Vietnam is ready to cooperate for gender equality

Ethnic minority women attend a literacy class. (Illustration photo. Source: VNA)

On the morning of March 11 (New York time), at the United Nations Headquarters, the Opening Ceremony of the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) took place with the theme: "Accelerating the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and children, through hunger eradication, poverty reduction, institutional strengthening and gender-responsive financing."

The Session was attended by the President of Switzerland, the Prime Minister of Latvia, the Vice Presidents of Iran and Guatemala, the Deputy Prime Minister of Eswatini, more than 100 Ministers, and more than 15,000 delegates from United Nations member countries and non-governmental organizations.

Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the meeting.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women, the President of the General Assembly and the Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality (UN Women) delivered opening remarks at the Session.

UN leaders expressed concern about the slow progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, especially on hunger eradication and poverty reduction, emphasizing that 1 in 10 women are living in extreme poverty.

Speakers said that women and girls in many parts of the world are not fully guaranteed their rights due to many backward customs, male-dominated ideology, gender prejudices and stereotypes, and are even abused in conflicts and crises, especially in the current conflict in the Gaza Strip.

UN leaders stressed the need to ensure financial security and strengthen institutions to fully implement the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, increase women's economic empowerment, increase investment in education, end conflicts, strengthen peace, and comply with international human rights and humanitarian law.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the UN system has now achieved gender equality in leadership positions.

United Nations General Assembly President Dennis Francis called for support and promotion of the role of women in responding to climate change.

President of the Commission on the Status of Women Antonio Manuel Revilla Lagdameo said that it is necessary to focus on improving and enhancing the effectiveness of social protection systems, ensuring access to public services and building sustainable infrastructure for gender equity and the empowerment of women and girls.

UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous stressed that women need to be involved in all processes of development, finance, peace and security.

Speaking at the session, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan affirmed that women today are an indispensable force in all processes at all levels of peace, security, social progress and sustainable development.

The Vice President said that it is necessary to focus on helping women to develop their full potential to participate in economic, political and social activities and further promote women's participation in political, economic, social and cultural decision-making mechanisms, especially in economics, to more strongly and effectively support the goal of hunger eradication, poverty reduction and livelihood security through entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Vice President also highlighted the empowerment of women and girls in science, technology, digital transformation, linked to the prevention of discrimination and violence in cyberspace, enhancing the role of women in building a peaceful, stable international environment, inclusive and sustainable development, and addressing non-traditional security challenges, especially climate change response.

The head of the Vietnamese delegation suggested that countries and the United Nations should jointly promote partnerships for sustainable development, support financial resources and provide advice on institutional and policy building for developing countries, and strengthen direct cooperation between organizations, business networks, experts and female role models, and increase sharing, dissemination and effective promotion of good practices.

Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan highlighted some of Vietnam's achievements in gender equality, including the proportion of female National Assembly deputies accounting for 30.3%, the proportion of provinces with key female leaders accounting for 82.4%, the proportion of women of working age participating in the labor market at 70%, and nearly 30% of enterprises having female leaders.

The Vice President informed international friends that in January 2024, Vietnam issued the National Action Program on Women, Peace and Security, making a practical contribution to international efforts to promote this issue in the region and the world.

The Vice President affirmed that Vietnam is always ready to cooperate closely with countries and partners for gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, leaving no one behind.

The Commission on the Status of Women, established in 1946, is a functional committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council with the mandate to recommend to the Council measures to promote women's rights in the economic, social, political and educational fields, as well as to monitor and review progress in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995, the outcome of the 23rd Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UN General Assembly) in 2000; and to provide policy advice, contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as emerging issues affecting gender equality and women's empowerment. The results and recommendations of each session are reported to ECOSOC.

The CSW68 session is of great significance in the context of preparing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on empowering women, promoting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 5 on achieving gender equality by 2030.

Vietnam attaches special importance to ensuring gender equality and the advancement of women and has achieved many successes in this field.

Vietnam is considered one of the countries that has eliminated the gender gap fastest in the past 20 years, is one of the countries that completed the Millennium Development Goal 3 (MDG 3) on gender equality early and is making efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Goals 5 and 10 on eliminating inequality, promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls./.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/pho-chu-tich-nuoc-vo-thi-anh-xuan-viet-nam-san-sang-hop-tac-vi-binh-dang-gioi-308097.html