UN Women Statement at the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development
Date:
Chair Person, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Morning.
It’s my privilege to be making this statement today and I would like to thank Dr. Akhtar, the Chair and the organizers for this opportunity.
UN Women is the newest UN Organization, established to support member states to advance commitments on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. These commitments include advancing women’s human rights in line with international normative standards, as well as advancing gender specific commitments in the advancement of sustainable development.
The Sustainable Development Goals offer a once in a life time opportunity to transform the world in which we live, it provides us an opportunity to reduce and eliminate discrimination, promote equal opportunities for all men women, boys and girls. This is at the heart of the journey we are choosing to travel collectively, for ourselves, for our sons and daughters and their children.
We have in common the will and drive to see a better, more inclusive and sustainable planet where we, and where future generations can live a life free from violence, marginalization and discrimination. A planet where water is freely available, where we can all breath in clean air. A planet where all people live in dignity and without hunger. A planet where our voices are heard and government as well as the private sector are held to account for agreements made. A planet where citizens live side by side without discrimination.
We know and see that this is not the case in many countries around the world today. We know much more needs to be done, including towards achieving gender equality, which is central to sustainable development.
Members states at the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2014 and 2015, reviewed the implementation of MDGs for women and girls and the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for the Advancement of Women in the 20 years since it was agreed to by World Leaders.
The Commission on the Status of Women concluded that progress has been made towards the advancement of gender equality but much still needs to be done.
Members States generally agree that Sustainable Development can only be achieved where:
- women’s voices are heard at par with those of men;
- women and men have equal opportunities, resources and responsibilities to realize equality and;
- women and girls are able to live a life freedom from violence
These issues will need to be prioritized in the Post 2015 agenda, its implementation and monitoring.
This was well recognized and stressed by many ESCAP Members States at the “Asian and Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women: Beijing +20”, held in November 2014 in Bangkok.
In addition, the Ministerial Declaration urged the global community to tackle the critical remaining challenges towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through a transformative, comprehensive approach in the Post 2015 agenda.
The Ministerial Declaration further recognized that key measures need to be taken to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action beyond 2015. These measures include the need to strengthen institutions; increase financing, accountability, partnership and regional cooperation for the advancement of GEEW Post 2015.
Furthermore the recently held Asia-Pacific High-level Consultation on Financing for Development in Jakarta, saw ESCAP Member States stress two key priorities for the financing of development cooperation, namely to:
- Enhance and use domestic resource mobilization to invest in the social sectors in order to address social disparities and income inequalities, including those between the genders.
- Ensure that the new financing for development framework contributes to raising living standards, creating decent jobs, and empowering women and girls of Asia and the Pacific.
Again, the importance of these commitments and recommendations cannot be stressed more.
Mr. Chair, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen
Strong accountability and review mechanisms at all levels will need to be established to monitor commitments Post 2015.
All stakeholders, including governments, the private sector and the UN system, must be accountable for their contributions to achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for ensuring that the entire framework contributes to the achievement of gender equality.
Civil society organizations, including women’s organizations, play an important role in monitoring progress and holding governments and other actors to account on their commitments. This must be recognized in all processes and reviews related to the SDGs and Post 2015 development framework.
Global and regional follow up and review processes must ensure that all Governments are accountable for their commitments in implementing the SDGs, including with regard to means of implementation, financing mechanisms and commitments to the global partnership.
Finally, the new sustainable development framework must drive the collection and analysis of new and existing data. This requires significantly increased investments in statistical capacity at the national, regional and international levels, especially to improve gender and other disaggregated statistics to make it possible to effectively monitor the post-2015 development agenda.
UN Women stands ready to provide technical and other assistance to member states and work with the UN system, women’s organizations, CSOs and other stakeholders in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Post 2015 development agenda, its review and monitoring.
I thank you for your attention.
Delivered by
Deepa Bharati,
Deputy Regional Director, a.i. and CEDAW Regional Programme ManagerAt the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development 2015, 21 May 2015 to 22 May 2015, Bangkok, Thailand.