“Gender-Based Violence is an Impediment to the Empowerment of Women and the Dominican Republic’s Sustainable Development” States GFDD during CSW60

GFDD was present as the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) concluded on Thursday March 24th, following two weeks of negotiations. UN Member States committed to the gender-responsive implementation of the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. A set of agreed conclusions called for enhancing the basis for rapid progress, including stronger laws, policies and institutions, better data and scaled-up financing.

The
Commission recognized women’s role as agents of development and stated that progress on the Sustainable Development Goals at the heart of Agenda 2030 will not be possible without gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka gave some closing remarks commenting on the fact that gender equality has not yet been achieved by all UN Member States and expressed hope that “at the end of the
implementation of this Agenda some countries in this room will have achieved gender equality by 2030.”

Marc Jourdan, GFDD’s UN Programs Manager submitted GFDD’s own statement to the Commission stressing that “gender-based violence is an impediment to the empowerment of women and the Dominican Republic’s sustainable development.” Translated in all 6 of the official languages of the United Nations (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian and Chinese), the document
recounts how the Latin America and Caribbean region has been affected by gender-based violence with 70% of women victims of different types of violence. The statement also showcases the efforts of the Dominican Republic to overcome this issue and promote women’s empowerment, including the role played by civil society organizations like GFDD which through its ReCrearte program seeks to empower women at the community level through recycled art workshops. Jourdan called for the need
to complement existing international and national legal framework and structures with daily actions on the community level.

The statement is available in English here.
The statement is available in Spanish here.

Related Links:
CSW60 Website – http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw60-2016
ReCrearte Website – http://www.r3crearte.org