Introductory webinar on the United Nations joint study on the status of gender equality and women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction and the launch of the new Women’s Resilience to Disasters Knowledge Hub
Title: Introductory webinar on the United Nations joint study on the status of gender equality and women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction and the launch of the new Women’s Resilience to Disasters Knowledge Hub
28 February, 4pm Geneva Time
Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If a disaster strikes your city tomorrow, how you would manage is unknown. Your life could be completely destroyed or you could find a way to navigate through. But this is not just a matter of chance. Outcomes largely depend on factors related to vulnerability, exposure, access to resources and others. While disasters may not discriminate, humans do. Fortunately, humans can also redress inequities.
The UN Joint Study on the Status of Gender Equality and women’s empowerment leadership in disaster risk reduction found that inadequate attention has been given to the mutually reinforcing nature of gender inequality and disaster risk. The study offers a number of recommendations for more gender-responsive disaster risk reduction, many related to the mid-term review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The Sendai Framework, UNDRR’s guiding document, emphasizes integrating a gender perspective into all DRR policies and practices. With the midterm review now underway, we have an opportunity to reflect on progress since its adoption in 2015 and to course correct for the time remaining to 2030. UNDRR stands ready to support Member States, along with our partners at UN Women, UNFPA and other UN entities, in implementing the excellent recommendations made in the UN Joint Study. To assess how this process is going, the UN Senior Leadership Group on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience will take up the issue at its annual meeting in July.
Along with other opportunities, this could be game changing for gender-responsive disaster risk reduction. Let me share a few other promising entry points.
Later this month, we will have the 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Its central theme relates to gender with respect to climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction. Along with partners, UNDRR will co-host two side events, and also launch a publication that looks at making multi-hazard early warning systems more gender responsive and inclusive of all.
In May, the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction will take place in Bali, Indonesia. Then in September; we will have our final Regional Platform – the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction, held in Brisbane, Australia. I encourage all of you to get involved in the numerous sessions these Platforms offer.
We count on your engagement in these upcoming events, as well as your support for a gender-responsive mid-term review. In this context, we will shortly hear about the new Women’s Resilience to Disasters Knowledge Hub, which will aid Member States in the gender-responsive implementation of the Sendai Framework.
Gender-responsive development benefits everyone, everywhere. For our part, you can count on our commitment to keeping gender equality central to the DRR agenda.
Thank you.