Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Chair,
I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of Canada, New Zealand and my own country, Australia.
As we approach the end of the Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, progress remains far too slow.
Only one in five countries is on track to halve national poverty rates by 2030.
Some 826 million people still live in extreme poverty.
CANZ would like to make four points.
First, we need to accelerate action to eradicate poverty and deliver the 2030 Agenda.
Conflict is deepening poverty, disrupting livelihoods, and deepening disadvantages.
Climate change and disasters, particularly in SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs, are making individuals more vulnerable to shocks that risk driving them into poverty.
With less than four years remaining, we need to better reflect the multiple dimensions of poverty into national planning and budgeting, invest in social protection and quality public services, and ensure that financing for development is being leveraged from all sources, in line with the Seville Commitment.
Second, poverty eradication must reach those being left behind.
Poverty does not affect everyone equally.
Effective responses must address the structural barriers facing women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities.
This means expanding access to decent work, essential services and economic opportunity, as well as preventing and responding to gender based violence.
We must also build and reinforce effective social protection systems – they are fundamental to moving the dial on eliminating poverty.
Third, we cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goals without achieving gender equality.
Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, not one Sustainable
Development Goal 5 indicator is on track to meet its target by 2030.
Women and girls continue to face barriers to decent work, finance, technology and productive resources.
They spend 2.5 times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men and boys.
We must remove these barriers through equal pay, financial inclusion and gender-responsive social protection.
We must also confront the barriers that limit women’s participation and autonomy. Nearly one in three women globally has experienced intimate partner and or sexual violence.
We must tackle gender-based violence, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence, close the gender digital divide and protect sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Finally, CANZ reiterates our position that Member States must implement the commitments of resolution 80/251 and Second Committee revitalisation in resolutions under this item.
That means streamlining text, greater discipline, clarity and brevity in creating mandates, supported by concept notes, where appropriate, and introducing mandate review clauses and sunset and retirement clauses.
We have collectively committed to these actions, and we must now seek to deliver
Chair,
Eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and achieving gender equality are mutually reinforcing.
CANZ will work with Member States to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable
Development Goals and leave no one behind.
Thank you.