Beijing+25 & other topics - Daily Briefing (1 October 2020)

Daily Press Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General.

Beijing+25
Education Plus Initiative
Central African Republic
UNIFIL
Sudan
COVID-19/India
Nansen Award
Guatemala
Nuclear Weapons
International Day of Older Persons
Financial Contribution

BEIJING+25 
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the High-Level Meeting on the 25th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women. 
He said that women and girls are bearing the brunt of the massive social and economic impact of the pandemic.  “Twenty-five years after Beijing, we are facing a women-led recession as women employed in the informal economy are the first to lose their jobs,” he said, adding that unless we act now, COVID-19 could wipe out a generation of fragile progress towards gender equality. 
The Secretary-General said that the pandemic demonstrates that we urgently need a strong push to meet the unfulfilled promise of Beijing: ensuring that there is equal representation of women in leadership positions and everywhere decisions are taken that impact people’s lives. 
He encouraged all Member States to make concrete and ambitious commitments to women’s leadership and full participation and urged to step up support for the grassroots civil society organizations that have always been at the vanguard of the women’s rights leadership. 

EDUCATION PLUS INITIATIVE
On Friday, the Spokesman will be joined by the Heads of UN Women, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF and the Deputy Director General of UNESCO, who will brief the press on the Education Plus Initiative: Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women in sub-Saharan Africa. 

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC   
This morning, during a high-level meeting on the Central African Republic, the Secretary-General said that the coming period will be decisive for the country. 
Authorities and all national stakeholders have a historic responsibility to ensure the proper conduct of the forthcoming elections, he added. 
The Secretary-General highlighted progress in the implementation of the Political Agreement in areas such as legislative reforms, as well as the extension of State authority across the country. He also noted that the security situation has improved in some areas.   
However, Mr. Guterres expressed his concerns about the significant number of human rights violations and breaches of the peace Agreement. These attacks must stop immediately, he said. He called upon authorities to redouble their efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, protect civilians and strengthen measures to address violence against women.  
Turning to the humanitarian situation, the Secretary-General noted that again this year, the humanitarian community has received less than half of the funds required to meet the needs of the 2.6 million people in a precarious situation.  Let there be no mistake, he added. He said lasting peace will not be possible without compliance with the Agreement and without real progress on the development front. 

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon...