India was elected as the permanent member of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC)’s Commission on Status of Women (CSW).
The election for the permanent membership was contested among 54 members of the ECOSOC committee. India and Afghanistan won the battle while China could not even cross the halfway mark.
“India wins a seat in prestigious ECOSOC body! India elected members of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW). It’s a ringing endorsement of our commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all our endeavors. We thank member states for their support,” TS Tirumurti, permanent representative of India to the United Nations tweeted.
What is CSW?
The commission on Status of Women is an “intergovernmental body,” which is committed to enforcing gender equality and women empowerment. It comes under the UN ECOSOC Committee. Every year CSW conducts a two-week session in the city of NewYork where representatives from different countries gather to discuss progress and further the actions of the committee. The recommendations are then forwarded to its parent body, the ECOSOC council, for follow-up.
“UN Women acts on two fronts. It supports international political negotiations to formulate globally agreed standards for gender equality. And it helps the UN Member States implement those standards by providing expertise and financial support”, states United Nations on its UN Women website. India will remain a member of the Commission on Status of Women for four years starting from 2021 till 2024
What does permanent membership mean?
The permanent membership to the commission will now allow India to formulate CSW’s flagship program initiatives that help women to degenerate the shackles of inequality and structural barriers to promote women empowerment. Further, the role of India will also expand to “debate and seek the agreement of international norms and standards” by seeking intergovernmental support to promote gender equality. Other functions, including participating in policy research, data gathering, and coming up with innovative solutions to the gender issue across the world.
Membership to UNSC
India joined the list of the non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council on June 18, 2020, with an overwhelming majority of 184 votes out of 192, given the minimum requirement of 128 votes. This two-year term will end in 2022.
India has previously served seven times in the Security Council: 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992, and 2011-2012. This year it would be the eight-time in less than a year.
This year is the 25th anniversary of the famous Beijing World Conference on Women (1995).
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