Remarks by the President of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly,
H.E. Mr. Philemon Yang,
at the Seminar on the prevention of sexual harassment and technology facilitated violence against women
Wednesday, 28 May, 2025
[As Delivered]
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
I thank you for joining this seminar.
Your presence today reflects your commitment to creating a safe workplace here at the United Nations.
And for all women, everywhere.
The aims of this seminar align squarely with my priority focus on gender equality and women¡¯s empowerment.
In particular: promoting women¡¯s economic empowerment.
And ensuring that gender equality is integrated across all aspects of the General Assembly¡¯s work.
In this, delegates have a key role to play in addressing a major barrier to women¡¯s economic empowerment:
Sexual harassment and technology facilitated violence against women.
We ¨C together, as the United Nations ¨C must lead by example:
Preventing and responding to sexual harassment.
And creating a safe workplace here at Headquarters and in all Permanent Missions.
My request therefore is straightforward:
That you take the insights gained today directly into your Missions and capitals.
That you lead conversations on further actions your Missions can take to create safe workplaces for everybody.
And that you seek ways to promote women’s rights and safety online at upcoming conferences and within General Assembly processes.
It is especially critical to take these insights into our discussions on technology and the role of Artificial Intelligence in human development.
Let us make these issues core to our commitment to fully implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, thirty years on.
I sincerely thank my Advisory Board on Gender Equality for sharing inputs that have contributed to the focus of the seminar today.
I likewise thank Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women for working with my team to shape the substantive focus of the seminar.
My thanks as well to the presenters from the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Global Compact.
Together, we have sought to ensure this seminar provides the most current information and analysis on the issue of sexual harassment and technology facilitated violence against women.
The threats against women are not waiting for us to adapt.
We need to be ahead of the dangers in order to stamp them out.
Beyond today, I look forward to your proposals on how we can embed these discussions across the General Assembly¡¯s work.
And build the knowledge, systems and partnerships to achieve these aims.
I thank you for your kind attention and now invite Ms. Sarah Hendriks, to deliver remarks on behalf of Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women.
Thank you.
Media Contacts
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Dr. Mariam Shaikh, Adviser/ Social and Digital Media/Media Relations,?M: +1 917 3614990, Email: mariam.shaikh@un.org
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Resolutions of the 79th Session ¨C Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly