Taking to Twitter early Tuesday, TS Tirumurti, permanent representative of India to the United Nations, said that India has been elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women (UNCSW), a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Ambassador Tirumurti tweeted, “India wins seat in prestigious ECOSOC body! India elected member of Commission on Status of Women (CSW). It’s a ringing endorsement of our commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all our endeavours. We thank member states for their support.”
India wins seat in prestigious #ECOSOC body!
— PR UN Tirumurti (@ambtstirumurti) September 14, 2020
India elected Member of Commission on Status of Women #CSW. It’s a ringing endorsement of our commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all our endeavours.
We thank member states for their support. @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/C7cKrMxzOV
India will be a member of the UNCSW for four years — from 2021 to 2025.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW or UNCSW) is a functional commission of the ECOSOC, one of the main UN organs within the United Nations. The UNCSW is described as the UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.
India, China and Afghanistan had contested the elections to the Commission on the UNCSW.
Even as India and Afghanistan won the ballot among the 54 members, China could not cross the half-way mark. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Beijing World Conference on Women (1995).
Earlier on June 18, 2020, India was elected as one of the non-permanent members to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with an overwhelming majority of 184 votes out of 192, where the minimum requirement was 128.
That was for the eighth time that India had been elected to the UNSC. India has served seven times earlier: 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992 and 2011-2012.
On the non-permanent seat in the UNSC, Ambassador Tirumurti, in an interview to India Today TV, had said that he was “confident” of winning it and that India will represent those who do not have a voice in the elite group of 15.
India was the single candidate in the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) and returned to the council after a decade, starting January 2021. The last time India served at the UNSC was between 2011 and 2012.