Remarks by Permanent Representative of Pakistan, Ambassador Munir Akram during the General Debate of Item 25, Advancement of Women
Mr. Chair,
Women constitute approximately half of the world’s population, and advancement of their rights and their empowerment in all spheres is essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals and socio-economic progress.
2.We are grateful to the Secretary-General for his report on improvement in the situation of girls and women in rural areas.
Mr. Chair,
3.Without achieving the rights of women and girls, we will not achieve the SDGs. Pakistan reaffirms its support to the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the outcome of the twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly.
4.Pakistan has introduced a series of legal and policy measures to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and achieve SDG-5 and its related targets. The finance, fuel and food crisis, caused by the Covid pandemic and the epic floods that hit Pakistan last year have further compounded our challenges in realizing the SDGs and the development rights of women and girls.
5.Rural women face particular challenges. In Pakistan, between 50 to 80 percent of women are food producers, while 70 percent of the livestock is managed by women in rural areas.
Mr. Chair,
6.The international community has set clear norms to promote and ensure gender equality and the rights of women to education, work, political representation, as well as participation in households, communities, and national life. In Pakistan – and in almost all countries with the exception of Afghanistan – these norms are established at the official level and are also widely accepted at the social and personal levels. However, despite the normative acceptance, the situation of girls and women in many countries, especially in the rural areas, remains disadvantaged, and, in many respects, exploitative.
Mr. Chair,
7.We have seen several studies and reports on the subject, including the Report contained in Document A/78/220. The recommendations contained as paragraph 90 of the Report mostly reflect the broad normative decisions we have all accepted. Yet, we do not have a clear strategy on how to address the endemic impediments to achieving the “development rights” of women, even as the legal rights and norms have been established.
8.How can the UN system, both at the policy level e.g. in DESA, and at the country-level – through the Resident Coordinator, UNDP and other Country Offices – assist individual developing countries in transforming these normative recommendations into actual development and “quality of life” outcomes for women and girls.
9.Of course, the major and pervasive challenge is the paucity of adequate finance for developing countries to implement their national development strategies and achieve the SDGs. Yet, we believe that a deeper survey and study can offer conclusions of both a general and specific nature that could lead to a transformative leap in advancing women and girls rights in “real” life.
10.We suggest that, through survey and reviews, we collect data in two dimensions:
One, the sectoral obstacles to achievement of the 17 SDGs and their targets for women and girls – e.g. hunger, poverty, industrialization, riculture. While many of the challenges of SDG implementation are the same for women and men, there are some which are different and specific to women. We need to understand and respond to these obstacles;
Two, the challenges women face in realizing their “development” rights are different, not only between the countries of the North and the South, but also between the countries of the South, due to multiple economic, social, religious and cultural differentials. These need to be identified and understood to build effective policy responses and actions.
11.A more detailed data base covering women’s “developmental” rights in these two dimensions could yield conclusions for a more successful and result-oriented strategy for the advancement of women at the international, regional and national levels. I hope this Committee will request the Secretary-General to conduct such a study and prepare a composite data base.
I thank you.
Sub-Editor: Nosheen