UN General Assembly
2000

activities, in fulfilment of its mandate, I am glad to pay tribute on this occasion — together with agencies responsible for promoting culture, particularly the culture of peace, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), another United Nations agency which has done extremely valuable work in promoting universal understanding through education, technology and communication. With respect to gender equality, we are glad to be able to state that in recent years our country has made significant progress, particularly with respect to the political participation of women. Indeed, since 1 September last year a woman has guided the destiny of our nation. From January this year our Supreme Court of Justice has been presided over by a woman. During the review conference on women held in the context of the special session of the General Assembly in June 2000, the delegation of Panama signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which makes it possible to have recourse to an international