“Italy constantly strives to provide humanitarian assistance to women and girls in wars and emergency situations”, said Deputy Minister, Ms Sereni, speaking in Berlin at the third edition of the annual Donors’ Round Table of UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
“In Afghanistan, we must make a significant effort to avoid losing the progress made over the past 20 years. Today, the fate of Afghan women is more uncertain than ever, as the banning of girls from schools shows. We must therefore link all aid, beyond the strictly humanitarian aid, to a real improvement in their rights and living conditions. The figures of the humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine tell us that the majority of refugees are women and children, while there are harrowing reports of rape and sexual violence being used as a war weapon by the invaders. Yet many other conflicts have terrible effects on women. The international community must therefore strongly support humanitarian organisations committed to combating sexual and gender-based discrimination and violence”.
“Then again, women and girls have proven to be fundamental agents of change, capable of finding solutions under the most adverse circumstances of any crisis. This is why ensuring their participation in decision-making processes is key to address epoch-making challenges, starting from climate change. In this battle for the empowerment of women, UN Women is called upon to play an essential coordinating role, to make sure that all the United Nations’ peace, development and humanitarian activities prioritise gender equality, which not only benefits women, but helps and enriches the whole society – and is the only way through which we can achieve real, positive change.”
