Venkatesh Iyer
NEW DELHI, Sep 15: In a significant progress India has won a keenly contested election to the UN Commission on Status of Women ahead of China.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It is also the chief global organisation focussing on gender equality and women empowerment.
The Commission on the Status of women is contributory in championing women’s rights, documenting the truth of women’s lives throughout the world, and fashioning global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
With the win, India and Afghanistan will now join Argentina, Austria, Dominican Republic, Israel, Latvia, Nigeria, Turkey and Zambia, which were elected by acclamation, to the Commission on the Status of women for a four-year term beginning from 2021-2025.
The win is noteworthy as it comes on the eve of India gearing up to take a seat at the UN Security Council high table as a non-permanent member for a two-year term beginning 2021.
ECOSOC comprising of 54 members, held its first meeting of 2021 session inside the General auditorium and held elections for two seats in the Asia-Pacific States category with three countries India, Afghanistan and China in the fray.
Of the 54 ballots cast on Monday Afghanistan, could accumulate 39 votes, India got 38 votes, China stood third with 27 votes. Incidentally, China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council but could not gather the specified majority of 28 votes.
Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti tweeted “India wins seat in prestigious #ECOSOC body! India elected Member of Commission on Status of women #CSW. It’s a ringing endorsement of our commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all our endeavours. We thank member states for their support.@MEAIndia”.
This is also a boost to Afghanistan, currently undergoing a transition with peace talks with Taliban. The Afghanistan Mission tweeted “we are pleased to announce AFG’s historic win on the election of Members of UN Commission on Status of Women (@UnCSW) for the term 2021-2025. Despite AFG being a member of the UN since 1946, this will be the first time AFG will occupy a seat on this important commission.
The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United Nations stated, “A vote for Afghanistan is a vote to acknowledge, hear and empower the voices of women and girls in conflict around the globe.”
Adela Raj, the Afghanistan Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, who represented Afghanistan, tweeted “AFG winning with the highest votes the competitive CSW election today, represents a victory for the process started 19 years ago when, along w/our intl partners, we committed to the empowerment of our women. This is of critical importance during our peace Talks to demonstrate D NewAFG.