Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary-General, At the outset, I would like to congratulate you on leading the Commission on the Status of Women at the 65th session and wish you and your Bureau all success in your deliberations. The theme of this session: “Women’s effective participation in decision-making in public life and elimination of all forms of violence against them” is linked intrinsically with their empowerment in the social, political, economic, cultural and legal spheres. Despite considerable progress since the Beijing Conference, women’s voices often continue to be silenced and their participation in public life obstructed. Meanwhile, discrimination and violence against women remains pervasive. The serious and persistent obstacles which impede women’s empowerment include armed conflicts, foreign occupation, terrorism, natural disasters, pandemics, climate change, the feminization of poverty, discrimination and violence and the lack of equal access to health, education, training and employment, says a press release received from Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations, New York here today. Both developed and developing countries face these challenges in promoting gender equality. Neither sustainable development, nor a peaceful and just world order, can be achieved so long women continue to be repressed and marginalized. Concrete measures must be taken by Member States and the international community to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the agreed conclusions adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women as well as in particular, in SDG target 5.5 prescribing women’s equal leadership at all levels of decision-making. We must commend the Secretary-General for his sincere efforts to promote gender parity within the United Nations system and throughout the world. Parity has already been achieved at the senior management level at the United Nations and is within sight at the professional level. It is equally essential for the member states to ensure effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the fulfillment of the obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as well as commitments made in different United Nations Conventions, Conferences and Summits which are mutually reinforcing. To ensure women’s meaningful participation and eliminating violence against them, the international community, I believe needs a new Global Compact for Women’s Empowerment based on an action plan for mainstreaming women’s participation in decision-making in public life and proposing concrete measures to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. The Agreed Conclusions of 65th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women should provide concrete recommendations for framing such a Global Compact. We hope that the international community would rise to the challenge and ensure that half of the world’s population is never again “left behind”.
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