Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Executive Director,
New Zealand thanks you for your briefing and welcomes the Annual Report of the Executive Director. We commend UNFPA for the progress achieved over the course of the Strategic Plan, including continued delivery against its three transformative results. In a challenging global context, this work is more important than ever. Hard-won gains in gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights are under increasing pressure.
New Zealand therefore reaffirms its strong and consistent support for UNFPA’s mandate, and for the centrality of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls, as well as the importance of robust population data, including on gender‑based violence, to inform policy and target responses.
We welcome UNFPA’s continued focus on reaching those furthest behind, including in fragile and crisis contexts, and on integrating its development and humanitarian work. We also emphasise the importance of youth and adolescent wellbeing, including meaningful participation and access to services, particularly in Pacific contexts with large youth populations, where investing in adolescents’ agency is key to long-term social and economic outcomes.
Turning to the broader system context, New Zealand strongly supports the Secretary-General’s UN80 reform Initiative as an opportunity to take forward meaningful reform. As we have emphasised alongside other Member States, the UN development system must be more focused, more efficient, and better coordinated, particularly at the country and regional level.
For UNFPA, this includes continuing to articulate its comparative advantage, while working in close partnership with other entities to deliver coherent, country-led support.
As we consider the reform agenda ahead, New Zealand recognises that a range of options are being put forward to strengthen the effectiveness and coherence of the development system. It will be important that these are assessed holistically and not in isolation, and within the broader context of UN80 reforms. We also underline the important role of this Board in providing strategic guidance on these questions.
As Member States, we have a responsibility not only to consider the options presented, but to drive timely decisions on the way forward. Given the urgency of the challenges we face, we should move beyond analysis toward clear conclusions and direction, focused on practical action, so that reforms can be implemented without delay.
Finally, Executive Director, New Zealand remains concerned about the challenging funding environment facing UNFPA. Core resources are essential to UNFPA’s ability to deliver flexibly, respond to crises, and support those furthest behind. We know that the global fiscal environment means that the funding is not growing, but what we also know is that quality funding can allow us to do more with less. This is why New Zealand prioritises providing quality core funding to UNFPA and we encourage others to do the same.
New Zealand reaffirms its strong support for UNFPA and its vital role in advancing the rights, health and dignity of all women and girls, and we value our partnership with UNFPA particularly in our own region in the Pacific. We look forward to continuing to work with UNFPA and fellow Board members to ensure the organisation remains effective, focused, and able to deliver in an increasingly complex environment.
Thank you.