On 13 April 2022, in New York, the member states of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) elected Latvia to two important UN bodies – the Executive Board of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, UN Women, and the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, CSTD.
Latvia’s election to the Executive Board of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women is a recognition of the country’s achievements in the field of gender equality and empowerment of women at both the national and international level. Latvia will work on the Executive Board from 2023 to 2025.
Latvia has long been supporting the United Nations activities in international projects on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Latvia will continue the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, which is one of the priority lines of action for the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women. Since 2020, Latvia has also been elected to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which is creating global standards for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Latvia has been elected to the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development for the period from 2023 to 2026. Latvia has been taking part in the commission’s work since 2007 to promote effective use of science and technology for sustainable development.
Background information
The United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, in 2010 to coordinate and promote action on gender equality and the empowerment of women and assist UN Member States with the implementation of international standards. 41 UN Member States are represented on the entity’s Executive Board. It is a leading institution tasked with overseeing the compliance of UN Women with UN political guidelines in the field of gender equality and cooperate with executive boards of other UN agencies. Latvia has been elected to the Executive Board for 2013-2115, and chaired it in 2013.
The Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) consists of 43 members. CSTD acts as forum for examining science and technology questions and their implications for development. It also reviews progress in the implementation and follow-up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as well as addressing the substantive themes of development-oriented policies for information society, science, technology and research.
At the end of 2022, Latvia will complete its membership term in the UN Economic and Social Council.