Madame President, 

My delegation would like to thank UN-Women Executive Director for her comprehensive statement and annual report for 2018. 

We commend UN-Women for the ongoing efforts to implement the Agenda 2030 in close cooperation with UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF, while adapting the organization on the reforms of the UN development system. 

Madame President, 

In the last two and half decades, the Government of Mongolia has been strongly committed to realize women's right to economic empowerment and decent work and has made a great progress to reform legal instruments, policy documents and practical measures. 

The gender equality legislation has been strengthened in recent years by the Laws on Family, Domestic Violence, on Combating Human Trafficking and the Law on Promotion of Gender Equality. “National Program on Gender Equality” was approved by the Parliament to support the implementation of the legislation. 

The National Committee on Gender Equality works under the Prime Minister’s chairmanship and is mandated to ensure cross-sectoral coordination for the implementation of gender-responsive policies and planning and budgeting processes. 

Population, labor and social protection sector of Mongolia has adopted and is working to implement its own sector-specific gender strategy. As of now, Mongolia has such gender strategies for 8 sectors and 13 of the 21 provinces. 

Over the past years the Government has established 12 types of social protection services, including maternity benefits for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. There are programs such as “A Salaried Mother” for women taking care of children up until 3 years of age and for mothers of four or more children. 

Year of 2019 has been declared by the Government as the “Year of citizen-oriented public services” and the substance of the Year’s Action Plan. 

Also, one-stop service centers and e-services have been established nationwide to enable access to and efficient delivery of health, education, employment, social insurance and welfare services to the population. 

Yet, we still have issues to address. The rates of girls and women victimized by gender-based violence are persistently high that 58 % of ever-partnered women have experienced physical, sexual, emotional or economic violence at the hands of an intimate partner and 31 % have been subjected to physical and/or sexual abuse. 

Therefore, improving the implementation and monitoring of the existing policies and programs is key to achieving the stated objectives for the protection of the rights of girls and women and achievement of gender equality. 

Madame President 

We look forward to continuing the fruitful cooperation and strong partnership with UN-Women. 

I thank you.