U.N. General Assembly focuses on women, children

"Women and children shared the spotlight at the 27th session of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday," Devex's "Development Newswire" reports (Ravelo, 9/26). At the high-level event at the U.N. in New York, "U.N. Women, the United Nations body for female empowerment and gender equality, called for stronger action from world leaders to prevent and punish sexual violence in conflict," Inter Press Service writes (Bergdahl, 9/26). "Representatives from Member States, U.N. agencies and more than 30 non-governmental organizations took part in the discussion, which also drew the participation of women Nobel Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi from Iran, Leymah Gbowee from Liberia, and Jody Williams from the United States," the U.N. News Centre notes (9/25).

According to IPS, Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile and the current executive director of U.N. Women, "suggested three strategies that could help begin to tackle the problem," including the expansion of "women's participation in post-conflict recovery," the support of women's organizations by the world's governments, and cooperation among the international community, national governments, civil society and individual actors "to secure accountability for conflict-related, gender-based crimes" (9/26). "World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, meanwhile, announced a new special funding mechanism aimed at boosting financial support for the fourth and fifth Millennium Development Goals" at an Every Woman, Every Child side event, Devex notes, adding that details of the mechanism, which "would enable donors to scale up funding for maternal and child health ... have yet to be fleshed out" (9/26).