UNGA
56th session,
Third Committee,
STATEMENT
BY MS. O.ENKHTSETSEG
10 October 2001
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset I wish to join the preceding speakers in congratulating you
and the other members of the Bureau on your well-deserved election and wish
every success in your endeavours. You may rest assured of
my delegation’s full support and cooperation as we
all
strive
to
fulfill the task ahead of
this important Committee during the current session of the General Assembly.
Allow me also to thank Mr. John Langmore, Director of the Division for
Social Policy and Development of DESA, for
his
informative
introduction of the agenda
items under consideration.
My delegation also wishes to associate itself with the statement made
earlier by the distinguished
Ambassador of Iran on
behalf of the G-77.
Mr.
Chairman,
It
has become more evident that along with greater opportunities globalization has
created situations of heightened vulnerability and insecurity and all the more
so for the weak and poor nations. Persistent exclusion, marginalization and
inequality among countries are
being further exacerbated by both existing and evolving transboundary threats.
After several decades of development effort the number of the world’s poor
remains at an embarrassingly unacceptable level.
Looking back one could describe the decade of 90s as a
decade of commitments for development with a series of international
conferences and summits resulting in important declarations and plans of action.
Yet, as seen from the 2001 Report on the World Social Situation the world finds
itself, in many respects in no better shape. The logical question is due - why
is it so? The underlying reasons could be manifold as the changes undergone and
challenges faced by the world during the last decade are complex both in scope
and nature. Yet, we cannot but agree with the Secretary-General that “the
widening gap between goals and achievements implies that the international
community has failed to deliver on crucial commitments it made during the
1990s”. The world cannot afford this to happen in this first decade of new
century. Therefore, it
has become vitally imperative for all the stakeholders to redouble their
concerted efforts with a view to fulfilling the
international development
commitments, including that of
halving the current
level of abject poverty by 2015.
While
it is
recognized
that the primary responsibility for social development rests with national
governments, the international
cooperation
and support are equally important
in
implementing
the agreed
goals and
targets.
In this
context, my
delegation welcomes an integrated and comprehensive approach outlined by the
Secretary-General in his
report on
the Road Map
towards the
implementation of the Millennium Declaration.
Mr.
Chairman,
The Government of Mongolia
stands committed to the
implementation of the social development
goals. To ensure economic recovery and growth, to
effectively reduce poverty and unemployment, to promote rural and regional
development, to enforce rule of law and promote sustainable development the
Government has developed and adopted the national programme on
Good
Governance for Human Security. It
aims at achieving human security for all
through
coherent and holistic
policy encompassing
ecological, economic, social,
political and
legal spheres. The overall programme is chaired by the Prime Minister
and envisaged to ensure active participation of all the key stakeholders such as
Government ministries, local authorities, the media, academic and research
institutes, NGOs, citizen based organizations and voluntary associations and
citizens themselves throughout the country.
Mr.
Chairman,
The central importance of
education to development has been universally recognized. Yet as indicated in
the
Education For All 200 Assessment
at present over 113 million
children have no access to primary education, 880 million adults are illiterate
and gender discrimination continues to permeate education system. As could be
seen provision of universal primary education remains a great challenge for the
international community. The
Dakar
Framework for
Action adopted by the World Education Forum Forum put forward the goal to ensure
that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult
circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and
complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
Success in
attaining these goals will give millions more the skills to rise out of poverty,
whereas failure will fuel an educational and indeed social crisis in the decades
ahead. Hence, the need to marshal political will and commitment at the highest
level toward attaining the Education for All goals and making quality education
accessible to everyone. Proceeding from this premise, my country together with
many other like-minded fellow members deem it important and timely to launch a
United
Nations Literacy Decade.
Mr.
Chairman,
Turning to another report of the Secretary-General submitted under the
agenda item 108, namely Cooperatives
in social development, I wish to
underline the
emphasis placed on
the potential and contribution of
cooperatives for the attainment of social development goals both in the
Copenhagen and Geneva final documents. The report clearly indicates that in many
countries cooperatives, in their various forms, continue to play an important
role in poverty alleviation, employment
promotion and in ensuring the fullest possible participation
of women, youth, older persons and people with disabilities in the development
process.
My
delegation wishes to express its appreciation to the Secretariat for providing a
revised United Nations guidelines
for creating
a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives incorporating the views and comments offered by Member
States as was requested by General Assembly resolution 54/123.
We
believe
that
adoption
by the General
Assembly
of these guidelines at this
session will enable Member States use them
as a set of
general principles in developing or revising their national policies on
cooperatives.
Mr.
Chairman,
As seen from the Report on the World Social
Situation 2001 ageing has become a global phenomenon
as the population aged 80 years or older
reached 70 million worldwide.
Mongolia looks forward
to
the
Second World Assembly on Aging and
stands ready to cooperate with other
members
in bringing the Vienna Action Programme in line with the emerging
realities so that to adequately address the
multifaceted challenges faced by the older people in the early years of the new
millennium.
In conclusion, Mr.
Chairman, I wish to
reiterate Mongolia's firm commitment to the course of eradicating poverty,
promoting full and productive employment,
ensuring
literacy and quality education for all,
fostering
social integration to achieve stable, safe and just society for all.