Intervention of the United States of America
Human Rights Council 30 – Geneva
Panel on Integration of a Gender Perspective, September 15, 2015
Not delivered because of time
Thank you Mr. President.
The United States welcomes this opportunity to discuss gender integration. We appreciate the panelists’ diversity of experience and thank them for their presentations and dedication.
Promoting gender equality, human rights, and the empowerment of women and girls is a top U.S. priority that will make a critical contribution to the work of this Council and the cause of global peace and prosperity. Success requires initiatives at the global, national, and local levels. At the U.S. Mission in Geneva, we promote gender integration and encourage others to do the same through an initiative called the Future She Deserves. It aims to leverage Geneva-based institutional mechanisms and multilateral fora to improve opportunities for women and girls.
The Future She Deserves focuses on four pillars of action. The first is ensuring adolescent girls’ access to health services. The second is preventing and responding to gender-based violence. The third is empowering women and girls economically. And the fourth is promoting leadership opportunities and gender parity within the UN and beyond. If all of us do our part to address some of these four pillars, we believe we can advance the cause of gender integration and gender equality nationally, globally, and across the UN system.
We encourage all Geneva-based heads of delegations to pledge to be a Geneva Gender Champion. The requirements are simple – that you first, pledge publicly to be a gender champion, advising Ambassador Hamamoto or UNOG Director Moller of your commitment. Second, that you commit to participate only on panels that have attempted to reflect gender parity. And third, that you identify two other goals for your mission to pursue to promote gender equality. You can build on great programs you already have or set new goals. For those who take the challenge, we invite you to make your commitments by September 30. We look forward to working together to advance gender equality.
Thank you.