Opening Remarks: Youth Dialogue on Gender Equality with Police Cadets In Support of HeforShe and SpeakUp SpeakOut

Dr. Kittipong Kittayarak—TIJ Executive Director
H.E. Staffan Herrström, Ambassador of Sweden to Thailand
Pol.Maj.Gen.Manote Tantratian, Deputy Commissioner, RPCA

Good morning to you all!

Photo: UN Women/Pathumporn Thongking

On behalf of UN Women, I want to begin by thanking the Royal Police Cadet Academy, the Thailand Institute of Justice and the Embassy of Sweden for their partnership in organizing this Youth Dialogue on Gender Equality with Police Cadets, in Support of the HeForShe and SpeakUpSpeakOut Campaigns. We are very grateful for your support to UN Women and your commitment to advancing women’s empowerment in Thailand and beyond.

This dialogue is taking place on the eve of International Women’s Day, 8 March, a day when the international community comes together to draw attention to the crucial importance of gender equality and women’s rights to individuals, families, communities and societies at large. We now have evidence to prove what we have long believed to be true: that there can be no peace, no development, and no security unless both women and men are given equal opportunities to meet their full potential and live their lives free from all forms of discrimination.

This year, the International Women’s Day comes at a critical moment in history. In September last year, UN member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, where the issue of gender equality and women’s empowerment is prioritized at the highest level. We have a strong stand-alone on gender equality, Goal 5, which calls on governments to ensure that women are safe and live free from violence; that they have equal voice and representation in decision-making, from Parliaments to village councils to corporations; and that are able to earn an income and control economic resources on par with men. Gender equality is also mainstreamed throughout the other development goals. Never before have we seen such strong global consensus at the highest level that gender equality is both an enabler and a precondition for sustainable development: this provides us with an unprecedented opportunity for advancing this agenda.

As young men and women, and as future police officers, you have a unique opportunity to be part of creating a different world: A sustainable world, a world characterized not by harmful gender stereotypes that limit the dreams and options for both women and men, but by tolerance, respect and equality. Yet young people often lack safe spaces where they can discuss issues of gender and respectful relationships: what forms of inequality and discrimination do you see in society and how can you help to challenge these? What social norms exist in your community of what it means to be a man or a woman, and how can these constricting norms be transformed? And what messages can the police and other State institutions send about what is acceptable conduct and what is not? These are just some of the questions that this youth dialogue, and other initiatives that UN Women is supporting together with TIJ and the Royal Thai Police, is seeking to answer. We are proud to be working with you to build practical skills of future police officers to promote gender equality and women’s rights, including through targeted trainings on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.

Around the world and in Thailand, many important laws have been passed to ensure equality between men and women, and to protect women and girls from all forms of abuse and violence. Yet in countries rich and poor, enforcing these laws is much more challenging than adopting them. As police cadets and future police officers, you will one day be one of the most important gate-keepers for women in accessing justice. If you place women’s human rights at the heart of what you do, you will be able to ensure that all women who come into contact with the law, whether as victims, witnesses or offenders, will be treated with respect, support and dignity, free from gender stereotyping. Especially for the countless of women who will one day experience violence – which represents one in three women globally – your support can mean the difference between self-blame and stigma on one hand, and a sense of justice and healing on the other. You will also send a strong message to society that perpetrators will be held accountable, which in turn can help prevent future violations.

Just like in society, we need both men and women in the police force to send this message. And this brings me to HeForShe, a global solidarity movement for gender equality that was launched just a year and a half ago by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, Emma Watson. The Campaign seeks to engage men and boys as agents of change and as champions for the rights of women and girls, by encouraging them to stand up, speak out and take action against the inequalities that they face.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of men from around the world including Heads of State, CEOs, and individual men and boys from all walks of life have committed to gender equality. HeForShe has been the subject of more than 2 billion conversations on social media, with online and offline activities reaching cities and communities around the world.

At the heart of HeForShe is the understanding that achieving gender equality in our lifetimes is possible, but only if we engage men and boys as partners for women’s rights, and acknowledge the ways in which they also benefit from this equality. As men and boys, being a HeForShe means to join a struggle that for gender equality that for too long was seen as the business of women alone, as equal partners in helping to realize a common vision that will benefit not just women but all of humanity.

As young people, you can be the change you want to see in the world. For too many of us, classrooms are where we learn our first hard lessons about gender bias. There are many ways to help turn your school or institution into an engine of opportunity for everybody. The HeForShe journey begins online with a simple affirmation that gender equality is not only a women’s issue, but a human rights issue that requires the participation and commitment of men and boys. HeForShe then moves beyond awareness to action, asking men to define what matters to them, and what they will do to make a difference. Hundreds of thousands of men and boys have made this commitment, and are now taking their own steps to change the world, sharing their stories to inspire others to follow suit. Their individual actions will collectively create the sustainable social change we need to achieve equality.

As police cadets, you are not only the young people that will one day be the parents and leaders and change-makers of your country, but as future police officers, you will also be role models for many people who will look to your behavior as examples to follow. But you do not need to wait for being in a positon of power to be role models: you can start now by promoting new, healthy and respectful notions of what it means to be a man, such as sharing household responsibilities, implementing respectful behaviors and avoiding using words of discrimination. This means not only observing your own attitudes, values and behaviors towards women and girls and ensuring that you do not personally engage in discrimination or violence; you can also inspire broader change by proactively intervening wherever you witness discrimination or hear disrespectful remarks. And for the female police cadets in the room – I take my hat off to you! As many brave young trailblazers around the world, you are helping to increase the representation of women in a line of work where women have long been under-represented, thus helping to lead the way for others to follow suit and inspiring other young women to be both agents and advocates for change.

To realize our common vision for a world free of all forms of discrimination, all of us are needed: governments, civil society, the media, the private sector, and individual men and women, not just on International Women’s Day but every day of the year. Only by working together can we create a Planet 50-50 by 2030.

Thank you.