New York, 6 October 2022. UN General Assembly – Third Committee on Human Rights: as of January Italy takes on the vice-presidency of UN Women board, the main UN body for women’s rights.
Italy made its statement today in the debate on the “Advancement of women” at the Human Rights Commission of the 77th UN General Assembly: “The rights of women and girls are an absolute priority of Italy’s foreign policy and of its multilateral efforts within the UN. Our commitment to strengthening female empowerment and gender equality stems from the awareness that to achieve change we must promote the full, effective and significant inclusion of all women in all spheres of public life and decision-making processes” – began Ambassador Maurizio Massari, Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN.
This year, Italy increased its financial contribution to UN Women, UNFPA and UNICEF, continuing to support joint programs to combat female genital mutilation and early child marriage. Next year, Italy will assume the vice-presidency of the Executive Council of UN Women and this will allow to strengthen our partnership with the most important UN organization for women’s rights.
The Ambassador recalled the success achieved last July at the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development, when 195 states around the world agreed on a courageous Ministerial Declaration – whose negotiation was coordinated by Italy – which included a strong revision of SDG 5 “Gender Equality”. This review includes a commitment to “ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all women and girls” and to “end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere”. “Now is the time to translate this commitment into accelerated action. The implementation of the Ministerial Declaration and the review of SDG5 will be a priority that I will also promote in my current capacity as Vice-President of ECOSOC,” remarked the Ambassador.
“Recent conflicts have raised the disturbing specter of sexual violence and abuse as a weapon of war. We must act decisively to prevent these crimes from occurring and to punish them when they occur, identifying those responsible and combating the fear of stigmatization” – underlined the Ambassador. According to UN Women, only 40% of women seek help/file complaints after experiencing violence.
There are two final messages from the Permanent Representative: the first is that each of us has the responsibility to act as an “advocate” for the gender cause. The Italian Mission to the United Nations has implemented measures to promote equality and gender parity in its organization and in its external relations, following the “MAECI Champions of Equality” initiative launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and modeled on the “International Gender Champions” developed in the United Nations network (of which Ambassador Massari is an active member).
Secondly, raising awareness is fundamental and social media are a powerful tool: hence the importance of targeted communication campaigns to raise public awareness.
