In a statement for World AIDS Day, 1 December, UN Women highlights the need to accelerate action towards gender equality, ending violence, supporting leadership and the full enjoyment of their human rights for all young women and girls, especially those affected by both coronavirus and HIV

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action serves as a transformative blueprint for gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.Despite a steady progress achieved in twelve critical areas of Beijing Declaration, it will take time to fully realize those commitments.Structural gaps and challenges still persist in society. COVID-19 pandemic has risked further aggravating inequalities. We should not let the pandemic stall our progress.

In a statement, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka calls on governments to recognize both the enormity of the contribution women make and the precarity of so many in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UN Women welcomes the outcome of the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The agreement represents a milestone towards a transformative global development agenda that puts the empowerment of women and girls at its centre.

Today, as we commemorate the International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation, UN Women calls for intensified efforts to stop the practice in all its forms. We pledge to increase support for efforts to prevent female genital mutilation, and advance gender equality and human rights, including the right to sexual and reproductive health and to live free of violence and discrimination.

193 member States of the United Nations elected me by acclamation to serve as 68th President of the United Nations General Assembly. It was a poignant moment in that I was about to assume a huge responsibility, while at the same time taking the next step on a journey that began purely by happenstance.