Qatar
Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals
Statement of the State of Qatar
on Family and Women and Gender Equality
Distinguished Chair,
At the outset of my remarks, I would like to express that the State of Qatar aligns itself with the statement made by Bolivia on behalf of the G77 and China. Qatar attaches the highest importance to the attainment of gender equality and women’s empowerment. In the context of the sustainable development agenda, it is vital that we safeguard priority for the challenges that women and girls continue to face in the overall effort to achieve sustainable consumption and production.
We appreciate the work that has been done in crafting the revised document and we note that our proposals expressed during the last session are reflected in the compilation document. In this regard, State of Qatar would like to express our concern that despite several delegations call for the inclusion of family policies that the subject of family impact on achieving the suggested goals and targets, has yet to be reflected in the revised working document on the SDG focus areas.
Realizing sustainable development is a great challenge and the means for advancing our transformative agenda can be better equipped by placing emphasis on strategies that incorporate the role of the family.
It has become habit to omit consideration for sensitive subjects in our open debates. As set out in several UN documents, the family plays a fundamental role as a contributor to development. The important recognition of how the family act as agents for change and how families are essential to achieving the suggested SDG targets and goals cannot be excluded or politicized in our discussions.
If we fail to include family as a cross cutting issue, and avoid discussing how the family must be strengthened and empowered, then we allow for social and economic dysfunction of the family to persist or materialize. Social or economic dysfunction of the family creates direct obstacles to realizing sustainable living and to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment requires practical bottom-up approach that recognizes how ideology develops from within the home. We firmly believe that it is within families that change can be shaped, advanced, and encouraged. By empowering the family as a contributor to sustainable development, targets and goals for the world we want can be accomplished.
The family acts as a fundamental building block of society and it is with this recognition that families can function as an instrument for change. If it is our objective to achieve the world we want, then it is our responsibility to remove every foreseeable obstacle that may slow or prevent us from reaching our goal.
Family inclusion is fundamental to crafting a sound Post-2015 Development Agenda. Designing and implementing family policies that aim to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women will have a multiplicative impact on development.
In this regard, we would like to emphasize, once more, that the contributive role the family policy plays should be mainstreamed and reflected in the working document, specifically in Focus area 1 on Poverty eradication, building shared prosperity and promoting equality, in Focus area 3 on Health and population dynamics, in Focus area 4 on Education and life-long learning, and lastly in Focus area 5 on Gender equality and women’s empowerment. We will submit our concrete proposals for your consideration before the end of the session.
I thank you for your attention
Statement of the State of Qatar
on Family and Women and Gender Equality
Distinguished Chair,
At the outset of my remarks, I would like to express that the State of Qatar aligns itself with the statement made by Bolivia on behalf of the G77 and China. Qatar attaches the highest importance to the attainment of gender equality and women’s empowerment. In the context of the sustainable development agenda, it is vital that we safeguard priority for the challenges that women and girls continue to face in the overall effort to achieve sustainable consumption and production.
We appreciate the work that has been done in crafting the revised document and we note that our proposals expressed during the last session are reflected in the compilation document. In this regard, State of Qatar would like to express our concern that despite several delegations call for the inclusion of family policies that the subject of family impact on achieving the suggested goals and targets, has yet to be reflected in the revised working document on the SDG focus areas.
Realizing sustainable development is a great challenge and the means for advancing our transformative agenda can be better equipped by placing emphasis on strategies that incorporate the role of the family.
It has become habit to omit consideration for sensitive subjects in our open debates. As set out in several UN documents, the family plays a fundamental role as a contributor to development. The important recognition of how the family act as agents for change and how families are essential to achieving the suggested SDG targets and goals cannot be excluded or politicized in our discussions.
If we fail to include family as a cross cutting issue, and avoid discussing how the family must be strengthened and empowered, then we allow for social and economic dysfunction of the family to persist or materialize. Social or economic dysfunction of the family creates direct obstacles to realizing sustainable living and to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment requires practical bottom-up approach that recognizes how ideology develops from within the home. We firmly believe that it is within families that change can be shaped, advanced, and encouraged. By empowering the family as a contributor to sustainable development, targets and goals for the world we want can be accomplished.
The family acts as a fundamental building block of society and it is with this recognition that families can function as an instrument for change. If it is our objective to achieve the world we want, then it is our responsibility to remove every foreseeable obstacle that may slow or prevent us from reaching our goal.
Family inclusion is fundamental to crafting a sound Post-2015 Development Agenda. Designing and implementing family policies that aim to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women will have a multiplicative impact on development.
In this regard, we would like to emphasize, once more, that the contributive role the family policy plays should be mainstreamed and reflected in the working document, specifically in Focus area 1 on Poverty eradication, building shared prosperity and promoting equality, in Focus area 3 on Health and population dynamics, in Focus area 4 on Education and life-long learning, and lastly in Focus area 5 on Gender equality and women’s empowerment. We will submit our concrete proposals for your consideration before the end of the session.
I thank you for your attention
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