EU Statement – UN General Assembly: International Day of Women in Diplomacy

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Mr President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, North Macedonia*, Montenegro^* and Albania*, the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the EFTA countries Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.

In the 76 years since the foundation of the UN, this organisation has never had a woman Secretary-General. Outside of this room, the wall of pictures of the past 75 Presidents of the General Assembly includes only 4 women. And out of the 193 Member States of the United Nations, less than 30% are represented by women Ambassadors in New York.

All UN bodies have adopted ambitious commitments on gender equality, but the fact is that we are not living up to our own expectations. What is true in diplomacy, is true in all sectors of society. Gender-based discrimination, stereotypes and negative social norms continue to hamper women’s full, equal, effective and meaningful participation and leadership.

Last year, the Commission on the Status of Women agreed on a series of concrete recommendations to ensure women’s full, equal, effective and meaningful participation and leadership in public life, including the adoption of special measures. We have a shared understanding of challenges. We have the tools to achieve our objectives. All we need now is implementation.

This can be done. Through his system-wide Strategy on Gender Parity, the UN Secretary-General achieved gender parity in leadership positions in a record time. And he is set to achieve gender parity at all levels of the UN by 2028. For gender parity to become reality, we must also create safe and enabling environments for all women and girls. We welcome the efforts of the UN in this regard, notably the adoption of a UN Code of Conduct on Sexual harassment.

Women’s full, equal, effective and meaningful participation is essential in all areas and at all levels of diplomacy, including in security issues. We pay tribute to the contributions of all women in diplomacy, including women diplomats, women civil society leaders, women human rights defenders, and women mediators.

We understand the technical nature of this resolution, which does not constitute a precedent to alter language and standards otherwise set by this Assembly. We would have also wished to have more consultation.

The establishment of this new International Day is a call on all us to do better and to lead by example. You can count on the EU to do its part.

Thank you.

*North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.