Over 100 women and men from 7 countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Romania and Ukraine – met at sub-regional Consultations “Beijing+25” on September 4 and 5, 2019 in Chisinau to discuss the achievements and future actions on strengthening women’s rights after almost 25 years from the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and of the Action Platform.
Sub-regional consultations “Beijing + 25” from Chisinau bring together promoters and promotions of women’s rights representing civil society from the countries of the Eastern Partnership and Romania, officials and development partners for an open dialogue based on solutions, best practices, innovative examples that represent the way in which gender equality contributes significantly to countries’ development.
The sub-regional consultations in Chisinau “Beijing+25” are organized by the Association ”Institutum Virtutes Civilis”, in partnership with UN Women in Moldova (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment) and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
“We thank Moldova for hosting the sub-regional consultations,” said in her address the Regional Director, UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, Alia El-Yassir, emphasizing the role of promoters and visionaries in the women’s rights fields to assure not only the justice, but also factor-based commitments to eliminate women exclusion and discrimination, adopted in Beijing. “There is a wonderful energy in this room,” the UN Women Regional Director wrote on Twitter at the beginning of the event in Chisinau.
The President of the Association “Institutum Virtutes Civilis”, Liliana Palihovici underlined in her message that ensuring gender equality concerns not only women but is a complex subject that concerns human rights. Missis Palihovici expresses the hope that all participants’ contributions from the consultations” will bring positives changes and will contribute to the creation of a future that we want”.
Sweden’s Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, Anna Lyberg confessed that she is happy to participate in these discussions on gender equality. “We are proud to have such partners in Moldova that promote the voice and opinions of all women,” said the Ambassador of Sweden (a donor country that supports the initiatives to ensure women’s rights in the region states).
German’s Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, Angela Ganninger revealed in her message that “gender equality relates directly to economic development”, hoping that this event will create connections and collaborations beyond the region represented at the Sub-regions Consultations “Beijing+25 ” in Chisinau.
The Project Director of Hanns Seidel Foundation in Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Romania, Daniel Seiberling mentioned that the foundation he represents, supports democracy and inclusive development and considering this context, “gender dimension is significant and should be integrated in policies” in order to be able to contribute to the development of a country.
Moreover, Tatiana Molcean, State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova and Mihai Popșoi, Vice-President of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova addressed welcome messages to the event participants. In their messages they added that there are good laws and a strong civil society in Moldova and made a call to go “beyond of commitments and treaties”.
The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Mihai Popșoi, recalled that at the present moment the positions of Prime Minister and Speaker of the Parliament in Moldova are held by women, as well as more than half of the Ministers of the Government of the country are women. At the same time, Vice-Speaker Mihai Popșoi highlighted that ”gender equality assurance goes beyond political representation” and remarked an interconnection between gender equality, human rights and development in the context of the 25 years since the Beijing Women’s World Conference.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted in 1995 at the Fourth World Women’s Conference are considered one of the most-watched developmental pathways for women and girls worldwide. At that time, 189 countries around the world, including the Republic of Moldova, committed themselves to fight gender stereotypes and helping to ensure equality between women and men.
Event page on FB: https://bit.ly/2lF5NiW
More information about reaching 25 years of support and promotion of women’s rights can be read at https://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/beijing-plus-25