As part of her participation in the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova addressed the high-level meeting on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the 4th World Conference on Women.
Siljanovska-Davkova said that women in the world, along with children, are the first and greatest victims of wars, but also bearers of healing, compassion and hope.
The participants in their presentations focused on the need for commitment, ensuring adequate resources and accelerating the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
To this end, they stressed the importance of specific and sustainable policies to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, as a key prerequisite for just and prosperous societies.
Below is the integral address of President Siljanovska-Davkova:
Distinguished Excellencies,
Esteemed Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thirty years ago, in Beijing, the nations of the world made a solemn pledge: to advance women’s rights as human rights, to achieve gender equality, and to empower every woman and girl to live free from violence, discrimination, and limitation. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action remain a cornerstone of international law, a living testament that equality for women is both justice and a prerequisite for peace, prosperity, and sustainable development.
And yet, three decades on, we must admit: progress has been uneven, fragile, and too often reversible. Violence against women persists with impunity, femicide desecrates the sanctity of life, and structural barriers still deny women leadership, resources, and decision-making power. These are not abstractions, they wound families, societies, and generations.
At the same time, the very institution created to safeguard peace: the United Nations, faces a profound crisis. Conceived as the greatest peace project of humankind, it now stands against a backdrop of wars raging across continents. Eighty years after its founding, peace, the raison d’être of the UN remains elusive. Mars still rules, when it is time for Venus embodied in the vision, compassion, and leadership of women to guide our common future.
If we are serious about peace, then the time has come to entrust the helm of the United Nations to a woman.
We, the women of the world together with children, are the first and greatest victims of war. But we are also the bearers of healing, compassion, and hope. Gender equality is not a feminist privilege; it is a humanist imperative. We do not ask for favors, nor for matriarchy, but for a just order in which the talents and creativity of half of humanity are fully recognized for the advancement of politics, science, health, education, and peace.
Excellencies,
The Beijing Declaration called on us to ensure equal rights and equal access for women and men, girls and boys. That call remains urgent today. Only together woman and man do we embody the fullness of humanity.
We must summon courage, dare to transform this turbulent world, and renew our commitment to the Beijing vision for every woman and girl, and for the promise of a more just, humane, and peaceful future.
Thank you.
