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12 December 2022<\/b><\/p>\n
(as prepared)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Excellencies,<\/p>\n
Colleagues,<\/p>\n
Friends,<\/p>\n
Let me begin by congratulating the Group of Friends on the work done during the last 7 years.<\/p>\n
I sincerely applaud your commitment to the rights of children, and your efforts to advance the SDGs.<\/p>\n
Your work is crucial because, as things stand, we are not on track to achieve our goals by 2030, and children are among the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Right now, 74% of child-related SDG indicators either have insufficient data or show insufficient progress to meet targets by 2030.<\/p>\n
This lack of data severely limits our ability to reach vulnerable children with the services, opportunities, and choices they deserve to live life to the fullest.<\/p>\n
The lagging effects of the pandemic, the spiralling of climate change, and conflicts looming large over us have created an unprecedented set of interlocking crises.<\/p>\n
All of which impact children. All of which impact human rights.<\/p>\n
The right to education. The right to health. The right to security. The right to water and safe sanitation.<\/p>\n
Sustainable solutions are, by definition, child-sensitive.<\/p>\n
I have heard from several of you that you wish to include a child-sensitive perspective in our 15 negotiating tracks during this session.<\/p>\n
I welcome this intention.<\/p>\n
It means thinking about the issues we face not only through the wide lenses of human rights and sustainable development, but also through the more focused lens of the rights of the child.<\/p>\n
In a human rights-based approach to the SDGs, we have to mainstream child rights \u2013 and gender equality \u2013 at all levels, across all sectors.<\/p>\n
Our Common Agenda places solidarity with the youth of today, and the future generations of tomorrow at its core.<\/p>\n
The SDG Summit and the Summit for the Future will be key opportunities to unpack what is hindering us from granting all children the rights they have been entitled to.<\/p>\n
But, first, the Water Conference in March next year will give us the chance to fully include children in our mission to guarantee access to clean water and sanitation for everybody.<\/p>\n
I know I can count on you throughout these processes.<\/p>\n
I encourage you to center on children in our decision-making.<\/p>\n
To uphold the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a key human rights instrument.<\/p>\n
And to promote the understanding that sustainable development and human rights are not opposites, but mutually conducive to each other.<\/p>\n
Yet, before concluding, let me also invite this Group of Friends to consider the following question:<\/p>\n
How can we advocate for a paradigm shift at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, where rather than seeing children as passive observers of reality, we see them as individual rights holders?<\/p>\n
Colleagues, Friends,<\/p>\n
Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.<\/p>\n
They are the most valuable and the most beautiful part of our large human family.<\/p>\n
Their rights are human rights \u2013 and I sincerely commend your efforts in making this fact a reality.<\/p>\n
Never forgetting that, as said by the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, \u201cThe ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thank you.<\/p>\n
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12 December 2022 (as prepared) \u00a0 Excellencies, Colleagues, Friends, Let me begin by congratulating the Group of Friends on the work done during the last 7 years. I sincerely applaud […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":361,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
10 November 2022<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\r\n Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\r\n Afghanistan is in crisis. It is in many crises.<\/p>\r\n It has been 15 months since the Taliban consolidated control over the country.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Its economy is in ruins. The humanitarian situation is disastrous.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Two-thirds of the population is hungry.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Girls and women are banned from learning, having a job or getting proper medical care.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n The country is awash with heroin and opium.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Organized crime and terrorist organizations are thriving once again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Afghanistan is facing complex and interlinked challenges that the Taliban have shown they cannot \u2013 or would not \u2013 solve.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\r\n It is time to support the Afghan people with concrete solutions that place their needs front and center.<\/p>\r\n It is true that some problems will require some time to resolve.<\/p>\r\n But there are actions the Assembly can take to change the paradigm now.<\/p>\r\n I would like you to consider one solution through solidarity.<\/p>\r\n The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan \u2013 which requires $4.4 billion US dollars \u2013 is only half funded.<\/p>\r\n With winter weather just weeks away, I encourage Member States to provide urgent support to help reduce the $2.3 billion dollar shortfall.<\/p>\r\n Let\u2019s remind ourselves of the old saying from Afghanistan: \u201cA real friend is one who takes the hand of his friend in times of distress and helplessness.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Excellencies,<\/p>\r\n Afghanistan has a rich history of scientific achievement.<\/p>\r\n I encourage the country\u2019s reengagement with the international science community.<\/p>\r\n And\u00a0to allow women who used to be respected members of the country\u2019s science community to resume their research and their studies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span>Afghanistan is now the only state in the world that would deny girls their full right to education.<\/p>\r\n The prospect of girls\u2019 education has been left to uncertainty amid seemingly random edicts from the Taliban.<\/p>\r\n This time last year, Fawzia Koofi, the first woman Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament, recalled her dream of one day addressing the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ as the President of Afghanistan.<\/p>\r\n She said:\u00a0\u201cWith me, millions of girls and women in Afghanistan had this dream that now they think will never come true.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Dreams of becoming President have been replaced by the reality of child marriage. Arrests if women and girls leave their home without a male chaperone.<\/p>\r\n I reiterate my call for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of all Afghans, especially women and girls.<\/p>\r\n Similarly, I urge the Taliban to ensure the safety of all Afghans, regardless of gender, ethnic background, religious belief or political affiliation.<\/p>\r\n To protect journalists and civil society members.<\/p>\r\n To allow unhindered humanitarian aid, and to cooperate with humanitarian workers.<\/p>\r\n We expect the Taliban to make good on the commitments they made to the international community.\u00a0To show honesty through\u00a0concrete action.<\/p>\r\n Excellencies,<\/p>\r\n The dramatic changes of 2021 have taken a massive toll on Afghanistan\u2019s economy and profoundly widened many security risks.<\/p>\r\n