Pak adamant to achieve gender equality to empower women at UN:Maleeha Lodhi

Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi, has said Islamabad is determined to achieve gender equality and empower women as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Lodhi, who was speaking at the 'Strategies to eliminate violence against women' event organised by the Pakistan Mission to the UN during the 60th session of the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW), said Pakistan is keen to achieve all the objectives outlined by the UN in SDG 5.

While highlighting the country's achievements in this regard, the Pakistani envoy maintained that violence against women was a key concern in the country's overall agenda of gender equality and women's empowerment, reports Dawn.

"Physical violence has been described as the most shameful of all human rights violations and one of the most intractable to eliminate," Lodhi asserted.

The fifth SDG, which has nine major targets, calls for, among other practices, an end to discrimination and violence against women in public and private spheres, ending child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, recognising unpaid care and domestic work and promoting shared responsibility within the household.

The SDGs are a set of universal goals agreed on after three years of negotiations at the UN General Assembly in September last year. They are an expansion of the Millennium Development Goals agreed on at the beginning of the new century.

The UN envoy highlighted the critical role of the media with respect to changing social attitudes, alongside education.

The panelists at the event included the first female speaker of the Balochistan Assembly, Raheela Durrani, Secretary for Women's Development in Punjab Aman Imam and Aurat Foundation Director Rabeea Hadi.

The participants in the dialogue appreciated Pakistan's achievements and pointed out the areas where further attention was required.

The event was attended by diplomats, civil society organisations and members of delegation at the UN.