UAE Gender Balance Council participates in UNSC and GCC meetings

March 16, 2024 / 1:04 AM

Sharjah 24 – WAM: The UAE Gender Balance Council participated in key meetings and sessions held at the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, including a meeting of the UN Security Council, and a session on women’s empowerment in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, jointly organised by the GCC and the UAE.

This active engagement of the Council in these meetings is in line with the directives of Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council and wife of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, to strengthen the Council’s global partnerships.

These efforts also support the worldwide initiative to accelerate the achievement of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular focus on Goal 5, which is dedicated to empowering all women and girls. The UAE has been at the forefront of formulating and adopting these goals, demonstrating its commitment to promoting gender equality on both a local and global scale.

Mona Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, participated in the UN Security Council Arria-Formula meeting focused on strengthening cooperation between the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Women, Peace and Security Framework.

In her address, Mona Al Marri emphasised the UAE’s strong commitment to leveraging the key principles of the international framework for women, peace, and security to ensure the protection of women's rights and foster their full, equal, and meaningful participation in both public and private sectors. Further, she stressed the importance of creating a flexible and sustainable international framework for safeguarding and promoting women's rights globally.

Al Marri touched on the efforts of the UAE in this regard. In 2017, the UAE established a national committee for sustainable development goals to implement the 2030 plan at the national level. She emphasised that the current session and its productive discussions once again demonstrate that the international community has laid down a robust framework. This foundation is essential for promoting the full, equal, and meaningful engagement of women in social roles.

On the sidelines of the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Mona Al Marri met with Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women. They explored cooperation to enhance gender balance and ways to overcome the challenges associated with advancing women’s empowerment in order to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 5 to empower all women and girls worldwide.