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.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks at the Townhall with women’s civil society at the Commission on the Status of Women, in New York today:

Four peacekeepers were injured near Tessalit yesterday, following an attack on their convoy using an improvised explosive device, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) reports.  They were evacuated to Bamako, the capital, for medical treatment.

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.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks to the Group of Friends on Gender Parity in New York today:

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.

Humanitarian affairs officials in Somalia say an estimated 4.5 million people — including 671,000 who are internally displaced — are affected by the intensifying drought emergency.  Health authorities have reported a measles outbreak, and at least nine related deaths in Jubaland state.

More than 70 per cent of South Sudan’s people will struggle to survive the peak of the 2022 lean season, amid unprecedented food insecurity due to conflict, climate shocks, COVID-19 and rising costs, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.  WFP says 8.3 million people could face extreme hunger within months.

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