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US to join UN group on ending violence against women

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The United States is planning to join an informal UN group on curbing violence against women and girls, Washington's envoy to the world body announced Monday on International Women's Day.

US to join UN group on ending violence against women
In this file photo US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and President of the Security Council speaks during a press conference for the Security Council programme of work in March at the UN Headquarters in New York on March 1, 2021. The new US envoy to the United Nations on March 4, 2021 accused Russia of seeking to stymie efforts to hold the government of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad accountable for its use of chemical weapons during its long civil war. "We all know the Assad regime has repeatedly used chemical weapons. So why hasn't the Syrian government been held accountable?" the ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told a Security Council meeting via videoconference. AFP

"We all believe and understand that when women do better, countries do better — communities, families. Not just the women, everyone," President Joe Biden's UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

The veteran diplomat said the administration of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and the country as a whole, "care deeply about gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls around the world."

Thomas-Greenfield was speaking at an informal UN Security Council meeting dedicated to the participation of women in peace processes, organized to mark International Women's Day.

The United States will join the UN Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, which was set up last year and is presided over by the European Union.

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Under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, the United States was at odds with its traditional allies on women's issues. At one point, Washington threatened to veto a draft proposed by Germany on reproductive rights in conflict zones.

Harris will deliver the US speech on March 16 at the 65th Commission on the Status of Women, Thomas-Greenfield announced — a move that highlights the importance given by the Biden administration to the issue of women's rights.

The event usually brings thousands of women to the UN headquarters in New York every year, but this year, as in 2020, the meeting will be held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"The United States is back at the UN and we are resolute in our support for the women, peace and security agenda," the US ambassador to the UN said.

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