UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous will be conducting a four-day visit to Chile, where she will be engaging with government representatives, women’s civil society organizations, and the United Nations System to strengthen support and galvanize solidarity for women and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean. The meetings undertaken during the mission will underscore Chile’s progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment while providing an opportunity to share recommendations on how UN Women’s work can be strengthened in the region.

From April 10 to April 13, 2024, UN Women's Deputy Executive Director Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda embarked on her first official mission to the Americas and Caribbean region, which began in Panama. This visit not only marked a significant first in her tenure but also highlighted the region's active advancements in gender equality and intersectional inclusion with a focus on women from rural environments, indigenous women, afro-descendant women, and women with disabilities.

The 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) delivered today robust commitments by UN Member States to strengthen financing and institutions to eradicate women’s and girls’ poverty. Globally, 10.3 per cent of women live in extreme poverty today, according to the report presented by the UN Secretary-General to the Commission, and progress towards ending poverty needs to be 26 times faster to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Conflict is inherently violent, but for women and girls ever more so, including in sexual and gender-based ways. This is intolerable. No woman or girl anywhere, ever, should experience sexual violence or any form of violence. UN Women, alongside everyone here, condemns it unequivocally.

Throughout this crisis, women’s groups have worked to remain active in Haiti, and UN Women is working with partner organizations to provide economic, psychological, and other forms of support to women and girls in the country.

New York, 22 February - Two years of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine has taken thousands of lives, caused untold destruction, displaced millions, traumatized a generation, torn families and communities, and devastated the economy. The total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is estimated by the World Bank, European Commission, United Nations and the Government of Ukraine at USD 486 billion over the next decade. This war, like all wars, takes a bigger toll on women and girls, who disproportionally carry its burden.

The Regional Fund for Women's and Feminist Organizations and Movements (Fondo Regional) is issuing the second call for grant applications for women's and feminist civil society organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Regional Fund arises within the framework of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, a subsidiary body of ECLAC, which since 2020 has been organized in coordination with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Reflections from the members of the Civil Society Advisory Group of the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean in commemorating the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.

Opening remarks by UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous at the official UN commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UN headquarters, 22 November 2023.

Today the Sixty-fifth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean concluded at ECLAC’s headquarters in Santiago.

Today marked the inauguration of the Sixty-fifth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, a hybrid event that is taking place through Thursday from ECLAC’s headquarters in the Chilean capital.

The agreement focuses on high-level policy and normative advocacy to accelerate the reduction of the gender gap in access to productive resources and rural coverage of care services, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence.

Civil society advisory groups (CSAGs) are the institutional mechanisms for regular consultation between UN Women and feminist and women's organizations and networks. CSAGs exist nationally in most UN Women regional offices, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. In other cases, CSAGs are linked to specific initiatives, such as Spotlight in the English-speaking Caribbean countries.

On the 17th of September, UN Women together with the governments of Iceland and Tanzania, will mark the midpoint moment for Generation Equality to bolster its agenda for gender equality acceleration at a critical time for women’s rights. Generation Equality is the world’s leading initiative to boost investment and implementation of gender equality. It brings together organizations from all corners of society to catalyze progress, push for change and take bold actions together.  

Mercedes Pombo, 23, is a climate activist and co-founder of Jóvenes por el Clima Argentina (Youth for Climate Argentina). She is a philosophy student and a member of UN Women’s Civil Society Advisory Group in Argentina.

Este 2 de julio, ONU Mujeres, la entidad de Naciones Unidas dedicada a promover la igualdad de género y el empoderamiento de las mujeres en todo el mundo, conmemora su 13º aniversario.

In 2023, Women Deliver Conference is taking place coinciding with the Midpoint Moment of Generation Equality—which will be held in September 2024 in New York. Convened by UN Women, the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) is an unprecedented global effort to accelerate investment and implementation on gender equality in today's context of stalled progress and regression. By bringing together diverse stakeholders from every part of society, Generation Equality aims to disrupt inaction, drive political will and accountability, and ensure that the bold ambitions of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action on women’s rights are finally implemented, and the Sustainable Development Goals are achieved, leaving no one behind.

Around the world, conflict, violence, crises and fragility have forced more than 108 million people to flee their homes; among whom are 35.3 million refugees. Common to them all are the hopes of finding safety, security and prosperity and the fears of further harm and loss. For women and girls, these fears are all too often realized. UNHCR estimates that one in five refugee and internally displaced women have faced sexual violence with its resulting profound impact on both individuals and the fabric of their communities.

Rosa Huenchuleo Cifuentes belongs to the original Mapuche people in Chile. She has lived in Tarapacá for 15 years. She is a public administrator, president of the women's cooperative Añañuca, and leader of the trade association of local entrepreneurs Küyen Ray. Rosa is a participant in the UN Women's Originarias program, and through her initiative Orígenes Reutiliza, she seeks to strengthen her economic autonomy and promote recycling actions that contribute to reducing pollution and garbage.

We recognize today as the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexphobia and Transphobia, and mark the theme for this year: “Together always: United in diversity”. This is a day to celebrate the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) across humanity. It is also a day for a reckoning with the related violence, discrimination and stigmatization that still cause profound, preventable suffering among these communities. Such violations harm us all as we seek to accelerate achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and a world united under a common agenda of fully lived human rights.