Your Excellency, Ambassador Omar Hilale, Chair of the Third Committee,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Let me begin by extending to you and to members of the Bureau my congratulations on your election, and by assuring you of DESA’s fullest cooperation and assistance in your work.
Your Committee is meeting two weeks after world leaders unanimously adopted the historic 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This new agenda is ambitious, broad and universal in scope, with many of its elements mutually reinforcing.
At the heart of this new agenda is the goal to end poverty by 2030, building on the successes of the MDGs.
The 2030 Agenda seeks to foster shared prosperity, reduce inequality, protect the planet and transform our world for the benefit of all.
Yet events that are unfolding around the world remind us of the daunting task ahead of sustaining social development gains and building more inclusive societies.
Of great concern, is the massive wave of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean and the Sahel, people who have been displaced by poverty, lack of opportunities, conflict, religious extremism and fear.
Inequalities also continue to rise between and within countries.
We are also meeting at a time of significant and rapid demographic changes. We are witnessing the largest generation of young people the world has ever seen.
The global economic crisis left over 74 million young people unemployed.
In most major economies, employment growth remains well below the pre-crisis levels. Informality, low pay, low productivity, and inadequate social protection coverage hinder our efforts to end poverty and foster social inclusion.
At the same time, population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant economic and social transformations in the history of human kind.
Worldwide, the number of people aged 60 years and over is projected to grow to 1.4 billion in 2030, surpassing the number of children under the age of ten.
Mr. Chairman,
Twenty years ago, the World Summit for Social Development marked a turning point in development thinking. The conference decided to focus on people-centred development. It called for working together to build fair, equitable and inclusive societies. It brought the issues of marginalized and disadvantaged social groups to the forefront in the context of social integration.
Since then, we have witnessed considerable progress. We have adopted several international instruments to promote inclusion and integration of social groups.
The overarching objectives of these instruments are to foster inclusive development, combat discrimination and intolerance, promote greater participation of disadvantaged and marginalized groups in employment, education and politics. These instruments are integral to realizing the goals we just adopted.
The 2030 Agenda has brought many of these issues to the foreground of development thinking. It strengthens our efforts to address the needs of those who are often excluded from development processes.
Distinguished delegates,
“Leaving no one behind” requires rethinking of social inclusion policies and ensuring non-discrimination and participation.
It needs inclusive, participatory and representative governance; it also means removing barriers to participation rooted in various forms of discrimination as well as reforming discriminatory legal frameworks.
Mr. Chairman,
This broad, visionary and transformative agenda must be matched by equally ambitious, integrated and coherent action in implementation. Otherwise, it will be a lost opportunity.
But, by no means will implementation be an easy mission. Governments face a series of interlinked challenges.
Governments must move beyond the traditional silo mindset and think holistically. They must readjust, adapt and reform, wherever necessary, the existing administrative structure and strengthen the interlinkages, including by setting up national level coordination mechanisms.
Governments should address the need for localising the SDGs and adopting national SDGs and targets so as to reflect national circumstances and development priorities.
Governments must meet the follow-up challenge by engaging all institutions and sectors of the society, including parliaments, supreme audit institutions, businesses and civil society groups and by strengthening data gathering and tapping the power of data revolution.
Your contribution to this process, across all agenda items before the Committee, will therefore be of outmost importance.
We must seize the opportunities. Among the actions to be taken, allow me to mention a few:
1) making sustained investments in education and health, agriculture, and scale up social protection;
2) taking concrete measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change which has become a reality;
3) pursuing integrated policies that promote full employment and decent work.
The success of the 2030 agenda will also depend on our ability to put in place a robust monitoring and review framework and a revitalized global partnership for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development.
I wish the Committee every success!
Thank you for your attention.