Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto, United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, and Michael Møller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, are proud to launch Geneva Gender Champions (GGC), a new leadership network dedicated to making gender equality a priority throughout the multilateral diplomatic work in Geneva.

Today, 41 diplomatic missions and 22 international organizations based in Geneva are unveiling the commitments they have made for the coming year. All of the Champions have taken the Gender Panel Parity Pledge, which puts gender parity at the forefront as they consider invitations to participate in panel discussions. Each Champion has also committed to at least two additional measures destined to advance gender equality within their organizations and throughout their work. The Champions’ commitments take immediate effect.

GGC stems from The Future She Deserves, Ambassador Hamamoto’s initiative launched earlier this year, which aims to use Geneva’s international platform to foster new forms of collaboration and unleash new opportunities for women and girls around the world. It galvanizes International Geneva initiatives to reinforce the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP).

Examples of the commitments under GGC being announced today include, among others:

• Advocating in favor of women’s rights in multilateral discussions.
• Implementing clearly defined and measurable gender targets for staffing, delegation composition and procurement.
• Addressing challenges that may discourage women from occupying leadership positions and, if necessary, providing individualized support for career and professional development.
• Establishing norms for meetings that prevent unintentional discrimination against employees who need to provide care for others in the early morning or evening.
• Leveraging data from the UN System-wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-SWAP) to address gender disparities in the UN system.
• Monitoring and reporting results of gender equity-related indicators in strategic frameworks, programs and projects.

Ambassador Hamamoto and Director-General Møller salute the Geneva Gender Champions and recognize the important contribution made by partners like Women@TheTable and International Geneva to move this initiative forward.

The Geneva Gender Champions network will be opening on December 1^st to non-governmental organizations and the private sector to continue to build on Geneva’s multilateral diplomatic platform, break down gender barriers and advance gender equality, one commitment at a time.

To learn more about these commitments, please visit: http://www.genevagenderchampions.com

The current list of Geneva Gender Champions is as follows:

• Michael Møller
  Director-General | United Nations Office at Geneva

• Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto
  Permanent Representative | U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Alexandros Alexandris
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Greece to the United Nations in Geneva

• Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein
  High Commissioner | United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

• Elhadj As Sy
  Secretary General | International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• Christian Friis Bach
  Secretary-General | United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

• Ambassador Veronika Bard
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Sweden to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Vesna Batistić Kos
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Croatia to the United Nations in Geneva

• Jan Beagle
  Deputy Executive Director | UN AIDS

• Seth Berkley, MD
  Chief Executive Officer | GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance

• Ambassador Julian Braithwaite
  Permanent Representative | Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Mehmet Ferden Çarıkçı
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva

• Margaret Chan
  Director-General | World Health Organization

• Ambassador Kyong-lim Choi
  Permanent Representative | Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Baba Cisse
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Senegal to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Bertrand de Crombrugghe de Picquendaele
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Belgium to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Regina Maria Cordeiro Dunlop
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Brazil to the United Nations in Geneva\

• Ambassador Christian Dussey
  Director | Geneva Center for Security Policy

• Ambassador Martin Eyjólfsson
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Iceland to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Alexandre Fasel
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Kok Jwee Foo
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Singapore to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Jonathan Fried
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Canada to the World Trade Organization
• Rolf Heuer & Fabiola Gianotti
  Director-General & Director-General Designate | European Organization for Nuclear Research

• Arancha González
  Executive Director | International Trade Centre

• Ambassador Ricardo González Arenas
  Permanent Representative | Mission of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay to the United Nations in Geneva

• Francis Gurry
  Director General | World Intellectual Property Organization

• António Guterres
  High Commissioner | United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

• Ambassador Keith Harper
  S. Representative | U.S. Mission to the Human Rights Council

• Selina Jackson
  Special Representative to the UN and WTO | World Bank Group Office in Geneva

• Michel Jarraud
  Secretary General | World Meteorological Organization

• Simon Jones
  Director | United Nations International Computing Centre

• Ambassador Päivi Kairamo
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Finland to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Jānis Kārkliņš
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Latvia to the United Nations in Geneva

• Mukhisa Kituyi
  Secretary-General | United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

• Ambassador Filloreta Kodra
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Albania to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Steffen Kongstad
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Norway to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Elisabeth Laurin
  Permanent Representive | Mission of France to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Jorge Lomonaco
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Mexico to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Eviatar Manor
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Israel to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Marta Maurás Pérez
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Chile to the United Nations in Geneva

• Peter Maurer
  President | International Committee of the Red Cross

• Ambassador Rosemary McCarney
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Canada to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Patricia O’Brien
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Ireland to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Marie-Thérèse Pictet-Althann
  Permanent Observer | Sovereign Order of Malta Mission to the United Nations in Geneva

• Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke
  Permanent Representative | U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization

• Ambassador John Quinn
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Australia to the United Nations in Geneva

• Consul-General Carl Reaich
  Consul-General | New Zealand Mission of to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Cecilia B. Rebong
  Permanent Representative | Philippine Mission to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Joachim Rücker
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Germany to the United Nations

• Guy Ryder
  Director General | International Labour Organization

• Jarmo Sareva
  Director | United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research

• Ambassador Maurizio E. Serra
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Italy to the United Nations

• Ambassador, Dr. Syed Tauqir Shah
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Pakistan to the World Trade Organization

• Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Fiji to the United Nations

• Ambassador Peter Sorensen
  Permanent Representative | European Union to the United Nations

• Ambassador Carsten Staur
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Denmark to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Vojislav Šuc
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Slovenia to the United Nations in Geneva

• William Lacy Swing
  Director General | International Organization for Migration

• Ambassador Thani Thongphakdi
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Thailand to the United Nations in Geneva

• Margareta Wahlstrom
  Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction | UNISDR

• Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez
  Permanent Representative | Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva

• Ambassador Robert Wood
  Permanent Representative | U.S. Mission to the Conference on Disarmament

• Houlin Zhao
  Secretary-General | International Telecommunication Union

These additional people have signed the Gender Parity Pledge:

• Alanna Armitage
  Director | United Nations Population Fund

• Ambassador Rhoda Jackson
  Permanent Representative | Mission of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to the United Nations in Geneva

This release is a joint effort by the United Nations in Office in Geneva, the U.S. Mission to UNOG, and Women @ The Table. 

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