Thank you, Mr. Chair,
Dear Secretary General,
Thank you for presenting the Annual Progress Report on the Implementation of the OSCE 2004 Action Plan on the Promotion of Gender Equality. We appreciate your strong voice and tireless dedication in promoting women’s empowerment in peace processes and gender equality in the OSCE. The OSCE’s concept of comprehensive security - across the three dimensions of its mandate - is a great strength of this organization. The OSCE not only has security at the core of its mandate, but also respect for human rights. That is why gender equality is fundamental. And that is why today we cannot look at the challenges and achievements of 2021, without firstly reflecting on the devastating effects of conflicts in our region and beyond. Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine has brought to the surface once again the harsh reality of the consequences of war in deepening the gender poverty gap of the society and the violation of the basic human rights. Ukrainian women and girls are facing today maybe the biggest challenge of their lives: they are forced to flee their homes, find themselves in situations that exacerbate inequality and vulnerability, in the face of sexual and gender-based violence. We are appalled by reports of alleged sexual violence which need to be fully documented and properly investigated.
The report of the CiO Special Representative on Gender earlier today, brings more light on the current situation of women and girls effected by this war, but, it also calls for immediate actions. These escalating realities manifest the need to redouble our efforts to deliver on the commitments we made to those who need our collective efforts the most. That is why we fully support the continuing work ahead on the key priorities envisaged today by the Secretary General. These include the continuation of the OSCE networking platform for women leaders, peacebuilder and mediators, which is all the more important now. Implementing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, has become increasingly important given the magnitude and complexity of challenges facing the international community today. Recent actions of aggression and conflicts in Europe and elsewhere have shown how fragile the progress we have made on WPS remains.
Our organization have unique and complementary capacities to generate effective results, especially in context of political turmoil and seizures of power by force. During its presidency of the UN Security Council in June, Albania made it a priority the discourse on the acceleration of the WPS agenda. Eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls must continue to be imperative in our gender equality program. We have already agreed in 2018 that inequality between men and women is a root cause of violence against women and girls. We need to address it as a cross-cutting issue through awareness raising for effective protection and support, reducing inequalities, multiple discrimination and disadvantage; prioritizing treatment of gender-based violence and domestic violence; as well as the coordination of actions and resources to leave no one behind. Fostering women’s economic empowerment and inclusion in decision making is a visionary approach for a prosperous and peaceful society.
Besides that, economic empowerment of women is a proactive strategy to prevent gender-based violence and trafficking of girls and women. We should promote measures and actions to empower women, young women and girls also through their orientation towards new economic development tendencies, focused on digitalisation and green economy. Finally, I would like to touch briefly on women’s participation in the political and public life, which is an important OSCE principle and a main criterion for a sustainable and functional democracy in our countries.
Albania, which is today closer to the EU family, is committed to achieving gender equality. It currently ranks among the top five gender-balanced Governments in the world, with 75 per cent women ministers. Some of the key highest public positions in Albania – including independent institutions, agencies, departments in key areas of the state – are successfully held by women. Our ambition in the coming years is not only to expand the number of women involved in political and public decision-making, in leadership and foreign policy, but also to design and implement more gender-sensitive legislation and policies towards a more equitable society. Dear colleagues, Despite the considerable efforts, great work and progress that OSCE has made yet, there is a lot to be done in order to achieve gender equality; there is a compelling need to rebuild trust among us, intensify cooperation, share best practices and coordinate gender-responsive and human rightsbased approaches to ensure the meaningful inclusion of women, in particular those from traditionally marginalized groups, in political and peace and security processes. We must be able to support safe and enabling environments for women peacebuilders, human rights defenders, and civil society activists.
I thank you