Holy See Urges Action to End Violence Against Women at UN Meeting

Vatican, Sept 24, 2025: The United Nations hosted a meeting in New York to mark the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing. Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher stressed the challenges that women and girls continue to face, and the urgent need to defend their equal dignity and ensure they can fully realise their potential.

Delivering a speech at the high-level meeting, Archbishop Gallagher reviewed the progress made since 1995 and the ongoing obstacles to achieving true equality for women. He strongly reiterated the call to defend and uphold women’s dignity and equality in every aspect of life.

“Thirty years ago, the international community gathered in Beijing to focus on important and urgent questions regarding the dignity of women and the full enjoyment of her fundamental human rights,” recalled the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations. “Since then, although significant progress has been made, there are persistent issues in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that remain unaddressed.”

Poverty, Education, and Economic Inequality

Among the unresolved issues, Archbishop Gallagher pointed to poverty, lack of education, and economic inequality, describing their rates as alarming.

“An extreme degree poverty of women, obstacles to accessing or even exclusion of women from quality education, and their lower wages in the work place impede the full achievement of women’s equal dignity and ability to fulfil their potential in all scopes of life,” he said.

Violence

He expressed grave concern about the violence that continues to affect women and girls: “Wherever it occurs, at home, during trafficking, or in conflict and humanitarian settings, it constitutes an affront to their dignity and is a grave injustice.”

Archbishop Gallagher warned that technology is increasingly exploited to fuel certain forms of abuse and violence, stressing that such harm is not confined to exploitation. He further noted that violence extends beyond sexual exploitation and trafficking to include prenatal sex selection and female infanticide.

“These acts condemned in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action continue to rob millions of ‘missing girls’ each year.” He affirmed that the Holy See firmly condemns such violence in all its forms, insisting it is never acceptable and must be eradicated.

Health

On health, Archbishop Gallagher pointed out that, “Although maternal mortality rates have dropped significantly since 1990, progress has stalled in recent years. Access to prenatal care and skilled birth attendants, as well as to healthcare systems and infrastructure, must increase, while false solutions such as abortion rejected.”

He underlined that protecting the right to life remains the foundation of all human rights, as it sustains every other fundamental right.

Equality

Archbishop Gallagher made clear that equality for women is impossible without respect for the dignity of every person, from the unborn to the elderly, especially those most vulnerable.

He concluded by urging governments to remain faithful to their commitments from Beijing.

“The primary concern of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which addresses the needs of women in poverty, strategies for development, literacy and education, ending violence against women and girls, a culture of peace, and access to employment, land, capital and technology, remains neglected. It is the hope of the Holy See that instead of focusing on divisive issues that are not necessarily beneficial to women, their God given dignity should be respected and fulfilled by the states,” he affirmed.

Courtesy: Vatican News