Today, we are celebrating for the second time the International Day of Women in Diplomacy.
Today, it is a fact that women’s leadership brings a positive impact on all spheres of life. Likewise, women’s participation at decision making level is attaining ever increasing importance due to the problems and challenges stemming from the current global crises including the pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, and humanitarian disasters. Moreover, women’s contribution in peace-building, peacemaking and conflict resolution is being increasingly recognized. However, diplomacy is still lagging behind when it comes to gender equality compared to other sectors.
Mongolia has increased its share of women ambassadors to 19 percent in 2023. Moreover, today, women make up 49 percent of MFA staff.
For a long time, Mongolia has been pursuing a feminist inspired foreign policy and has continuously supported international initiatives aimed at protecting the rights of women and girls. In 2022, we committed to increase the percentage of women peacekeepers to 15 percent in line with the UNSC resolution 1325 on “Women, peace and security”. Most recently, in May of this year we have joined the “Feminist Foreign Policy Plus Group” to contribute to promoting feminist and gender transformative approaches to multilateralism and foreign policy.
In line with its commitments, Mongolia will host a Female Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on June 29-30, 2023, under the auspices of the President of Mongolia H.E. Mr Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. Germany and France will co-sponsor the Meeting, that will bring together Female Foreign Ministers, high-ranking women leaders of the UN and other international organizations, and representatives of countries with feminist and feminist inspired foreign policies.
I hope that this initiative will help raise awareness of the role of women in diplomacy, and serve as an impetus for promoting multilateral cooperation to address global challenges.