New York : The 69th session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women began two weeks of work to assess women’s progress globally since the Beijing Declaration of 1995 affirmed the need for gender equality.
The event — which includes political leaders, diplomats, representatives of non-governmental and advocacy groups as well as representatives of women’s congregations — will also try to determine what steps are needed going forward.
Pakistan is being represented by a six-member delegation which includes Dr. Nafisa Shah, Zartaj Gul and the National Assembly Deputy Speaker, Syed Ghulam Mustafa.
Opening the conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that Women’s rights are under siege, as the poison of patriarchy is back – and it is back with a vengeance.
“Now is the time for those of us who care about equality for women and girls to stand up and to speak out,” he said.
“Now is the time for the world to accelerate progress and deliver on the promise of Beijing.”
Noting that in In the past thirty years, the world has moved forward, the UN chief said, “In boosting girls’ education, cutting maternal mortality, increasing legal protections, and more. But immense gaps persist.”
Noting that age-old horrors like violence, discrimination, and economic inequality are rife, he said, the gender pay gap still stands at twenty percent.
“Globally, almost one in three women have been subject to violence,” Guterres said.
“And horrific sexual violence in conflict is happening from Haiti to Sudan.”
In Afghanistan, he said, women and girls have been stripped of their most basic rights – forbidden even from raising their voices in public.
Meanwhile, the UN chief said new technologies – including Artificial Intelligence – are creating the conditions to allow new platforms for violence and abuse, normalizing misogyny and online revenge.
“Up to 95 per cent of all online deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images. 90 per cent depict women”.