A UN Side Event on “Empowering Women: Eritrea’s Achievements and Experiences” to be Held

By Eritrea Mission and UNCT,

ON the occasion of the 59th Session of the Commission on Status of Women, the Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the United Nations together with the UN Country Team (UNCT) will organise a side event on Monday March 16, 2015 at the UN headquarters in New York.

Women are disproportionately affected by underdevelopment. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for action of which the world is celebrating its 20th Year has been crucial in highlighting the factors that are contributing to marginalization of women and ways to empower them. More importantly, the declaration was important in stressing the role of women in ensuring development in all its aspects. Today the contribution of women in social and economic development is widely recognized.

Under the motto “Equality through Equal Participation” Eritrean women, making up thirty percent (30%) of the liberation army, played a significant role in the peoples’ struggle for independence against Ethiopian colonialism. In recognition of their contribution to Eritrea’s independence and in order to enhance their full participation, the Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE) has been studiously working to remove all types of barriers by introducing gender specific policies and programs.

Eritrea’s achievements in ensuring equitable national development undertakings in various sectors, including the Millennium Development Goals, could not have been possible without the participation and contribution of women. Under the leadership of the National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW), a grass root civil society organization which was formed in 1979, the Eritrean women played a central role in the promulgation and implementation of legislation concerning national education and health policies, as well as inheritance, land ownership, equal pay for equal work, and banning FGM/C and underage marriage. Eritrean women have also registered significant achievements in the four critical areas of concern of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

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Against this background, the Government of Eritrea and National Union of Eritrean Women in collaboration with the UN Country Team in Eritrea wants to seize this opportunity to share its experience with the rest of the world through a Side Event during the 59th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The event will provide opportunity of sharing innovative and best practices of women’s participation in Eritrea in political, social and economic development of the country. The event would also highlight Eritrea’s post-2015 development agenda and the role of women in its implementation. The event would also create a forum to advocate for support towards Eritrea’s economic development efforts and ensure gender equality in different domains.