pause while our distinguished panellists will take their seats at the podium. Please, dear guests take your seats […] Thank you, dear friends, we may continue now. Dear Tiny, together with the government of Iceland, Parliamentary Assembly is in the heart and in the origin of this Prize by creating it and naming it after President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the first woman in the world to be elected as Head of State. And we've seen how many achievements she achieved. This was to ensure equal access and the participation of women in decision making. How do you possibly see the contribution of the Prize to the empowerment of women and young girls?

Mr Tiny Kox, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Thank you very much. I think that the Prize helps us to understand that women's empowerment is not a given, but it's acquired. Women empowerment is not given by us, good man, “here you got the bit of power”, no, you acquire. And it is up to men to accept it, to understand it and to understand that by empowering women you also improve the position of men. So, in the end, there is something in for us as well. And I think this is very important in the Prize. We saw this beautiful video. Thank you very much for making it. It says it all. If we want to save the world, it will be done by women. This does not say too much because men are quite good in organising chaos and problems and a lot of misery. So, we need women to save the world. And I hope that men are able and will understand that we can play our role by empowering women. Nobody loses, everybody wins.

Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly Dear Tiny, I think you have started answering my second question. How can men support this process of empowering women and girls?

Mr Tiny Kox, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe First, by being a bit humbler than we normally are, and secondly, by understanding - as I said - you do not lose anything by making it possible that women acquire empowerment. They do it by themselves. And of course, it is good and great if there is support from everybody who understands that you do not lose anything, you win something. And when we use big words like we have to save the world, if we forget about half of humanity, all women and girls on earth, then it surely will not function. So at least you could say, let us give it a try. So, let us be humble men. But if we can play a role and we are invited to do so, I would be most grateful to do my fair share.

Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly Thank you very much, dear Tiny. I think you are a role model not only as a president, but also with this frank and simple advices which every man and boy can do. Dear Ms Kubik-Risch, you have been working on gender equality for many years, including as Head of Equal Opportunities Unit with Liechtenstein State Administration. How has your country evolved over the years? Could you share about some milestones in Liechtenstein's gender equality policy, please? The floor is yours.

Ms Bernadette Kubik-Risch, Equal opportunities expert, Liechtenstein Thank you very much. First of all, I just want to say that when the Head of the Liechtenstein delegation asked me a few weeks ago whether I would be prepared to take part in this event and say a few words, I was really keen to do so because Liechtenstein embarked on the process of equality very late in the day. And I think that this Prize is a very strong and hard-hitting signal for private organisations and others here in Liechtenstein. So, I am very grateful indeed to you for that. I mean, remember that we only introduced voting rights for women in 1984. Since then, however, we have made great strides forward on all levels. Now, specifically on your question on the various milestones in our country, there are very few really for me to home on into, but I think that the most important, of course, was enshrining equality between men and women in the Constitution. And in the same year, the Liechtenstein Parliament, the Landtag, directed a motion to the Government which called on it to ensure that any provisions which were not yet in alignment with the principle of equality should be brought into compliance. And I think that that constitutes a significant milestone. Now, we also adopted specific legislation on the equality of men and women in the workplace and that specific law was then further expanded and we transposed EU directives. A third milestone that I would just like to mention is that in 2001, Liechtenstein introduced a comprehensive law on protection against violence. And then in 2020, the Liechtenstein parliament ratified the Istanbul Convention and subsequently the Government constituted a co-ordination group to enforce that convention. But we have done more than just pass laws. We have also put in place a raft of different proposals and measures in a variety of different areas. And often, that process was done in conjunction with NGOs. I think that Liechtenstein has a thriving civil society, a host of different women's organisations as well, which have been active in this process.

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