Update — April 4, 2020:
As the situation surrounding COVID-19 evolves, the number of people around the world affected by this disease continues to increase. This global public health crisis has direct implications for the Generation Equality Forum and for gender equality and women’s human rights. We recognize that women are playing a disproportionate role in responding to this disease—as caregivers, frontline healthcare workers, community leaders and mobilisers, often at great risk to their health. We stand in solidarity with them.
In light of this crisis, the Generation Equality Forum will be postponed until the first half of 2021. The new dates will be announced in the coming months. In the months leading to the Generation Equality Forum, a series of virtual engagements will be organized in collaboration with partners to foster continued momentum, participation and commitment of all stakeholders.
We are convinced, especially now, that the objectives of the Forum remain stronger than ever. We express our continued collective commitment to bringing the world together, mobilizing all actors – especially young people – to chart an agenda of transformative action to achieve gender equality and to strengthen feminist and young people’s solidarity, movements, and leadership.
The Generation Equality Forum is a civil society–centred, multi-stakeholder, global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France. It will be connected in real time across the world through interactive satellite sessions enabled through technology to maximize participation.
As a global public conversation for urgent action and accountability for gender equality, the Forum will celebrate the power of women’s rights activism, feminist solidarity, and youth leadership to achieve transformative change. It will take stock of progress and set an agenda of concrete action to realize gender equality before 2030.
The Forum will kick off in Mexico City, Mexico (7–8 May 2020), and culminate in Paris, France (7–10 July 2020).
The Forum will be informed by the following Beijing+25 multi-stakeholder regional meetings and consultations:
- Africa: 27–29 October 2019, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Europe and Central Asia: 28 October 2019, Geneva, Switzerland
- Asia and the Pacific: 24–26 November 2019, Bangkok, Thailand
- Arab States: 28 November 2019, Amman, Jordan
- Latin America and the Caribbean: 27–31 January 2020, Santiago, Chile
The Forum will also be informed by the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, taking place at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 9–20 March 2020.
