Peace, Development, Human Rights and Gender Equality: The Story of My Life

Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2020

Author(s): Michelle Bachelet

Topics: Climate Change, Gender, Governance

On 27 May 2019, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), hosted the second annual SIPRI Lecture, in the presence of His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf and Her Majesty Queen Silvia. HE Michelle Bachelet has shown an unwavering commitment to human rights and gender equality. As the first female President of Chile in 2006 she implemented sweeping reforms that revitalized the country’s economy, reduced poverty and improved access to early childhood education. In 2010—after her successful first term in office—she was appointed as the Executive Director of the newly created United Nations (UN) Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, or UN Women. 

Michelle Bachelet’s lecture covers key challenges to human rights in our time, the sources of those challenges, and the ways in which it is possible to address them. Her lecture was followed by a panel discussion with her and Ambassador Jan Eliasson, Chair of the SIPRI Governing Board, which delved further into issues she had raised. The event concluded with a closing statement by HE Margot Wallström, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden.