(Image source from: organiser.org)

India will now be a member of the United Nation’s Commission for Status of Women for a period of 4 years from 2021 to 2025.

While India, Pakistan, and China have contested for the elections, India defeated both the countries and was elected to this prestigious body of Economic and Social Council.

The news was confirmed by TS Tirumurti, permanent representative of the country to the United Nations.

India was elected as a member of the Commission on the Status of Women. India endorses its commitment to promote gender equality and women empowerment in all the endeavors.

Among the 54 nations that have contested for the election, India and Afghanistan won the ballot but China could not reach even halfway.

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the famous Beijing World Conference on Women (1995).

This Commission on the status of women is a functional commission of the ECOSOC, one of the main sub-organizations of the United Nations. The organization specifically promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Of the two members elected from the Asia-Pacific states, India has secured 38 of the 54 ballots while Afghanistan has secured one point more than India and got 39 out of 54 ballots.

Meanwhile, China has secured just 27 of the 54 ballots which makes it stand out of the line just halfway through.

This win for India becomes very important as it comes during the silver jubilee year of the Beijing Conference.

Earlier, on June 18, 2020, India was elected as one of the non permanent members to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with a high majority of about 184 seats out of the 192 seats where the minimum requirement for the qualification was just 128.

ECOSOC is a 54-member body and is holding the first plenary meeting of its 2021 session on Monday at the General Assembly Hall.

This election is being seen as sending a strong signal about China’s record of women empowerment and the gender equality. India’s permanent representative for women has worked tirelessly for the election by sensitizing all the member states.

India’s win at the UN’s commission is a piece of major news as the news comes on the eve of India gearing up to sit at the UN Security Council as a non-member for a two year term beginning from January 2021.

The Commission on the status of women documents the reality of the lives of women throughout the world by shaping the global standards of gender equality and empowerment of women.

By Gayatri Yellayi