NEW YORK: Pakistan, speaking for the Group of 77 (developing countries) and China, has called for steps to avert all forms of gender-based violence, in particular femicide, and to ensure that women are not subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination.
Addressing the UN General Assembly on ‘Advancement of Women” on Tuesday, Ambassador Aamir Khan, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said that violence against women and girls continues to be a major obstacle to achieving gender equality and their empowerment.
Pakistan is the current chairman of G-77 and China, which now has 134 members and is the United Nations’ biggest intergovernmental group of emerging countries.
Ambassador Aamir Khan also emphasized that the empowerment of women and full realization of their human rights are essential for achieving sustainable development and for building peaceful and inclusive societies.
He noted that discrimination, violence, lack of access to basic health care, education and social protection lingers around the world, particularly affecting women and girls, living in countries affected by armed conflict, under colonial administration and foreign occupation.
Furthermore, Ambassador Aamir Khan reaffirmed the G77 call for an environment that maintains world peace and promotes human rights, democracy and peaceful settlement of disputes.
The G77/China, he said, reaffirms its support to accelerated implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the outcome of the twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly.
(The two documents seek a world where each woman and girl can exercise her freedoms and choices, and realize all her rights, such as to live free from violence, to go to school, to participate in decisions and to earn equal pay for equal work.)
In this regard, the G77 chairman welcomed the measures taken by member states to promote the empowerment of women and girls and remain fully committed to mainstreaming the gender perspective into policies and programmes related to their advancement and well-being.
“We believe that the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all development efforts and that the realization of the full and equal participation of women in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life as equal partners is critical for achieving the goals and targets contained in (UN) Agenda 2030,” the Pakistani envoy said.
Recognizing progress in implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Ambassador Aamir Khan said, however, that serious challenges and gaps remain that hinder the full implementation of the objectives of these important documents. –Agencies
