Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, will present South Africa’s Beijing Platform for Action during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80) in New York, USA.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted by 189 governments at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, remains the most comprehensive global framework for advancing women’s rights and gender equality.
According to the department, Chikunga is expected to deliver a message of urgency, hope, and possibility in advancing the Beijing+30 Action Agenda, while emphasising the centrality of gender equality in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Despite considerable strides towards achieving equality, South Africa emerges as a beacon of hope towards achieving gender equality, according to the Global Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum,” the department said in a statement on Sunday.
South Africa, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, will participate in UNGA80 under the theme “Better Together: 80 Years and More for Peace, Development and Human Rights.” The session will take place from 23–29 September 2025.
South Africa will use this platform to reinforce her commitment to global multilateralism, human rights for all, sustainable development as a collective responsibility, while advocating for peaceful resolution of conflicts with special emphasis on the conflicts in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sudans, and Palestine.
South Africa will also use the Assembly to promote its G20 Presidency agenda.
The President is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with several heads of state and engage with CEOs of major international companies.
On Monday, the President will participate in a High-Level Meeting on the Two-State Solution, convened and co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
The meeting aims to reaffirm international commitments to the two-state solution and mobilise support for its implementation. – SAnews.gov.za
