Bianca Pomeranzi was elected to the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) with 132 votes.
“The election of an Italian to CEDAW is a major acknowledgement of our country’s dedication to the promotion of gender equality and to countering every form of abuse and discrimination of women”. Minister Terzi commented on the positive outcome of what had been stiff competition for 25 candidates seeking to fill 11 available positions. This success, he underscored, is reward for “this ministry’s intense efforts, and those of the entire diplomatic network, particularly the Italian mission to the UN, and strengthens Italy’s representation in the bodies of the UN dedicated to the defence and promotion of human rights”.
As an independent expert, Bianca Maria Pomeranzi will begin her 4-year mandate in January 2013, with a seat on the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, headquartered in Geneva, to whose founding convention – a true women’s “bill of rights”, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1978 – Italy has been a Party since 1985.
Violence against women remains the core of Italy’s efforts within the UN. Deputy Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women since 2010, Italy is in the forefront in efforts to abolish female genital mutilation.
“The international community’s major victories in this sector”, the minister concluded, “must not allow us to forget that much remains to be done on behalf of those women and children that continue to be the victims of physical and psychological violence, exploitation and human trafficking”.