71st session of the General Assembly

UN General Assembly. Photo credit: UN Photo/John McIlwaine

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The 71st session of the UN General Assembly comes one year into the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, which places gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Following the “Global Leaders’ Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A Commitment to Action” that took place in conjunction with the UN Summit on the post-2015 development framework last year, 93 governments have answered UN Women’s clarion call for action, Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality, demonstrating strong political will for gender equality and women’s rights.

This year’s General Assembly, for the first time in the history of the United Nations, has convened a high-level summit for Heads of State and Governments to address the unprecedented large movements of refugees and migrants and to develop a more humane and coordinated approach that all countries can endorse. On 19 September, world leaders will come together to discuss a “Global Compact for Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration” and a “Global Compact on Responsibility-Sharing for Refugees”.

In the lead-up to the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, UN Women spotlights the need to include the needs, experiences and voices of women refugees and migrants.

Through key events on women’s economic empowerment, gender data, engaging men and boys to champion gender equality, and women, peace and security and mediation, UN Women will continue to ensure the voices of women and girls are heard and place gender equality and women’s empowerment at the heart of all development efforts.