EU and Pacific Islands Forum to address gender inequality and violence against women
Wed 20 Sep 2017
The European Union (EU) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat have signed a Financing Agreement to address gender inequality and violence ...
The European Union (EU) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat have signed a Financing Agreement to address gender inequality and violence against women in the Pacific.
The EUR 18 million programme includes EUR 5 million from Australia. The funding will support activities in Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and at a regional level.
The programme will be implemented over six years by UN Women, the PIF Secretariat and the Pacific Community (SPC). The Australian Government is co-funding the UN Women component of the project.
Director for Asia, Central Asia, Middle East/Gulf and the Pacific at the European Commission's Department for International Cooperation and Development Pierre Amilhat said,
''The EU is committed to working alongside its partners in the Pacific region to improve gender equality. Pacific leaders have acknowledged that gender inequality is imposing a high personal, social and economic cost - the time to act is now! Together, we must work to enhance awareness and practice of respectful relationships, ensure equal opportunities in life for women, men, girls and boys, and increase access to relevant services for women and girls who have suffered violence.''
The agreement was signed at an EU-Pacific Gender Conference in Apia alongside the Pacific Islands Forum Meeting.
Global progress on gender equality
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include a goal focused on achieving gender equality and empowerment for all women and girls. For more information, see the recently published spotlight on global progress towards this goal from UN Women.
Related stories
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Selected media
Samoa national public inquiry into family violence begins, Radio NZ, 20.09.2017
EU and Forum sign agreement to tackle gender inequality in Pacific, Radio NZ, 07.09.2017
Image: Pixabay