Statement by H.E Mr Gary Quinlan Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand regarding the follow up to the Outcome of the Millennium Summit (Agenda Item 114), as delivered 2 July 2010.
(as delivered)
Mr President
I have the honour of delivering this statement on behalf of Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
CANZ appreciates the leadership and support of the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General and her team throughout the process, as well as the efforts of the agencies, member states and civil society partners. We particularly thank and congratulate the Co-Chairs, Ambassador Intelmann and Ambassador Jomaa, for their significant work in fostering consensus among member states on the range of issues in the resolution.
We express appreciation to the President of the General Assembly and the Acting PGA, Ambassador Puri, for their leadership in getting us to the final agreement. And we should not forget the vital contribution made by co-chairs from previous years, including over the last two years our colleagues from Spain and Namibia, Ireland and Tanzania, and of previous PGAs, especially Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann during the 63rd session.
Coming to consensus on this range of important and complex issues has been a challenge, and the collective efforts of many have brought us together to adopt today’s outcome. This resolution demonstrates the commitment of Member States to the United Nations’ operational activities, and the will to make progress on reform efforts, ensuring a stronger, more effective UN role in development.
CANZ is fully committed to working with all partners to strengthen the United Nations development system, so the UN can respond more effectively to the needs and requests of programme countries. It is our hope that key proposals in the governance section of the resolution will help to achieve more informed, responsive and committed decision-making from the relevant intergovernmental bodies. The relevance of the UN’s operational work to today’s development challenges depends on this.
In this context, we look forward to the results of the independent evaluation of the Delivering as One pilot initiative in the 66th session so that we can collectively improve our learning, and in turn, our support to these countries. We expect this evaluation to be carried out in line with the highest standards of independence and professionalism, and in line with the UN’s norms and standards for evaluation.
Mr President
CANZ is particularly pleased that the General Assembly has acted decisively to establish and operationalise the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. This is a key milestone that we have been working towards since the Beijing Declaration, and it is particularly timely now in the lead-up to September’s MDGs Summit.
UN Women will strengthen the UN’s voice and action on gender equality and women’s empowerment across the system. It will also strengthen the UN’s operational support to Member States to effectively deliver on our collective commitments, including the promotion and protection of women’s rights, under national ownership and leadership.
We all know that the empowerment of women is an indispensible element in eliminating poverty. As we have heard this week in the Development Cooperation Forum, empowering women legally, financially and through education has significant positive impacts for the whole community: including healthier and better educated children; more responsive governance; improved agricultural productivity; and improved newborn and maternal health.
Strong leadership of this new entity will have an enormous impact globally, not just on women, but on girls and boys, women and men. We must not lose momentum in following through decisively on this resolution.
We would ask the Secretary-General to accelerate recruitment for the Head of UN Women through an open and transparent process. We urge Member States to submit their best candidates quickly to the Secretary-General.
And, most important, we urge all Member States to lend their full support to UN Women to ensure a smooth transition period over the coming months, including through its new Executive Board. We look forward to a strong, strategic, and technically-skilled Executive Board to support UN Women through its transition and beyond in its full operations.
UN Women can count on Australia, Canada and New Zealand for strong support over the coming years.