s annual session today, stressing the need to break away from male-oriented solutions.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks to the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York today: