Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Thank you Mr President.
New Zealand would like to congratulate UN Women on the strong results demonstrated in the first two years of its current Strategic Plan, and to encourage UN Women to implement its proposed responses to the Mid Term Review in good heart.
We recognise that normative impact can be difficult to demonstrate. But the reported changes to national legal and policy settings and plans, in countries around the globe, show that UN Women’s efforts are bearing fruit. New Zealand appreciates in particular the drive to ensure that – reinforced by UN Women’s work with communities - these normative changes lead to tangible improvements in women’s lives.
New Zealand would also like to commend strides taken in ensuring that gender equality perspectives are mainstreamed or explicitly prioritised by Country Teams and Cooperation Frameworks. We encourage those 39% of CTs that have not yet done this to ‘get with the programme.’ We note the crucial importance of data – and the absence of meaningful data on too many gender indicators – and urge the whole UN system to work together to strengthen this, to assure Member States that the UN is genuinely leaving no one behind.
The statistics on violence against women remain deeply distressing. It is heartening to see UN Women’s work to develop mutually supportive social, economic and normative interventions that help to free women from vulnerable situations. In this regard, we look forward to the forthcoming Strategy for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.
I would like to once more reaffirm New Zealand’s strong support, especially in this period of conflict and polycrisis, for UN Women’s dedicated work and ambitious mandate. As a Māori proverb says, Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei: Seek the treasure you value: if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.
Thank you.