ECOSOC Integration Segment

As delivered

Statement by H.E. Mr. Peter Thomson, President of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, at 2017 ECOSOC Integration Segment “Making eradication of poverty an integral objective of all policies: what will it take?” delivered by the Vice-President H.E. Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations

8 May 2017

 

I have the honour to deliver the following statement on behalf of the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Peter Thomson, who unfortunately cannot be here today due to commitments overseas.

 

  1. E. Mr. Nabeel Munir, Vice-President of the ECOSOC,

Deputy-Secretary-General Mohammed,

Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

It is pleasure to address this opening session of the Economic and Social Council Integration Segment, and to join this critical discussion on how collectively we can finally end one of the most pressing issues facing humanity – the scourge of poverty.

While strong progress has been made over recent decades to reduce global rates of extreme poverty and hunger – including under the Millennium Development Goals – the success of these efforts has not been universally shared throughout our world.

Indeed, to this day, sub-Saharan Africa continues to be home to more than half of the world’s 700 million people living in extreme poverty.

Eradicating poverty is one of the most fundamental challenges we must address if we are to succeed in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sustainability is key to our work. We must ensure hard-won development gains are resilient and are not easily swept away when shocks, crises, and disasters hit – a phenomenon we are seeing so starkly across parts of Africa, currently being devastated by famine and drought.

Achieving sustainable development therefore requires all stakeholders to engage in new ways of thinking, partnering, financing, and delivering, based on a focus of what is needed on the ground.

And in this regard, it is critical that the structures, policies and strategies of the United Nations are best positioned to support these efforts.

Firstly, we must pursue an integrated and cross-cutting approach to implementing all 17 SDGs, as our best prospect for achieving the sustainable peace, prosperity, and partnerships needed to eradicate poverty across the globe.

Secondly, we must sharpen our focus on sustainable poverty eradication by mainstreaming it as a fundamental policy objective across the work of the United Nations, and by scaling-up system-wide efforts to support implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Thirdly, UN agencies, funds and programmes must continue to place sustainable poverty eradication at the centre of their work.

This includes by supporting nationally-led efforts to build sustainable peace, and to improve good governance, rule of law, human rights, gender equality, and social inclusion, as part of a comprehensive approach to attract the sustainable investments needed to drive long-term economic growth, create jobs, build infrastructure, strengthen domestic resource mobilisation, and achieve the SDGs.

Fourthly, recognizing the importance of sustaining peace to creating an enabling environment to end poverty, build prosperity, and achieve long-term sustainable development, we must consider ways the UN system can enhance policy coherence and operational coordination between development, peace and humanitarian actors – at Headquarters and in the field.

Fifthly, we need to build inclusive and strategic partnerships that bring together actors from across all sectors, and all levels of Government, the United Nations system, civil society, international financial institutions, the private sector, and community groups, to leverage comparative advantages and drive coordinated SDG implementation efforts.

This includes engaging women and girls, young people, minority groups and marginalized communities as key partners in the planning and delivery of poverty eradication efforts. We must maximize reach and effectiveness.

And sixth and finally, we must ensure that the UN Development System is fit-for-purpose and able to deliver the support and assistance needed to achieve long-term, inclusive and sustainable development.

Seen in this light, the Secretary-General’s reform of the UN Development System provides a critical opportunity for us all to address many of these issues in a comprehensive and integrated way.

Of course, in all of this, the international community has a critical role to play in supporting these efforts, including by delivering in full on their ODA commitments.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

 

In recent times, there has been a growing recognition at the United Nations that there can be no sustainable development without sustaining peace, and no sustainable peace without sustainable development.

In this vein, it is vital that we recognise and prioritise poverty eradication as being fundamental to the success of our efforts to achieve a future that is safe,  prosperous and sustainable for all.

I thank you.

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