Presidents of Mexico and France, UN leaders, youth and civil society call for bold action at the opening of Generation Equality Forum in Mexico
Date:
- President López Obrador, President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, opened the Forum alongside youth and civil society leaders
- 25 years after the Landmark Beijing conference, the Forum aims to revitalize the gender equality agenda
- Taking place between 29 – 31 March, it is expected to draw up to 10,000 leaders, organizations and activists together to ignite urgent action
Mexico City, 29 March 2021 – Global leaders united today to call for bold, unapologetic, and concrete progress towards gender equality at the official opening of the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City.Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, officially opened the Forum alongside President of France, Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and convener of the Forum, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women. They were joined by youth activist Elvira Pablo and civil society leader Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, representing youth and civil society groups who are partners in designing and co-creating the Forum, as well as by Olga Sanchez Cordero, Secretary of the Interior of Mexico, and Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Mexico.
Speaking live in Mexico City, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico, emphasized his support for the milestone event, saying, “We are fighting classism, discrimination and racism as never before, and there is no tolerance for sexism, nor is there impunity. Hate crimes and femicides are punished,” said President Lopez Obrador. “Women in our country are free and every day that goes by we hope for the end of inequality. We want to live in a truly human society, struggling daily to achieve the ideal, the utopia for which French revolutionaries dreamed since the 18th century: freedom, equality and fraternity.”