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Add to Preferred SourcesThe world will not be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if half the planet is left behind, the UN Deputy Secretary-General said in Papua New Guinea on International Women’s Day.
Amina J. Mohammed was speaking in the capital, Port Moresby, where she participated in the national launch of the Spotlight Initiative, a European Union-UN partnership to eliminate violence against women and girls by the SDG deadline of 2030.
The UN estimates that while one in three women worldwide is affected by violence in their lifetime, the number could be double in the Pacific island nation.
Describing these rates as “astronomic”, Ms. Mohammed underlined the UN’s commitment to work with the Government, partners, and civic and faith-based organizations to help change attitudes that suggest violence and harm are acceptable.
“We cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the global agenda for people, planet and prosperity, if we do not bring along half our population. We cannot say we have achieved peace if half our communities live in fear, insecurity, and without dignity,”, Ms. Mohammed said at a press conference.
The Deputy Secretary-General was part of a three-woman UN delegation to Papua New Guinea which, due to its geographic location, was among the first countries on the planet to greet the arrival of International Women’s Day.
The UN team also saw how the Spotlight Initiative will support local projects already on the ground, such as the Meri Seif (“Safe Woman”) bus that provides transport for women and girls in the capital.
The UN Deputy Secretary-General also pointed to the need for further progress on women’s political representation as there have been only seven women elected officials since independence in 1975.
“It is not possible to build a nation on only half our resources. And it is not possible to develop policies and legislation that fits the needs of all citizens when half the country is unrepresented”, she stressed.
Ms. Mohammed reported on signs of hope that she witnessed. She spoke of the Government’s commitment to addressing gender-based violence, including through taking up the issue in Parliament, and in establishing a range of protection services for women and girls.
Original source: UN News
Published on 08 March 2020