Statement by Ambassador Samuel Žbogar, chargé d’affaires, a.i. Permanent Mission of Slovenia to the UN, at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Agenda item 121: Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly

Thank you Mr. President.

I would like to deliver this statement on behalf of Mexico, Spain and my own country Slovenia, as well as on behalf of an additional 78 Member States.

Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Ukraine, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor Leste, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.

Mr. President,

Thank you for convening this plenary meeting on the issue of GA Revitalization during the 79th session.

First of all, we would like to thank the previous co-chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly. We would also like to congratulate the Permanent Representatives of Romania, Ambassador Cornel Feruță, and Republic of South Africa, Ambassador Mathu Joyini, on their appointment as co-chairs for the 79th Session. You have our full support in steering the work of the Ad Hoc Working group towards concrete deliverables.

Mr. President,

We would like to focus today on one particular issue in our discussions on the Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly – gender equality and the representation of women in leadership positions at the United Nations. This is a matter of great importance not only for the functioning of the United Nations, but also for how this Organization is perceived by the broader public, especially by youth and in particular young women and girls of the world.

Women’s full, equal and meaningful participation at all levels is essential to diplomacy, multilateralism, and the UN’s work across its three pillars of Peace and Security; Human Rights; and Sustainable Development.

The United Nations should aspire to lead by example in implementing the goals and commitments arising from our discussions in this global forum. These notably include SDG5 aiming to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, as well as the recently adopted Pact for the Future, containing commitments and actions with the potential to bring transformative change in areas where gender equality has yet to make meaningful progress. Moreover, the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the 25th anniversary of the Resolution 1325 will place the spotlight on the achievements of the Organization in the advancement and empowerment of women and girls.

The commitments are well in place, but we must follow-through and invest more decisively into our collective efforts to implement the entire normative framework that we have put in place.

Although some progress towards gender equality has been made, the data shows we are still far from reaching gender parity in leadership positions. The UN is also a reflection of the reality in the international community where women, despite making up half of the global population, still represent only a small fraction of world’s leaders. We were vividly reminded of this fact just 6 weeks ago during the General Debate of the 79th Session of the General Assembly where less than 10 % of the speakers were women.

We are all also very well aware that since the UN’s creation, there has never been a female UN Secretary-General. Additionally, out of 79 Presidents of the General Assembly, only 4 have been women, while 75 have been men. These two leadership positions at the UN are not only significant for the work of the Organization, but are at the same time also highly symbolic. They represent the face of the Organization and send a message to the outside world, especially to young women and girls.

In this regard we welcome Resolution 77/335 that calls upon the President of the General Assembly to ensure gender balance when appointing Co-Chairs, Co-Facilitators, High-level speakers and panelists in the discussions and processes under his/her purview. This resolution also calls on the Member States to nominate female candidates for the position of the PGA. It also rightly notes that there is yet to be a woman UN Secretary-General and strongly encourages Member States to consider this when nominating candidates. The resolution furthermore commendably recognizes the important contribution of women in diplomacy.

This is a very important foundation, but to achieve true gender parity, we need to go further by demanding concrete action and results. This is what we will strive for in the discussions of the Ad Hoc Working Group during this session.

It is an institutional, structural and systemic issue – but it begins with us, the Member States. In this respect we urge all States to join us in contributing to, calling for, supporting and demanding better representation of women in multilateralism, including at the UN and in leadership positions.

I thank you.

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