Minister today delivered opening remarks at the side event on “Women’s Human Rights and Environment Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities” held virtually
Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Abdulla Shahid today delivered opening remarks at the side event on “Women’s Human Rights and Environment Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities” held virtually. The side event was organized by the Permanent Missions of Ukraine, the Republic of Maldives, State of Qatar, Botswana and Hoduras. The event highlighted disproportionate effect of climate change and environmental degradation on women, especially those in developing countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It called to strengthen the gender footprint in climate change strategies and to protect women’s rights and ensure their equal opportunities in decision making, especially considering the devastating effect of COVID-19 on the vulnerable populations.
In his statement, Minister Shahid highlighted on the importance of full empowerment and participation of women and girls in order to achieve sustainable developmental goals and underlined the disproportionate negative impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on the lives of women and girls. He further emphasized on the implementation of gender equality and advancement of women’s rights at all levels of our society.
He reaffirmed the Government of Maldives’ stand that sustainable development can only be achieved with the full empowerment and participation of women and girls. He further elaborated on the measures taken by the Government of Maldives to step-up equality and achieve gender parity taking note on some of the achievements we have made towards this.
Minister Shahid also briefed the participants on the challenges faced by rural women in the islands, and the resiliency shown by them in the face of climate change, and the current global pandemic. He also noted that the fate of Maldives will be the fate of the world, and reiterated the call to advance the collective effort for sustainable development.
The side-event was conducted with panel discussions on various areas surrounding women’s rights and environmental sustainability.
ENDS