On 3 March, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Moscow, jointly with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, held a special soirée dedicated to the International Women’s Day (IWD).
The event brought together UN colleagues, representatives of government institutions, international organizations and embassies, academic and cultural centers, civil society. It was opened with the screening of the SG’s message on the occasion. Mr. Frode Mauring, UN Resident Coordinator in the Russian Federation, made introductory comments.
He recollected that the idea to celebrate the IWD was first put forward in 1910, a hundred years ago, at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. Mr. Mauring stressed that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.
The audience applauding to the soloists from the “Russian Opera”
In recognition of this important anniversary, the theme of this year’s Day is “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All”. He pointed out that since the Beijing Conference progress has been made in a number of areas, most significantly in education. However, the problem of violence against women and girls remains universal, with up to 70 percent of women experiencing violence in their lifetime. That’s why the third MDG – to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment – is central to all other goals.
Mr. Mauring was followed by Ms. Olga Salova from the Office of the UNHCHR, who spoke on behalf of the UN Theme Group on Gender. The Group supports initiatives of the government and civil society aimed at improvements in the state of women and attainment of gender equality. Ms. Salova based her address on the conclusions of the UN Country Team’s Report to CEDAW.
The second, artistic, part of the soiree saw opening of the exhibition by portraitists Dmitri and Piotr Zudov presenting graphic women’s images. Also, our guests had a unique opportunity to enjoy pieces of classical music performed by a group of soloists from the newly created theater “Russian Opera”. The performance of the talented musicians was warmly acclaimed by the attendees.