Presenting SachinTendulkar and Kailash Satyarthi – our newest HeForShe supporters!
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New Delhi - UN Women’s campaign calling on men to take a stand for gender equality received a boost earlier this month when UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented HeForShe badges to Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
“I give so much priority to women’s and children’s welfare because I have seen its value for all people,” the Secretary-General said in his remarks during the event – the launch of ‘UN@70′, where he was joined by UN Goodwill Ambassadors and senior UN colleagues, including UN Women Deputy Executive Director and UN Assistant Secretary-General Lakshmi Puri.
UN@70 marks the 70th anniversary year of the United Nations and is being highlighted in India with the slogan ‘YoUNg@70!’
Investment in women and children was one of the key messages of the Secretary-General’s wide-ranging speech. It is “the most powerful way to attain global progress,” he emphasized.
“We are striving to provide women and girls with proper health services, including for sexual and reproductive health,” the Secretary-General added. “We are pushing for equality in education. We are advocating for the human rights of women and girls. Our goal is to empower them to contribute to our common future.”
Earlier that day, the Secretary-General delivered the Thirteenth Sapru House Lecture at the Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi, in which he laid special emphasis on the work of UN Women and the need to support it. “No country can advance as long as its women are held back,” he said.
Photo Credit: UN in India/Prashanth Vishwanathan
“While in our world we use lot of different resources, technologies, the least-utilized resource in our human lives is women. More than half the world’s population are women. Then it is only natural that if we cannot give more, then at least they should be given equal treatment, equal status.”
“I need the Indian Government’s strong support for UN Women,” he added.
The Secretary-General’s Lecture is available at: http://bit.ly/1wlnQmA
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