{"id":276079,"date":"2024-03-08T10:53:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T15:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/78\/?p=276079"},"modified":"2024-03-08T10:56:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T15:56:21","slug":"remarks-by-the-president-of-the-general-assembly-at-the-observance-of-the-international-womens-day-idw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/78\/2024\/03\/08\/remarks-by-the-president-of-the-general-assembly-at-the-observance-of-the-international-womens-day-idw\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Remarks at the Observance of the International Women\u2019s Day (IDW)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Remarks by the President of the General Assembly,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Dennis Francis,<\/strong><\/p>\n

at the Observance of the International Women\u2019s Day (IDW)<\/strong><\/p>\n

8 March 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

[As Delivered]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Your Excellency, Mr. Antonio Manuel Revilla Lagdameo, Chair of the 68th<\/sup> session of the Commission on the Status of Women,<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations,<\/em><\/p>\n

Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General,<\/em><\/p>\n

Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women,<\/em><\/p>\n

Excellencies,<\/em><\/p>\n

Ladies and gentlemen,<\/em><\/p>\n

It is a pleasure to join you in observing this year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

Allow me to express my sincere appreciation to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women for organizing this commemorative event. We meet today, united in our determination to accelerate the pace towards the creation, sooner rather than later, of a gender-equal world.<\/p>\n

A world that sees men and women, girls, and boys, enjoying equal access to and benefits of education, at all levels.<\/p>\n

A world in which it is an everyday occurrence for women to lead nations and institutions, corporate and public.<\/p>\n

A world where gender-based violence is an issue of the past.<\/p>\n

As we speak, it is disheartening that women and girls worldwide continue to face all forms of discrimination and abuse; and globally, one in three women have been subjected to violence, generally at the hands of an intimate partner.<\/p>\n

I am deeply alarmed by reports of sexual abuse targeting women and girls in Palestine, Ukraine, Haiti and elsewhere, including the Reports of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ\u2019s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, which indicated that there is credible evidence of rape and sexualized torture committed against women and girls by Hamas during and following the October 7 attacks.<\/p>\n

We simply must do much more to stop these atrocities, and, when proven on an evidentiary basis, to punish the perpetrators.<\/p>\n

Unhappily, we continue to fall short on many indicators in the context of gender equality.<\/p>\n

Gender discrimination and inequality hamper progress across the entirety of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.<\/p>\n

At the current rate of addressing global poverty, more than 340 million women and girls will still live in extreme poverty by 2030. This is both unimpressive and indeed unacceptable, to say the least.<\/p>\n

Frankly speaking, it is not rocket science that when the contributions of women, who make up more than half of the world\u2019s population are restricted, there is concurrent global reduction in growth and socio-economic development.<\/p>\n

The message is inescapably clear: our collective well-being is intractably and intrinsically tied to our ability to unlock our fullest potential by empowering women and girls.<\/p>\n

This is precisely why the theme of this year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day, which is, \u201cInvest in women: accelerate progress<\/em>\u201d, is so appropriate.<\/p>\n

It is a clarion call to action to invest in and to support women and girls and, in so doing, accelerate our collective progress.<\/p>\n

This requires rethinking policy and doubling down on programming that benefits those most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

It also means addressing the lingering \u2013 yet critical \u2013 issue of financing for development, which is askew and in short supply.<\/p>\n

It is therefore imperative that we:<\/p>\n