Mr. President,
Let me start by thanking the Madam Thoraya Obaid for her, as always, insightful and enlightening statement. I would also like to say that we are extremely happy and pleased to learn that Madam Obaid will continue her leadership of the Organization. Sweden remains a very strong and dedicated supporter of UNFPA and we have strong confidence in the leadership of Madam Obaid. We are far from alone. In fact, the all time high number of 182 donor countries to UNFPA constitutes a solid proof of the high-quality leadership in Madam Obaid, translated in a strong world-wide confidence in UNFPA and its work to advance the Cairo agenda globally.
There is an indisputable link between human rights, women’s empowerment and development. Greater attention must be paid to this connection to reach the Millennium Development Goals. The upcoming high-level event on the MDGs at mid-point in the General Assembly on September 25 will provide an important opportunity to discuss achievements made but, more importantly, the challenges ahead of us to reach the Goals that we all have committed to.
In this context let us be reminded that the 5th MDG’s target to reduce maternal mortality, is probably the area where the challenges are the most acute, where we are lagging behind the most. Every minute one woman dies as a result of being pregnant and giving birth. We know that these deaths are needless and avoidable and that we have the knowledge to prevent them. This is nothing less than a continuous slow global disaster. More focus and political will is needed to come to grips with this major global health problem. UNFPA has a central role to play in this regard. UNFPA contributed in a decisive way in achieving on a second target of Universal access to reproductive health for the 5th Millenium Development Goal. This was a very important milestone.
Achieving maternal health around the world is an immense challenge. One which we are committed to address through the MDGs, but there is a risk that we miss out on several other important aspects of the Cairo agenda, such as the roles of men and boys, young people and sexuality, reproductive and sexual rights and gender based violence to mention some of them. These issues are obviously interlinked. We won’t be able to achieve sustainable, long-term results, without focusing on all of them in tandem.
Sweden has recently concluded one part of our strategy for Multilateral Development Cooperation – an assessment process of our multilateral partners. As expected, UNFPA scored high in effectiveness, and was well in line with Sweden’s major policy priorities in international development cooperation; gender equality and human rights. The positive results reconfirmed UNFPA’s important role in these areas, and UNFPA’s importance to my government.
In fact, when it comes to effectiveness, our assessment showed that UNFPA had done a remarkable job. In a quite short period of time, the organization has succeeded in establishing a robust result-based management system, with a clear link to the Strategic Plan. The priorities set in the Plan are well integrated in all parts and at all levels of the organization through a number of well designed RBM tools. There are still challenges to reach a full-fledged system, but we strongly welcome that UNFPA has shown its ability to change and adapt to new realities. Concerning the external effectiveness, our assessment points out there are still work to be done, but structural changes have radically increased opportunities to strengthen this dimension as well, notably the decentralization process and UNFPA’s dedication to the UN reform process, not the least “Delivering as One”. All in all, we sincerely commend UNFPA for the efforts made and the results achieved so far. The organization is indeed moving in the right direction.
In conclusion, UNFPA has shown excellent ability to advance important development issues globally and we are confident that it will continue to do so.
Thank you.