18 March 2014 - Ambassador Libran N. Cabactulan, Permanent Representative of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations (UN), was elected as Chair of the 58th Session of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW) and was joined by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka during the opening ceremony of the session, which will run for two weeks from March 10 to 21 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Cabactulan stated that the 58th session provides the opportunity to renew commitments made to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women. He stressed that the session should identify key gender equality issues that need to be addressed as well as gaps in the implementation of the MDGs to fast track the pace of progress for the achievement of the goals period before the 2015 deadline. He also said that the session must give decisive impetus to reflecting gender equality and the empowerment of women as a core priority in the post-2015 development agenda.
The Secretary General said that gender equality and women’s empowerment are among his top priorities, and they are central to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the success of the post-2015 development agenda. He said that at the UN, he is committed to gender equality and women’s leadership as illustrated by the fact that the top development, human rights and humanitarian officials of the United Nations, and the heads of disarmament, peacebuilding support and peacekeeping support, are all women. Men and boys have a vital role and that is why the Secretary General has established a network of men leaders to speak out against violence.
The session’s participants include 2 vice presidents, 77 ministers and 26 vice ministers. More than 6,000 representatives from 860 civil society organizations from all regions of the world also attended the session. This year’s priority theme is "Challenges and Achievements in the Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for Women and Girls" with the review theme: "Access and Participation of Women and Girls to Education, Training, Science and Technology, including the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work ( per agreed conclusions from the Fifty-fifth session).
The CSW is the principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and women's empowerment worldwide.
Nearly 135 side events have been organized by UN agencies, along with more than 300 parallel events hosted by the NGO community. END