UNITED NATIONS: In a significant victory, India was elected as a Member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the world’s leading body focused on gender equality and the empowerment of women, beating China in a very close election.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The 54-member ECOSOC, which held the first plenary session of its 2021 session in the General Assembly Hall on Monday, held elections for two seats in the category of Asia-Pacific States with Afghanistan, India and China in the fray.
Afghanistan, which is led by Ambassador Adela Raz to the UN, obtained 39 votes and India obtained 38 votes out of 54 votes cast.
China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, obtained only 27 votes and could not even cross the middle of the road and did not achieve the required majority of 28 votes.
“India wins a seat in the prestigious #ECOSOC body! India elected Member of the Commission on the Status of Women #CSW. It is a resounding endorsement of our commitment to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women in all of our efforts. We thank the member states for their support ”, tweeted the Permanent Representative of India to the UN, Ambassador TS Tirumurti.
India beat China in close elections for the prestigious UN body in the year marking the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995, it was commemorated around the world.
It is highly remarkable and revealing that China lost the elections to the UN’s leading global intergovernmental body dedicated exclusively to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women as the silver anniversary of the historic Beijing conference on women is commemorated. and of which China takes a position much ownership in.
The election result is seen as sending a strong signal about the record of equality and empowerment of women in China.
India’s Permanent Mission to the UN worked tirelessly through the tight elections, reaching out and sensitizing all member states, the sources said.
India and Afghanistan will join Argentina, Austria, the Dominican Republic, Israel, Latvia, Nigeria, Turkey and Zambia, who were elected by acclamation, to the Commission on the Status of Women for a period of four years from 2021-2025.
India’s electoral victory in the CSW is highly significant as it comes on the eve of India preparing to sit at the high table of the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for a period of two years from January 1, 2021.
Former UN Under-Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Lakshmi Puri, congratulated the Indian Mission and Ambassador Tirumurti on the electoral victory.
“Victory won! #CSW is a major normative body for #Gender #Equality & #Women’s empowerment & #India has made a significant contribution to the evolution of global standards for women’s human rights at the UN, including # SDG5 in the 2030 Agenda, ”he tweeted, referring to the Sustainable Development Goal. to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
The Commission on the Status of Women is central to promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives around the world, and shaping global norms on gender equality and the empowerment of women. the woman.
In 1996, ECOSOC broadened the mandate of the Commission and decided that it should take a leadership role in monitoring and reviewing progress and challenges in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and in integrating a perspective gender in UN activities.
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