World leaders participated in a virtual United Nations meeting at a landmark 1995 women’s conference in China.
New York:
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday warned of a recent crackdown on gender equality and women’s rights and urged people to fight back as the United States criticized China and the world organization for “the murder of millions of baby girls”.
World leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday attended a virtual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on a landmark 1995 women’s conference in Beijing, where the U.S. first lady of then Hillary Clinton said that “women’s rights are human rights. “
Although Guterres did not specify who was suspicious of women’s rights, he said: “The time has come to fight refoulement … The full human rights and freedoms of women are fundamental to peace and prosperity in the world. a healthy planet. “
At the 1995 Beijing conference, 189 countries agreed to prioritize the “ full and equal participation of women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life at the national, regional and international levels, and in the world. eradication of all forms of discrimination on the grounds of sex. “
“Twenty-five years after the Beijing Declaration, equality must be achieved. But we still have a long way to go,” Merkel said. “Get on board. Let’s work together to really target Beijing’s goals. The faster the better.”
In a video statement to be released at Thursday’s meeting, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called on Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and China for their treatment of women.
“Since 1995, the Chinese Communist Party has been responsible for the murder of millions of baby girls through brutal industrial-scale population controls. Unfortunately, with the support of United Nations agencies,” DeVos said. “We call on the UN to stop ignoring and allowing these atrocities.”
China’s United Nations and UN mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the US statement.
“WAR ZONE”
Many diplomats have lamented that the world is now struggling to adopt a strong declaration on women. One of the main points of contention in recent years has been the long-accepted international language on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.
“In 2020, the Beijing declaration would have no chance of being adopted,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “Progress made through great effort is undermined even in our democracies, starting with the freedom of women to control their own bodies, and in particular the right to abortion.”
The administration of US President Donald Trump has led a campaign at the United Nations against the promotion of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights because they see this as a code for abortion. He opposed such language in UN resolutions.
Trump told world leaders at the United Nations last week that his administration is advancing “opportunities for women” and “protecting unborn children.”
Thursday’s meeting followed the week-long annual gathering of UN world leaders, which ended on Tuesday and was all but due due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some 190 countries took the floor – only nine were represented by women.
Guterres said that while progress on women’s rights has been made over the past 25 years – maternal mortality has almost halved and more girls are in school – the ambitious vision of the Beijing declaration has failed. been carried out.
“One in three women still experiences some form of violence in her lifetime. Every year, 12 million girls get married before the age of 18. In some parts of the world, rates of femicide – the murder of women – could amount to a war zone, ”he says.
“Worldwide, on average, women only have 75% of men’s legal rights,” Guterres said.
Xi has pledged $ 10 million to UN Women, an organization for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
He said that, as the world seeks to recover from the coronavirus pandemic: “We must eliminate prejudice, discrimination and violence against women and make gender equality a social norm and a moral imperative respected by all. “
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
