Lithuania's statement at the UN General Assembly Third Committee debate on Advancement of Women
Mr. Chairman, At the outset, allow me to congratulate you on your election as the chairman of the Third Committee of the 70th Session of the General Assembly. I would like to assure you of our delegation’s cooperation and full support. We are convinced that under your leadership this session will be a success. Lithuania aligns itself with the statement made by the European Union. The year 2015 has been crucial for women and sustainable development. In September we adopted the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development with an ambitious goal to achieve gender equality and to empower all women and girls. This created a unique opportunity for accelerating measures aimed at addressing critical issues, such as violence, discrimination, and denial of equal opportunities. The implementation of this goal was highlighted by concrete commitments delivered by Heads of State and Government during “Global Leaders’ Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”. The identification of existing gaps and political will to overcome them, we believe, will contribute towards achieving sustainable and inclusive societies.
Mr. Chairman,
Prevention and protection of women and girls from all forms of violence remains a central concern for my country. We are convinced that only women free from violence and fear of violence can fully contribute to developing modern societies. Lithuania is strongly determined to continue implementing the National Programme and the Action Plan for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Provision of Assistance to Victims. A particular emphasis is put on result-oriented measures, such as public information campaigns, competence building and training, as well as developing cooperation of the state and local institutions, NGO‘s and the society. The main objective is to develop intolerance towards domestic violence and to improve the assistance to victims.
Lithuania proceeds with promoting non-discrimination of women in view of full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration. Promotion of gender equality not only de jure but also de facto has been and remains one of our national policy priorities across all sectors. To this end, earlier this year, a National Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men was adopted for the period 2015-2021. Equal working conditions for women and men, a balanced number of both in decision making and governmental positions, integration of gender perspective in all spheres of public and private life as well as access to justice have been identified as main goals for our Government for the next seven years.
Consistent and systematic long-term implementation of gender equality policies led to a number of concrete results. The gap between employment rates of women and men was almost closed. Average gender pay gap in Lithuania has decreased and now stands at 13.3 percent.
Aiming to further enhance equality between women and men, the share of responsibilities at work and at home should also be duly addressed. While many women work full-time, the burden of household is still being distributed unequally. Therefore, we believe that such measures as encouraging men to take a parental leave or their more active role in a family life would allow women to participate in a labor market on equal grounds.
Facilitation of the consistent, integrated and systematic promotion of equal opportunities in all spheres of life and elimination of the gender equality gap are the key objectives that will guide our work for the years to come.
Mr. Chairman,
Lithuania is committed to playing an active role in the UN human rights system. I am glad to underline that since 2012 Lithuanian professor Dalia Leinartė has been successfully contributing to the work of the CEDAW Committee (Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Let me seize this opportunity to announce that my Government has nominated Prof. Leinartė as a candidate for the second term to CEDAW for 2017-2020.
Mr. Chairman,
Last but not least, this year also marks the 15th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325. High-level Review of Women, Peace and Security agenda and the Global Study provided us with an opportunity to accelerate and generate new actions and to address new challenges we face today in increasing participation of women in peace processes, greater protection of their human rights, improved access to justice, to name a few. We welcome a unanimous adoption of the Security Council resolution 2242 today, which will boost the implementation of Women, Peace and Security agenda on the ground.
Earlier this year, Lithuania together with UN Women and OSCE organized a regional conference to discuss the implementation of the resolution 1325 in the OSCE area. The event provided an important contribution to the UN’s High-level Review drawing on lessons learnt in the region. We firmly believe that the Review will give a new impetus in addressing main obstacles, gaps and concerns in this regard.
Mr. Chairman,
Let me conclude by reaffirming Lithuania's strong commitment to the promotion of gender equality and willingness to contribute to the joint efforts of the entire international community for the achievement of full advancement of women worldwide.
Thank you.
