UN Women Begins its First Day of Debate in St. Gallen

The weekend of UN Women (UNW) debate has officially commenced and this time they are tackling the issue of gender-based violence.

The different member states were quick to get started and show their passion for the topic. 

Countries known for traditional values were quick to show their willingness to work and emphasize their efforts to improve gender equality and reduce gender-based violence. 

The United Arab Emirates started strongly with an opening speech in which he mentioned the word women at least once, if not twice in every sentence of his 1-minute speech. Nigeria was quick to point out their efforts and so was Iran, albeit Iran was quickly rebuffed. 

The delegate of Switzerland brought out statistics, leading Iran to quickly attempt an unsuccessful right to reply, claiming biased sources.

Throughout the morning, UNW delegates were not shy to address each other. Particularly, Iran had no qualms about voicing their opinion and calling the Western bloc out. Causing the delegates of Nigeria and Iran to quickly establish an dislike towards each other. 

Not far into the first session, South Africa called the committee out for finger-pointing rather than working towards a solution. Still, the delegate of Brazil later on called out fellow delegates, including Nigeria, for not using critical thinking.

In working towards a solution, education quickly became a favorite topic among the delegates, with a few visits to the topics of awareness and healthcare. 

Delegates from across the different blocks agreed that education could be the way to decrease gender-based violence, while also improving gender equality. However, the manner to go about it exactly is still highly contested.

The developing countries highlighted the lack of funding and emphasized the need for international collaboration. Nigeria, Morocco, Sierra Leone, and South Africa, introducing a working paper “EDUCATE” to focus on this. Morocco while introducing the working paper also distanced itself from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Non-western countries, such as Russia, Bangladesh, and Iran voiced concern for Western bias and the West wanting to force western values on them. Some contesting the idea of independent oversight, particularly in regards to funding.