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I have the honour to speak on behalf of New Zealand, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and Mexico.
Our countries place the highest priority on eliminating all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls, and in particular, the human rights question of forced marriage. It deserves our proper and full attention.
We unequivocally reaffirm that the United Nations Charter, the Beijing Platform For Action, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, together constitute the standard for the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence and against women and girls. This is now a near universal position in the UN and must be reflect in any text put forward. It is on this basis that we fully support the amendments put forward by the European Union in this regard.
In our collective work, there is always balance to be struck and compromises to be reached but we consider that, taking the text as whole, the amendments put forward are essential, to ensure that it is absolutely clear that longstanding international standards apply equally to girls at risk and subject to forced marriage. Twelve years ago the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action was built on the consensus of all Member States. Its reaffirmation two years ago at the highest level at this Commission demonstrated our collective and enduring commitment to the implementation of this landmark outcome.
We wish however to register our gratitude and appreciation to our US colleague for her good
natured facilitation of the very difficult task of maintaining positive momentum and bringing this text to a conclusion.
