President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the strengthening of bodies such as the United Nations (UN) as South Africa prepares to virtually participate in the 75th session of the UN’s General Assembly.

In his weekly address to the nation, Ramaphosa said countries must use this anniversary to push ahead with the reform of the UN and particularly its Security Council, which he said did not give equal voice to the different regions of the world.

He said South Africa would continue to advocate for Africa to have permanent representation on the UN Security Council.

Ramaphosa said as the world confronted another global crisis, this time caused by a virus, the United Nations remained as important and relevant as ever.

“The UN has played a vital role in supporting cooperation among countries and international organisations like the World Health Organisation as they have worked to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. It has focused attention on the most vulnerable countries and those parts of society most badly affected by the pandemic,” he said.

The UN, he said, had allowed countries to focus on rebuild economies, while achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ramaphosa stressed the importance of multilateralism to forge common strategies and pointed out that global peace was not just about a world free of conflict, but one free of poverty, inequality and underdevelopment.

He said one of the greatest challenges to the achievement of this goal was the continued exclusion of half of the world’s population through discrimination and marginalisation.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

This year also marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Conference on Women, which had placed the emancipation of women firmly on the global agenda.

Ramaphosa said it was a valuable opportunity to not only review the progress made over the last quarter century, but to clearly outline the actions needed to ensure that women were equal in all areas of life, in all societies.

For Africa, he said, this meant economically empowering women, in line with the African Union’s decision to dedicate this decade to the financial inclusion of women.

“We therefore welcome the opportunity later this week to take part in a panel of G7 and African countries on women’s digital financial inclusion in Africa. It will look at how women can take advantage of technological advances to start businesses, trade and find meaningful employment,” said Ramaphosa.

He added that unless women were brought into the mainstream of the economy they would continue to bear the brunt of exclusion and be vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.