China increases efforts on women's rights

Liu Xianfa, Chinese ambassador to Kenya, addresses the opening ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya, Aug 13, 2015.[Photo by Hou Liqiang/China Daily]

China will increase its efforts to protect women's rights by co-organizing the United Nations' meeting on gender equality and women's empowerment on Sept 27 during the UN General Assembly session in New York.

Chinese ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa made the announcement on Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya, at the opening ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Third World Conference on Women that was held in Nairobi.

He said Chinese President Xi Jinping and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will address the opening session of the meeting, and that they have jointly sent a letter to invite leaders from all UN-member countries to attend.

The meeting will be held to further promote implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, which was approved at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in 1995 in Beijing, and goals for women's development in the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Liu said.

"It is our hope that with the joint effort of all sides, the meeting will have fruitful results and have a positive impact on the international women's movement," he said. "Let us expect stronger actions to promote gender equality and advancement of women from all countries and the international community."

While praising achievements that Africa has made in gender equality and women's empowerment, Liu said China will strengthen cooperation with Africa to strengthen its economic and social development, including women's rights.

He said laws and regulations to protect women's rights are improving in African countries, and that gender-equality plans have been formulated.

"African women's participation in political decision-making is particularly impressive. More and more women are playing an active role on the national, regional and global stage. The valuable experiences from Africa are good to learn for other regions," Liu said.

He said the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, which will be held in South Africa later this year, will likely be upgraded from the ministerial level to a leaders' summit.

Gender equality in China has also registered much progress, Liu said. He noted that in China the proportion of female undergraduate students and female graduate students are 51.4 and 49 percent, respectively, and that the number of female deputies to the National People's Congress was 23.4 percent, an increase of 2.07 percentage points over the previous session. Since 2009, free cervical cancer and breast cancer screening have been provided to more than 44 million women in China's rural areas, Liu added.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn