International Council of Women (ICW)

I wish you all excellent health and success in all your projects for you and your families. We are at an important turning point in our society. Violence has never been so prevalent in our countries. Women have an important role to play. 

We must be united, constructive and work for peace in this world. We also have the duty to implement innovative training and education tools to enable young girls to protect themselves against predators. We must also give them all the means to be financially autonomous. I would like to thank all the Councils, Coordinators, Advisors and UN representatives who are doing a tremendous amount of work in the field. Your support is precious for the next three years of ICW-CIF Presidency and I am very honored by the vote of confidence you gave me during the 36th GA in Avignon. 

I would like to thank Marie-Claude Bertrand and her team at the National Council of Women of France for having taken charge of the organization of our last General Assembly. My special thanks to the Past-Presidents Mrs. Kim Jungsook and Mrs. Cosima Schenck as well as Mrs. Linda Liu and Mrs Elisabeth Newman for always being at our side and for continuing to help us in the framework of the Ethics and Governance Commission. 

I hope to see many of you in New York, at the CSW67. It will be an important moment of sharing.I am very happy that the National Council of Women of Philippines is organizing the ECM 2023 and I thank them for that. At the GA we adopted our triennial theme 2022-2025 «Women’s Empowerment: Peace and Sustainable Development». Let us share our progress and try to innovate to make it work.