Statement for declaration of Post 2015 development by Deputy Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the UN
Co-facilitators,
I thank you for giving me the floor and since this is my first opportunity to speak during this session, I would like to take a moment to congratulate and thank you, Co-facilitators, for your continued leadership over one of the most important processes that the UN system has been engaged in. Thanks to your able guidance, we currently have a text that brings us closer to an outcome that includes the right elements to enable us reach an agreement. I would like to associate myself with the statement made by South Africa on behalf of G77 and China, Zambia for LLDCs and Benin for LDCs and would like to make some concrete proposals in my national capacity.
First, Rwanda welcomes the incorporation in the Declaration of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR); the right to development and the support for the implementation of important programs of action, including the African Agenda 2063.
Furthermore, we are also pleased to see the importance that has been given to peace and security in the Declaration as it is a fundamental prerequisite to sustainable development. The introduction could be streamlined with the removal of paragraph two, as the statement is made at the end of the preamble. Moreover, the removal of this paragraph will steer us away from the contentious debate over the historic decision.
On paragraph 5, we noted that the synthesis report of the Secretary General is referenced, however the report of the Open Working Group, which is the basis of our work here, is not reflected. Additionally, we would like to reiterate the need to refer to the OWG report, along with its Chapeau.
Mr. Co- facilitators,
As to the headings, such as “Our vision,” “Our shared principles,” “Our world today,” and “The new Agenda,” Rwanda would like to support the position expressed by the African Group, at our last session, to remove the headings as they fail to add coherence and clarity to the document.
Finally and in line with your appeal to have concrete languages, while we welcome paragraph 19 on gender equality, like others have mentioned, we do believe that it should be further strengthened, in particularly to ensure that there is a systematic mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the implementation of the Agenda and that we aspire to move from just slogans to require actions. Therefore, our proposal at the end of that paragraph is to add that “ we will further work towards significantly increasing investments to close the gender gap as well as strengthening support for institutions on gender equality and the empowerment of women at the global, regional, national and local levels.”
I thank you Co-facilitators
