UNITED NATIONS MONGOLIA JOINT STATEMENT ON THE OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2020
Statement by the Heads of UN agencies calling for gender equality in Mongolia
Women in Mongolia and across the world are entitled to live in dignity, in freedom and without discrimination. Gender equality, a human right, plays a crucial role in sustainable development, peace and security.
United Nations in Mongolia welcomes with appreciation the Government of Mongolia’s efforts to realize women’s rights progressively. Over the years we have witnessed several progresses to celebrate: policy and legal frameworks with respect to gender equality have been improved and enforced to eliminate gender-based discrimination and violence and to end sexual harassment at workplace. The United Nations also welcomes the country’s effort to revise labour legislation to align with international labour standards including equal pay for work of equal value, non-discrimination in work and occupation and prohibition of all types harassment and abuse at workplace. Mongolia is also one of 9 countries that successfully met targets to reduce Maternal Mortality by 2/3.
The International Women’s Day theme for 2020: “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights.” aims to bring together people of every gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion and country, to drive actions that will create the gender-equal world we all deserve. As the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “Only through the equal participation of women can we benefit from the intelligence, experience and insights of all of humanity. Women’s equal participation is vital to stability, helps prevent conflict, and promotes sustainable, inclusive development. Gender equality is the prerequisite for a better world,”
While the Government of Mongolia have taken significant steps towards gender equality, women in Mongolia are still underrepresented at policy-making level, suffer from gender-based violence and often lack the facilities and services such as alternative childcare, flexible working culture that enables equal participation in society.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, the United Nations in Mongolia calls upon the Government of Mongolia and other actors of the society to invest further in the great potential of the women to boost economic and social development of the country. We need to ensure women’s and girls’ equal representation by embedding gender parity in legal frameworks, strengthen implementation mechanisms in eliminating gender-based violence and changing individual behaviors through various interventions, create workplace and school culture that allow women’s equal participation, protect women defenders who are subject to risks and often targeted for gender-specific threats and gender-specific violence. Promoting policies for advancing gender equality and achieving justice by empowering rural women is also crucial in reducing growing gender imbalance in rural areas. More efforts then should be directed towards protecting migrant women because mobility is often associated with increased vulnerability and greater exposure to risks like human trafficking. Moreover, with adoption of ILO Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No.190), the United Nations in Mongolia calls for the Government to ratify the convention and approve the revision of labour law to ensure that everyone has the right to a world of work free from violence and harassment.
The United Nations in Mongolia, through its designated agencies, commit to continue our support, together with our partners, to strengthen legal frameworks and institutions, to improve services for the needed, and to address the root causes of violence and human rights violations by challenging social norms and behaviors and tackling the wider gender inequalities. We renew our commitment to advancing gender equality and enhance women’s ability to participate and lead their lives without any fear or need and realize their dream in just, fair and safe society with the greatest capabilities.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; 8 March 2020