The Pacific Small Island Developing States or PSIDS have told world leaders there should be more focus on the economic empowerment of women.
Leaders are meeting in New York at the 57th Commission on the Status of Women.
Samoa's minister of women, community and social development, Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Leiataua, says food and water insecurity caused by climate change is a root cause of gender-based violence.
"[The] productivity and contribution of our women is continuously reduced and we need a global mechanism to guarantee their survival and halt the reduction in women's status as they become landless in matrilineal societies and hopeless as our traditions and culture wear thin as we migrate out of our communities."
Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Leiataua called on the UN to put more resources into the region.
