Address by the President of the Republic Mr N. Anastasiades in the Global Leaders meetingon Achieving Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
Mr
Chair,
Dear
colleagues,
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
It is an honour for me to participate
in this august forum. I wish to thank the President of the People’s Republic of
China, H.E. Mr Xi Jinping, and the Secretary General of the UN, Mr Ban Ki-moon,
for this timely initiative.
Mr
Chair,
Dear
colleagues,
Despite significant progress in recent
years, we still witness disturbing reports of horrific violations of the very
basic rights of girls and women, worldwide. And as we celebrate the 20
th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, it is
time to assess the progress made by all of us. Today’s message should be that we
must realise that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human
rights.
Cyprus has come a long way in the promotion of gender equality, the
empowerment and the realization of the human rights for women and girls, by
promoting a number of concrete measures and policies, as well as investing in
the empowerment of women.
However, a lot remains to be done and we reaffirm our commitment in
this regard. My Government adopted the new
National Action Plan on Equality between Women and Men for 2014-2017,
which is the flagship of our national policies on gender
equality.
The plan prioritizes, among others, balancing the participation of
women and men in public and political life, combating all forms of violence
against women, promoting the economic empowerment of women and
eliminating deeply rooted stereotypes on gender roles .
Another area of concern of my
Government is combatting trafficking in human beings, with the core of our
policies being the protection of the victims.
Furthermore, I have the honour to
announce that we are ready to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on
Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
Mr
Chair,
Dear
colleagues,
The role of women in the promotion of reconciliation and peace is
invaluable. In this context, I am pleased to convey that in the margins of the
bicommunal negotiations to reaching a settlement on the Cyprus problem, a
Technical Committee on Gender Equality has already been established .
Concluding, I wish to express the strong willingness of my country to contribute
to the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the framework
of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which reaffirms the essential role of gender equality and of the
empowerment of women and girls.
Thank you, Mr
Chair.
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