President Faure marks 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women |03 October 2020
President Faure delivering his statements virtually
President Danny Faure addressed participants at a high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women on Thursday.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event is taking place in a virtual format with pre-recorded statements by heads of state and government, under the theme ‘Accelerating the realisation of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls’.
Noting the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in a range of spheres, the president said that the pandemic has worsened disparities and inequalities in human development.
“As a strategic measure, governmental priorities have been realigned with redirection of funds to provide assistance to the most vulnerable of the population. Government has continued to finance our social welfare programme where a significant increase in requests has been noted. 54% of the requests have been from women. Government has also alleviated the burden on families by reducing by 25% housing loan repayments. Where necessary, food assistance is currently given at the district level where two-thirds of those assisted are women,” shared the President.
“Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Seychelles’ progression in implementing policies to achieve gender equality goals by 2030 has not been halted. My government continues to place the social and economic empowerment of women and girls at the forefront of its policies. To date, we have achieved great improvement across every sphere, from health to economy, from security to social protection,” said President Faure.
President Faure also referred to the 50 million African women speak platform which he launched recently and explained how this platform is supporting Seychellois entrepreneurs.
The platform empowers millions of women part of the countries of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) to start, grow, and scale up businesses by providing a one-stop shop for their specific information needs.
“Seychelles, as an African island state, attaches great importance to achieving greater gender equality and we remain focused on the quest to eliminating the barriers, both local and international, that hinder the achievement of SDG 5. We remain firm in our commitment to adding our voices to all efforts to defend, promote and protect the rights of girls and women,” said President Faure.
He called on leaders to double their efforts in changing the prejudice about women and girls.
He reminded them that women play an essential role in the development of societies and that they are at the heart of resilience and recovery.
Press release from the department of Foreign Affairs