A statement marking the 25th anniversary of the Beijing conference voices regret over slow progress on gender equality
(LWI) The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is urging the world leaders who met at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on 1 October to “protect the gains made in advancing gender equality and women’s rights, and to commit to further action.”
The statement was released to coincide with the UNGA high-level meeting marking the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing, China, in September 1995. Representatives of 189 countries took part in the conference. They adopted a platform for action setting out a vision for the equal rights and opportunities of women and girls around the world.
The LWF statement says: “We gladly note what has been achieved, but we cannot take pride in the slow pace of progress, the gaps that still exist and the setbacks in the area of women’s rights, where both state and non-state actors who oppose gender equality are at play.” A quarter of a century after the Beijing conference, women continue to experience various forms of gender-based discrimination and violence.
New dimensions of inequality and discrimination
“The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated existing gender inequality and drawn attention to new forms of inequality and discrimination,” the statement says. “The available statistics show that domestic and intimate-partner violence has risen sharply during COVID-19. The situation was worsened by a lack of access to rapid-response services.” Globally, women and girls are underrepresented in socio-economic and public life, while roughly 130 million girls worldwide remain without an education.
The 1 October statement calls on all governments and the international community to fully implement the commitments and obligations contained in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as those set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
LWF Head of Global Advocacy Isaiah Toroitich said: “After an unprecedented pandemic, a retreat from human rights, limited global solidarity and a turn toward multilateralism, the LWF reaffirms gender equality as an important pillar for ensuring dignity for all. We will redouble our efforts to ensure that gender equality becomes a reality.”
Read the full statement
GENEVA, Switzerland
| 1/10/2020
Source: Lutheran World Federation