Article By Xi Lu
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
UN Women gathered at the Apollo Theater for a conference to celebrate the year 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of a commitment made by 189 governments: the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on Thursday, June 26, 2014. This evening was dedicated to mobilizing action with the campaign title: Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it.
The audience included diverse attendees such as men, people from different ethnic backgrounds, the young and the old, not just Women. As Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka，UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director said: “Today I call on everyone to be part of the solution. Picture it! Together we can realize the promise of Beijing: equality between women and men.”
The moderator, Monique Coleman, 2011 United Nations Youth Champion and moderator noted: “We invite everyone because we like everyone. Use the social medias to let the world to know us and therefore testify this big important moment!”
The other influential speaker, H. E. Ms. Ine Eriksen, Norwegian Minister of Defense is also joining the fight for Women’s Right. She mentioned the statements of Hilary Clinton and what she can still remember the last time when she had a chance to meet Hilary Clinton. She mentioned that equality for women “remains the great unfinished business of the 21st century” in brief remarks bookended by the loudest applause of the hour-long event.
In addition to this, the 16-year-old girl Diana is one of the youngest leaders of the New York Leadership Council, who offered the statement against Gender Discrimination and the Equal Opportunity for Women to have the Education. The conference went into an intensive moment when Carlos Andrés Gómez- An award-winning poet, in New York City interpreted his poem “When”, created only for Women with deep love. Soon-Young Yoon, the Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in New York stood up with the Korean costume to emphasize this idea of Equality on Human Rights, No Ethinic Discrimination. With the appearance of H.E. Mr. Henry Leonard MacDonald-Permanent Representative of Suriname to the United Nations, the conference raised its peak point. Thanks to Charlotte Bunch’s guitar performance, a noted feminist; Founding Director and Senior Scholar at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University, calmed down the audience’s heart smoothly.
Every single speaker was awarded by a rose, which I assume that symbolized power and beauty. Moreover, amongst the twenty speakers, there is no differentiation of gender. They all offered very youthful energy and empowerment, which gave the audience emotions and encourages.
One of the highlights was the intermediate sessions in which Couleur Café song was interpreted by Women of the World and the interaction with the public, and the band Girl Be Heard who interpreted the dance show Bring Back Our Girls to empower women.
The UN WOMEN event was informative and truly inspirational.
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