On March 8, International Women’s Day, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) marks our commitment and continued affirmation this day and every day for the full recognition and fulfillment of women’s human rights and security in all spheres.
International Women’s Day is a day to acknowledge women’s rights for equal participation in economic and political decision-making, to celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of women, and to denounce gender discrimination and gender violence.
WILPF rejects the notion that gender equality has been achieved. On the 15th anniversary of the historic Beijing World Conference on Women, the United Nations must move without further delay to implement changes that it has repeatedly recognized as critical to fulfilling its mandate of working for gender equality as a crucial component of development, human rights, peace, and security.
UN Member States must also be held accountable for the commitments they have already made to women. This year marks the tenth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which urges Member States to ensure increased representation of women in the prevention, management and resolution of conflict.
WILPF calls for full implementation of all four United Nations Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security (UNSCR 1325, 1820, 1888, and 1889).
With our partners in the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign, WILPF continues to urge UN Member States and the UN Secretariat to move swiftly forward to create the new UN gender equality entity. To close the gap in realizing women’s rights, the UN has recognized the need for a strong, well-resourced, coordinated body to be a driver for these goals at the highest levels of leadership. We need to make this a reality so that the new women’s agency will have responsibility for leadership and coordination of the UN system’s actions on gender equality and women’s empowerment both in the policy arena and at the operational level. WILPF supports the call for the UN to set up a transparent process now for recruiting the best-qualified Under-Secretary-General to head this agency.