Remarks by UN Assistant Secretary-General and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator on the International Day of Women in Diplomacy

Remarks by Ozonnia Ojielo (PhD), UN Assistant Secretary-General & Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator – Ethiopia

Excellencies, Colleagues, Friends,

You have just heard what the International Gender Champions initiative is. Allow me to speak to why it matters - right now, in this city, at this moment.

Let me start with a simple truth: the world does not have a shortage of commitments on gender equality. We have frameworks, resolutions, action plans, and declarations stretching back decades. What we have a shortage of is accountability. That gap - between what leaders promise in rooms like this one, and what actually changes in the lives of women and girls - is precisely what this initiative is designed to close.

And I say that not as a critique of anyone in this room. I say it as a challenge to all of us -including myself.

Addis Ababa is not just another city joining a global network. This is the seat of the African Union. Home to UNECA, to over 100 embassies, to the liaison offices of all eight Regional Economic Communities, and to the entire UN Country Team. The policy conversations that happen in this city do not stay in this city - they travel across a continent of 1.4 billion people.

If the Gender Champions model is going to move the needle anywhere, it must move it here. That is why today matters.

Now let me be honest about the moment we are stepping into.

Gender equality is under pressure globally - and Africa is not immune. Civic space is shrinking. Hard-won gains on women's rights are being actively contested -not quietly shelved, but openly reversed in some places. The language of equality is being weaponised to mean its opposite. At the same time, ODA for gender equality programmes is declining. Fiscal space is tightening across the board. The easy money - if it was ever easy - is gone.

And on this continent, the consequences are not abstract. From the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, conflict, displacement, and humanitarian crises continue to fall disproportionately on women and girls. Sexual and gender-based violence rises in every emergency. Women are the last to receive aid and the first to be excluded from the decisions about how it is distributed.

This is the context. And in this context, senior leaders have a choice: we can continue to affirm principles, or we can submit ourselves to accountability. This initiative demands the latter. You don't just endorse gender equality - you state publicly what you specifically will do, and you invite your peers to hold you to it. That is a fundamentally different kind of leadership.

The Gender Champions model is not expensive. It does not require a new institution or a new budget line. What it requires is something harder - the willingness to be measured. To say: here is my commitment, here is my timeline, come back and ask me.

As Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, I am making that commitment today. I will ensure this initiative shapes how the UN in Ethiopia works - how we hire, how we plan, how we spend, and how we hold ourselves to account. Not just in our development work, but in our humanitarian response too. Because gender equality in a crisis is not an add-on. It is the difference between a response that works and one that leaves half the population behind.

I also want to take a moment to recognise the work of UN Women in Ethiopia. Their triple mandate - normative, coordination, and operational - is what gives the whole UN system coherence on gender. Without that anchor, our collective commitments risk becoming individual gestures. That coherence matters, and I want it on record that we value it.

Your Excellency Dr. Ergogie Tesfaye, Minister of Women and Social Affairs, I want to say this directly and publicly: the United Nations in Ethiopia stands with you and your Ministry. The work of advancing gender equality and protecting the rights of women and girls in this country is not yours to carry alone. The UN is with you - today, and for the long road ahead.

Excellencies, Colleagues, Friends,

In a few minutes, you will be asked to sign a pledge. I want to ask you to pause before you put your name to it. Not to hesitate - but to mean it. 

Think about the one thing you can actually change within your sphere of influence. The hire you can make. The policy you can push. The meeting or panel you can ensure is not all-male. The budget line you can protect. Then sign for that - something specific, something trackable, something that will matter to someone.

Because leadership is not what we say in a speech. It is not the applause that follows. It is what we are willing to be measured by, six months from now, when the room is empty and the cameras are gone.

Let's measure each other.

Happy International Day of Women in Diplomacy.