HRC40 side event - Education and economic empowerment of women and girls: What are Issues and Outcomes? - held in Geneva
On 7 March 2019, the Permanent Missions of France, Romania and Lithuania in Geneva together with the UN Women and NGO Plan International organised an event in the margins of the 40th session of the Human Rights Council in order to discuss on how economic empowerment and education of women and girls can help to fight against discrimination.
The discussion, held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), was opened by Ambassador François Rivasseau, the Permanent Representative of France, and Professor Dalia Leinartė, former Chairperson and current member of CEDAW. In her opening remarks Professor Dalia Leinartė stressed that women’s economic empowerment is one of the most important factors contributing to gender equality and highlighted an important role and valuable contributions of CEDAW in the fight against discrimination against women and girls regarding their economic empowerment and education.
The event was attended by a large group of diplomats of the Member-States of the UN, representatives of NGOs. Other panellists included the Permanent Representatives of Romania and South Africa, the new Chairperson of CEDAW Ms. Hillary Gbedemah (Ghana), representatives of UN Women, UNICEF and academic institutions.
