Guterres lamented during an open debate at the Security Council that, despite numerous lectures, meetings, reports, and resolutions over the last few decades, gender inequality persists, and urged the implementation of concrete actions to reduce and eliminate it.

The UN chief also remembered that for women and girls living in conflict zones, this phenomenon manifests as atrocious acts of violence, including sexual assault.

The head of the multilateral organization stressed the need to ensure women’s participation in dialogue processes, decision-making, and communities’ recovery once those conflicts have ended.

We are currently facing the highest number of conflicts since World War II (1939–1945), from Gaza to Ukraine, as well as in the Sahel, Sudan, Myanmar, and elsewhere.

Guterres noted that women continue to be victims of violence, exclusion, discrimination, and abuse. The number of reported cases of sexual assault against them exceeded 9,700 last year, a figure that, in reality, is much higher.

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