Starting 17 September, world leaders will gather for two weeks at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 74) in New York, to discuss and work together on the most pressing global issues, from gender equality to climate change and progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Time to reverse life-threatening trends of climate change is running out and the pushback against hard-won women’s rights has never been stronger. Therefore, this year’s UN General Assembly comes with heightened pressure to move swiftly to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals that Member States agreed upon in 2015. UNGA 74 will bring together Heads of State and Governments, private sector, civil society and international organizations in a series of high-level events to accelerate actions on these critical issues.
UNGA 74 comes in the lead up to the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted in 1995, considered the most visionary agenda for women’s rights and empowerment. During UNGA 74, the Generation Equality campaign, launched by UN Women to commemorate the anniversary, will put the spotlight on gender equality. This multigenerational campaign, launched in May 2019, aims to reinvigorate the women’s rights agenda, catalyze a global dialogue and mobilize actions for gender equality across a range of critical issues, from equal pay and women’s leadership, to ending violence against women.
During the General Assembly, a UN Women co-sponsored high-level event co-hosted by France and Mexico, will call on world leaders to join the Biarritz Partnership to end discriminatory laws, which was presented at the G7 Summit in August 2019, and will pave the way toward the Generation Equality Forum taking place in Paris in July next year, with a kick-off Forum in Mexico in May 2020.. Meanwhile, another youth-focused event at the UN will give voice to the next generation of women’s rights advocates and present mentoring and transferring of leadership initiatives to support young women’s career advancement.
With global attention on the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York on 23 September, amongst the initiatives being put forth to address climate action, is one on gender equality. The initiative calls for full inclusion and leadership of women and girls in efforts to address climate change as a catalytic force to make climate actions more effective. In parallel, a side-event co-organized by UN Women with partner countries will showcase concrete examples of initiatives led by women in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Best practices to address human trafficking and all other forms of violence of violence against women, will also be discussed during the session.
Following the high-level week, the General Assembly will bring their attention to gender equality and the empowerment of women. From 4 to 7 October, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs) will focus on follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995; the situation of women and girls in rural areas; violence against women migrant workers; and the status of women in the UN system. The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) will focus on women in development on 16 October. Six reports have been prepared by the Secretary-General (A/74/111; A/74/220; A/74/222; A/74/224; A/74/235; and A/74/279) on these issues.
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