Coverage: United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director in the Republic of Korea
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Author: Yoomi Jun
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director, Anita Bhatia, visited the Republic of Korea on a three-day mission from 10 October 2022 to 12 October to meet with Korean Government agencies and participate in the 2022 Daejeon United Cities and Local Governments World Congress. The mission was accompanied by Sarah Knibbs, UN Women Regional Director a.i. for Asia and the Pacific, and Jeongshim Lee, Director of the UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality.
11 October 2022
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director, Anita Bhatia kicked off the day with bilateral meeting with Hyunsook Kim, Minister for Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) in Seoul. DED Bhatia thanked MOGEF for its contribution of USD 4.7M to UN Women and their support for the establishment of the UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality. At the meeting, the unique role the Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality can play in bringing researchers and experts on gender together to promote best practices and knowledge was highlighted.
The Deputy Executive Director said, “The establishment of the Centre is a big step for UN Women. The Centre is keen to leverage technology and innovation of [the Republic of] Korea to find innovative solutions, challenge harmful gender stereotypes and transform social norms through multi-stakeholder partnerships” at the meeting and invited the Minister to the Commission on the Status of Women 67 in 2023 to share experience of [the Republic of] Korea.
As part of her mission, in the Deputy Executive Director’s opening remarks at the first Steering Committee* Meeting for the UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality, she stressed the importance of having such Centre as a thought leader and a platform for data collection to nurture knowledge on gender equality and women’s empowerment not only in Asia and the Pacific region but beyond at global level.
“With the Centre being established in Korea, I look forward to utilizing the comparative advantage Korea has to offer. UN Women will work together with various stakeholders in Korea including public and private sector as well as women’s organizations,” said DED Bhatia.
DED Bhatia also met with the Vice President for Development Strategy and Partnership of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to discuss ways to strengthen partnership for the achievement of SDG 5 on gender equality. She called for stronger support by the Republic of Korea through the Official Development Aid (ODA) by sharing recent findings on the Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality being 286 years from achievement in legal frameworks while recognizing the increasing support by KOICA by prioritizing gender issues in its country-level projects including Indonesia and in other countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
KOICA Vice President Hong acknowledged the important role played by women in communities by noting, “We have seen more successful results when women get funds in their hands. They have a strong capacity to manage funds.”
The DED concluded the day with meeting H.E. Mr Yong-min Park, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Seoul Government Complex. Korea has a unique development history of once being an aid-receiving country to becoming aid-providing country, a remarkable achievement made in only a few decades. To address the complicated challenges such as violence against women and pandemic faced by women today around the world, DED stressed that UN Women will deepen its relationship with countries like the Republic of Korea by tapping into the technology and innovation sector.
12 October 2022
On the final day of her visit, DED Bhatia met with Hoon Han, Commissioner of Statistics Korea in Daejeon Government Complex to explore future opportunities to collaborate on gender data through the Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality. DED Bhatia and Commissioner Han both stressed the importance of technology such as big data to better understand cybersecurity and prevent cyberviolence against women.
Deputy Executive Director Bhatia participated at the 2022 Daejeon United Cities and Local Governments World Congress. Addressing the Future of Feminist Municipalism: Putting Care and the Sustainability of Life at the Centre of Policy and Action session, she highlighted the significant role that the feminist municipal movement play in bringing the transformational change needed. She also called for mayors and local government leaders to join Generation Equality and its Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership which offers a powerful way forward to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment.
* Composition of the Steering Committee is MOGEF Director General, UN Women Headquarters Department Heads, UN Women Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Region, the Centre’s Director and Korean Women’s Development Institute researchers.