Generation Equality: This is the UN-Women Initiative for Gender Equality

The Generation Equality forum, a UN initiative to promote gender equality, will be present during the beginning of the new session of the United Nations General Assembly, next week in New York, and will continue later at COP28, in United Arab Emirates, and at the Davos Economic Forum, in Switzerland.

"We are going to hack everything," says María-Noel Vaeza, regional director for the Americas and the Caribbean of UN Women and executive of the Generation Equality project, made up of governments, civil society, private companies and personalities from the academic world, in an interview with EFE. .

The Uruguayan considers it vital that the advances that the forum has achieved in areas as diverse as climate justice, the integration of women in technology or against gender violence are present at each international meeting and assembly so as not to lose momentum.

For this reason, the group will try to maintain a visible profile in all the multilateral meetings to which it is invited.

What is Generation Equality?

Generation Equality was born in 2021 with the aim of involving all social sectors in the UN's efforts to promote gender equality in a large number of areas.

Their work seeks to accelerate progress on the sustainable development goals over the next five years. Next week he will present his "halfway" report during an event to mark the High Level Week of the United Nations General Assembly.

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In the report, the group will detail the progress made by countries such as the United States, Canada or Sweden, but also the Ivory Coast or Malawi, as well as companies such as Gucci or Microsoft, in a series of objectives established by the different offices of the forum.

In addition, Vaeza points out that more than 2,000 institutions have pledged to donate some 47,000 million dollars to promote gender equality globally (although the Uruguayan adds that it seems "little").

In return, the group also expects commitments from the companies, and that civil society be included not only as advisers, but also as part of the process of negotiating resolutions or initiatives.

"We want to show that a more dynamic UN, a more real UN, where the forces are alive, can produce results," says the person in charge.

But his main demand for the high-level week, which will bring together the heads of state and government of dozens of countries at the UN headquarters in New York, is that a mention of the fight against gender violence be included in the closing statement.

In fact, in the draft of the document, which is still being negotiated, an attempt was made to eliminate that mention of gender violence a few weeks ago, but UN Women have mobilized to ensure that it is maintained.

"We cannot grow in the planet as a whole in a fair way if we do not remove that knot. And for that the General Assembly has to say it", concludes Vaeza.