The President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mr. Pier-Ferdinando Casini and the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Ms. Sheika Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa met in Rome on 27 February for an event entitled Towards a culture of gender equality in the 21st Century, held at the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and organized through the Foundation of the Chamber of Deputies.

The IPU President and the President of the United Nations General Assembly reiterated their commitment to strengthening partnership between the two organizations, especially in the field of gender equality and protection of the girl child, and stressed the importance of joint efforts in areas relating to conflict prevention, peace-building and gender.

Sheika Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, the third woman and the first from an Arab country to serve as President of the United Nations General Assembly, said that "to create a culture of gender equality in the 21st century, more women must assume leadership positions at the United Nations and in other multilateral organizations".

She recalled the commitment of world leaders to support the principles adopted at the 2005 World Summit of Heads of State and government on promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. The first is that gender equality is essential to development and to peace and security. The second is that all countries should mainstream gender policies across economic and social programmes. The third is that in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the Beijing Platform of Action for gender equality must be implemented in full, bearing in mind the notion that all people were born free with equal rights. The UN Assembly President stressed that in her experience, "providing quality education for women is critical to overcoming these obstacles to change".

The IPU President said that the defense of women rights is central to the dialogue between the United Nations and the parliaments of the world. "Our meeting today can help to pool the many current initiatives, particularly at the international level, that seek to guarantee women their rightful role and set back the injustices and abuses that millions of them suffer daily in their own flesh and blood."

"I am thinking of all kinds of psychological and physical violence that women undergo in armed conflicts, and the terrible traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation or crimes of honor, and domestic violence or lack of health care. Not to mention cultural, judicial, social, economic and political prejudices barring them from jobs, education, civil rights and political representation.

Mr. Casini went on to draw attention to the two events that the IPU was about to hold at the United Nations in New York. The first was the debate between parliamentarians from around the world on 1st March 2007, in the ECOSOC chamber, to provide input for the deliberations of the 51st Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The second event, on 2nd March (in room 8), is the third annual meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament, who will define a common position for protecting future generations of girls from violence.

---

Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 148 affiliated parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
Other press releases	Version française de ce communiqué de presse	More information

---

Contact for additional information or interviews:

Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer 5, ch. du Pommier, CH - 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex / Geneva Phone: +41 22 919 41 16 Fax: +41 22 919 41 60 E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org Mme Kareen Jabre, Programme Manager, IPU Programme for the Promotion of Partnership between Men and Women. Phone: +41 22 919 41 25 / 45 / 49 E-mail: kj@mail.ipu.org or jb@mail.ipu.org or vs@mail.ipu.org IPU New York Office Phone : +1 212 557 58 80 E-mail : ny-office@mail.ipu.org