Heads of States/Governments
Representatives of Small Island Developing States
Ambassador Rabab Fatima, Under Secretary General and High
Representative for the LDCs, LLDCs and Small Island Developing States
Heads and representatives of CSOs
Development colleagues
Members of the clergy
Representatives of the media
Distinguished guests in the room and online.
I extend to you all warm greetings from Samoa though I am in transition spanning continents to get to Antigua and Barbuda, but will not be on the ground in time to greet you all in person. I nevertheless am happy to share congratulations with all of you who have been part of the Gender Equality Forum. I hope some if not all of you share my eagerness to find out what the outcomes of the next two days will be.
We can all acknowledge the first Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States held in Bridgetown, Barbados in April 1994, to help small islands states find solutions to the environmental and development challenges they were facing.
The SAMOA Pathway highlighted the core issues related to gender
equality, including economic empowerment. This is critical for a resilient future. The critical areas of concern highlighted in the Beijing Platform for Action were also well reflected in the SAMOA Pathway and encapsulated in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Despite notable progress towards gender equality, SIDS face distinctive challenges that hinder gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Achieving gender equality in SIDS demands a strategic, gender-
responsive, human-rights based and SIDS-appropriate approach that overcomes their innate obstacles and transforms their vulnerabilities into tools of resilience, innovation, and equality.
The Gender Equality Forum, one of the first of its kind, has importantly brought key stakeholders together to accelerate equality, leadership, and opportunity for women and girls worldwide through:
o Sharing experiences and exploring opportunities from SIDS
countries on multi-sector and multi-stakeholder strategies,
including youth engagement and engagement of the elderly on
critical issues that contribute to indebtedness and insecurity such
as violence against women and girls.
* Sharing strategies and opportunities for sustainable financing for
gender equality and empowerment of women’s agenda in SIDS.
* Increase networking across SIDS for women’s organizations and
women leaders.
Participants should be inspired and motivated to use the forum to share better practices, lessons learned and pragmatic actions to ensure a resilient inclusive future for all SIDS.
A key priority area for SIDS nations is the Economic Empowerment of Women. Member states have a duty to ensure that women and men have equal employment opportunities, free choice of profession and employment, equal remuneration and access to social security benefits, and the right to protection of health and safety in all work conditions.
Gender-based violence is a prevalent issue that directly threatens the safety of women and girls and impedes the achievement of gender equality through its wide-ranging impacts on women’s human rights, health, education, and economic empowerment.
Under the SAMOA pathway, one goal was to “Ensure women’s full, equal and effective participation in all fields and leadership at all levels of decision-making in the public and private sectors through affirmative actions and temporary special measures, as appropriate, and by setting and working to achieve concrete goals, targets and benchmarks such as SDG 5.5.1
The SAMOA pathway also aimed to ensure in SIDS the promotion and protection of the human rights of all women and their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.
SIDS are some of the world’s most disaster-prone countries. They have high exposure and vulnerability to hazards such as cyclones, floods, droughts, sea-level rise, earthquakes, and tsunamis. The disaster mortality rate in SIDS is more than double the global average, according to Sendai Framework Monitor data. SIDS’ disaster costs are also among the highest in the world. On average, they experience disaster losses seven times higher than other countries (as a share of their GDP).
In this connection, I urge all SIDS nations and our Pacific Island leaders to make Gender Equality a priority. We need to stop the violence before it even starts, and we can only achieve it if we work together as leaders of our countries to partner with women’s movements, broader CSOs, faith-based organisations, sports agencies, places of learning, workplaces and traditional spaces to make SIDS a safe, healthy, and equitable place for all women and girls.
We can only achieve these goals it if we work from a common
understanding of the root cause of gender inequality, and common
principles and values to steer our path. The Gender Equality Forum will also contribute to this week’s SIDS conference, and highlight the work that has been ongoing for decades in the Gender Equality space – we commend the women’s movement in the SIDS regions who started this work long before SIDS, as a concept, was established.
A key takeaway for all of us is to foster collaboration at all levels. Finally let us congratulate the hosts of the Gender Equality Forum – UN Women Caribbean and the UN Women Pacific and wish the delegates all the best.
Soifua.
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