India has now become a member of the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The development was confirmed by TS Tirumurti, permanent representative of India to the United Nations. Taking to Twitter early on Tuesday, Tirumurti said India wins seat in the prestigious ECOSOC body and it’s a ringing endorsement of our commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all our endeavours.
“India wins seat in prestigious ECOSOC body! India elected member of the 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,” he wrote on Twitter.
India will now continue to remain a member of the UNCSW for four years — from 2021 to 2025.
Earlier, India, China and Afghanistan had contested the elections to the Commission on the UNCSW. India and Afghanistan had won the ballot among the 54 members, however, China had failed to make a halfway mark.
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.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW or UNCSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main UN organs within the United Nations.
CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
In April 2017, ECOSOC had elected 13 new members to CSW for a four-year term 2018–2022. One of the new members is Saudi Arabia, which has been criticised for its treatment of women.