UN calls for more gender equality efforts in Somalia

Mogadishu: The United Nations mission in Somalia joined the global community in marking International Women’s Day on Saturday by calling on the authorities to take decisive steps to achieve gender equality in the country.

James Swan, Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, lauded the progress so far made by the authorities and urged them to redouble efforts to accelerate the current rate of progress.

“Somali women continue to contribute significantly to the peace-building and reconciliation efforts in the country — I congratulate them on their achievements in advancing gender equality and the full participation of women in all spheres of life,” he said in a statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

The UN envoy, who is also the head of the UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS), however, said Somali women continue to face systemic barriers and biases that make it difficult for gender equality to be achieved.

He said the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Accelerate Action,” emphasising that, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, roughly five generations from now, to reach full global gender parity.

“Hence, there is an urgent need to address systemic barriers and biases that women face,” Swan added, Xinhua news agency reported.

International Women’s Day has been observed around the world since 1975, when the UN started marking the occasion to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

Marked annually on March 8, the day honours the socio-economic, cultural, and political achievements of women following centuries of systemic marginalization.

Earlier this week, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said it has a funding gap of 297 million US dollars to meet humanitarian needs in Somalia for the next six months.

Without additional funding, the WFP’s critical operations in Somalia will face pipeline breaks by mid-year, it warned in a statement released Tuesday evening.

“Early action is critical to avert a crisis in Somalia,” WFP Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Jean-Martin Bauer was quoted as saying in the statement.

Extra funding is urgently required to scale up food assistance, nutrition support, water and sanitation services, as well as livelihood initiatives to mitigate the impacts of an expected drought in Somalia, Bauer said.

The statement came as new data from Somalia show that 1 million more people could be pushed into crisis-levels of food insecurity in the coming months as drought conditions, conflict and high food prices threaten to disrupt farming, restrict market access and increase humanitarian needs.

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, which was released last week, shows that 3.4 million people are already experiencing crisis-levels of hunger or worse.

This number is projected to rise to 4.4 million, almost a quarter of Somalia’s population, between April and June, when below-average rains are forecast, potentially creating drought conditions.

–IANS