United Nations Welcome to the United Nations. It's your world.

STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. STEVE D. MATENJE, SC, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI TO THE UNITED NATIONS ON BEHALF OF THE MEMBER STATES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA DEVELOMENT COMMUNITY (SADC)

Monday, 12 October 2009
Presenter: 
H.E. MR. STEVE D. MATENJE, SC, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE
Location: 
New York
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. STEVE D. MATENJE, SC,
PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI TO THE UNITED NATIONS
ON BEHALF OF THE MEMBER STATES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA DEVELOMENT COMMUNITY (SADC)
 
ON AGENDA ITEM 62:  
(A) ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN
(B) IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OUTCOME THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN AND OF THE 23RD SPECIAL  SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
 
 
NEW YORK OCTOBER 12, 2009

(please check against delivery)

 

Chairperson,

Since my delegation is taking the floor for the first time in this session, I would like to begin by congratulating you and your bureau for your election and for the excellent manner in which you are conducting the matters of this important committee. My delegation is taking the floor on behalf of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Member States namely Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and my own country Malawi. We align ourselves to the statement by Sudan on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. We thank the Secretary-General for the comprehensive reports before the committee under this agenda. The recommendations and conclusions contained therein merit our collective serious consideration.

Chairperson,

SADC reaffirms its commitment to the full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly as well as all the internationally agreed development goals pertaining to women's empowerment and gender equality. At the sub regional level, SADC is committed to the translation of the Protocol on Gender and Development into concrete and measurable 2 progress for women and girls. Since the adoption of the Protocol on Gender and Development on August 28, 2008, SADC has been hard at work to popularize the Protocol through advocacy activities to facilitate the fast tracking of its ratification by Member States.

Chairperson,

It is an established fact that violence against women and girls impacts negatively on the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and the internationally agreed development goals. We agree with the Secretary General in his assertion that violence against women is an issue that cannot wait anymore. We applaud the Secretary-General for leading by example in ensuring that the UN system undertakes actions aimed at ending violence against women and girls. Weare pleased with the progress made in his campaign on "UNiTE to End Violence Against Women" which started in 2008 and will continue to 2015. The campaign has resulted in the increased visibility of the pervasive violation of the human rights of women and motivated entities of the United Nations system to afford the issues the attention they deserved. We commend the Secretary-General's initiative of creating a network of men leaders to spearhead advocacy and action at community, national, regional and global levels. This is line with the agreed conclusions of the 48th session of the Commission on the Status of Women entitled "The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality" which recognized the critical 3 contribution of men and boys in the advancement of women and gender equalities. For SADC the campaign provides an added driving force and renewed momentum for the SADC declaration on gender and development adopted in 1997 and the addendum on violence against women adopted in 1998.

Chairperson,

SADC also welcomes the launch of the Database on violence against women as a unique tool for capturing all measures taken by Member States to address violence against women. We believe this initiative will, to a large extent, respond to the long outstanding outcry for information indicating the extent of the problem. Most importantly, it will be the much needed one stop shop where Member States and all stakeholders can access best practices that can be used in programme interventions where needed. We take this oppo~ty to urge all concerned to provide information in order to make the database useful and meaningful for women and girls.

Chairperson,

Trafficking in persons is becoming a new sophisticated and aggressive form of slavery and a form of violence against women and girls. It is a criminal activity that requires clear comprehensive legislation to prevent and combat it. The phenomenon of trafficking in persons especially women and children is growing in the SADC region. People in the region are more prone to trafficking as a result of vulnerabilities created by war, endemic poverty, minimal access to health and education, gender inequality, unemployment 4 which mainly affects children particularly orphans, youth, and women who comprise the majority of the poor. In May 2009 SADC Ministers responsible for combating trafficking in persons, the Afric.an Union, international cooperating partners namely the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UNICEF, International Organization on Migration (10M), the European Commission and civil society organizations met in Maputo, Mozambique to develop a Strategic Plan of Action on Combating Trafficking in Persons in the SADC region. The PI~ of Action dearly lays out methods and areas of cooperation to combat all areas of human trafficking especially of women and children. It addresses trafficking from a comprehensive perspective as outlined in the UN Protocol to prevent suppress and punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, the Ouagadougou Action Plan to combat Trafficking in Human Beings, especially Women and Children of the African Union and the Protocol on Gender and Development of SADC.

Chairperson,

We note the good progress made by the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women. We take comfort in the fact that Member States, private sector and other donors significantly increased their contributions to the UN Trust Fund. We also note that the demands placed on the Trust Fund are now outweighing the resources available. It is critically important that the Fund should be supported with adequate resources so as to execute its role of supporting this important 5 work. We therefore call upon the international community to ensure that the fund is well resourced.

Chairperson,

We acknowledge the commendable work that UNIFEM continues to undertake in a broad array of areas, including poverty reduction and the empowerment of women, violence against women, support to efforts on advocacy, policy influence and political space for women, halting the spread of HIV and AIDS as well as advancing gender justice in democratic governance. Looking to the future SADC will continue to intensify efforts to implement projects in policy development and harmonization of regional gender policy with the national gender policies. Gender mainstreaming programmes will focus on finalizing the SADC Gender Work Place Policy and implementation of the SADC Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit.

Chairperson,

SADC is encouraged with the General Assembly's support in adopting a resolution that win enable the creation of the new gender equality entity to be headed by an Under-Secretary-GeneraL We stand ready to engage in a constructive discussion to address all the outstanding issues required for the entity to begin its operations, including the mechanisms for governance and oversight. We would like to underline the critical need for predictable resources to support the proposed strong field operations that the entity must have to be successful in fulfilling the promises made to women and girls the 6 - -----_ .._----------- world over. We therefore urge the international community to join hands in putting together the necessary resources for the operationalization of the composite gender entity. Let me conclude by calling upon the international community to continue supporting SADC in its endeavours to attain women's empowerment and gender equality. I thank you.