EU Statement – UN General Assembly 3rd Committee: Interactive Dialogue with UN Women

Thank you, Chair.

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

We would like to thank UN Women and the Deputy Executive Director for today's presentation.

The European Union and its member states reaffirm their commitment to the international framework on gender equality, the full enjoyment of all human rights by all women and girls and their full, equal and meaningful participation in decision-making, public, and political life. It is deeply concerning that gender equality and women's rights are increasingly under pressure. In Afghanistan, women are denied their human rights, with the new so-called morality law that erases Afghan women and girls from public life.

We note with utmost concern the disproportionate impact of armed conflicts on women and girls as we can see in Sudan, the DRC, Ukraine and the Middle East. In particular, we condemn conflict related sexual violence, which is widely used as a weapon of war. We also see this in our own region, where in Ukraine, women and girls face heightened risk of sexual and gender-based violence as a result of Russia's war of aggression.

2025 will mark a number of important anniversaries. UN Women itself will turn 15; UNSCR 1325 will enter its 25^th year and we will mark the 30^th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Together with the recently adopted Pact for the Future, we must leverage these important opportunities to renew political commitment and accelerate concrete progress toward gender equality.

SDG 5 remains significantly off track, despite the catalytic role that gender equality can play in enabling the achievement of other SDGs. The EU is therefore grateful for the leadership role that UN Women plays in accelerating progress towards advancing women's rights and gender equality.

In closing, I would like to ask two questions. First, UN Women's normative, coordination and programmatic work are essential for delivering on SDG 5. We are pleased to see that UN Women is currently leveraging its coordination mandate through the central role in coordinating the implementation of the UN Gender Equality Acceleration Plan. Could UN Women share more on the current status of the implementation and how the organization aims to ensure that other agencies are sufficiently engaged in the implementation of the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan, including at the leadership level?

Second, we continue to see pushback on women´s rights, both in country and, increasingly, in multilateral spaces. Could you elaborate on how UN Women intends to utilise its unique normative mandate to strengthen the development of global norms and standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls?

We look forward to continuing our partnership with UN Women and remain committed to gender equality and the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by all women and girls.

Thank you.