(Ottawa) Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said it was time for a woman to lead the UN, a call echoed by 14 other female foreign ministers Friday.
“Within the UN system, it is time for the next secretary-general to be a woman,” she told reporters in Toronto. “The UN has been around for over 75 years, so it is about time.”
States will nominate the tenth UN secretary-general for a term beginning in 2027. Women have only held the position of deputy secretary-general, including Canadian diplomat Louise Fréchette.
The ministers also say there should be gender parity in the role of president of the UN General Assembly – out of 72 terms, only four women have held the post.
Mme Joly co-hosted the meeting of women foreign ministers in Toronto alongside her Jamaican counterpart Kamina Johnson Smith, following a similar gathering in 2018. The two-day meeting included ministers from Ghana, Indonesia, Nepal and Romania.
The statement comes ahead of high-level visits to the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York.
Ministers exchanged ideas on how countries can promote greater gender equality in public life and how to address issues that prevent women from seeking public office. They focused on “gendered misinformation” and the need to hold social media platforms accountable.
“We are concerned about the rise of hate and misogynistic discourse online targeting women, particularly in civic spaces,” read a joint statement released Friday.
“The safety of public spaces online is a public good for societies and democracies as a whole, so regulations aimed at preserving safety and truth should not be seen as anti-transparency or anti-freedom of expression or the press.”
The statement comes as the Liberals try to advance legislation on online harms. The government says its bill is aimed at cracking down on hate speech, though critics say it risks curtailing free speech.
Mme Joly noted that all the ministers at the table had encountered misogyny. “Having lived through this experience reinforces our commitment to advancing gender equality and empowering women leaders around the world,” she said.
We are all aware of the global resistance to women and our human rights, and the growing threats faced by those who dare to stand up and defend their rights.
Mélanie Joly, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
The statement also urges the Taliban to reverse “draconian measures that have erased decades of progress” on women’s rights in Afghanistan since they took control of the country three years ago. The statement does not, however, use the term “gender apartheid,” which has become popular among women’s rights advocates to describe the situation in Afghanistan.