Statement by His Excellency Sergiy Kyslytsya, ECOSOC Vice President in charge of OAS ECOSOC Transition Event

Statement by His Excellency Sergiy Kyslytsya, ECOSOC Vice President in charge of OAS ECOSOC Transition Event

Opening Remarks

Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, ECOSOC Vice President in charge of OAS

ECOSOC Transition Event

22 June 2021, 16:00-18:00 (GVA), CR-XX, Palais des Nations

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to be welcoming you along with my fellow Vice President H.E. Ms. Pascale Baeriswyl. She has worked closely with me on the preparations of this important Transition Event.

Today, we are reunited to tackle the urgent need to take action to prevent multiple famines from occurring in 2021 and to look into how we will reduce acute food insecurity. Addressing hunger is a foundation for stability and peace. The reverse is also true. The blueprint is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and particularly SDG 2 on zero hunger.

The food situation today is at an all-time high. In addition to those millions in IPC4 and hundreds of thousands at direct risk of famine (in IPC5), this year, some 142 million people in 40 countries and territories are projected to be in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or worse. We cannot let these figures increase – and we cannot let these people fall into even worse suffering.

The objective of this Transition Event is to strengthen coherence and synergies between the different ECOSOC segments and ensure appropriate linkages between our discussions around key policy and operational issues relating to both development and humanitarian assistance.

A ‘nexus approach’ in food crisis contexts can help greatly in ensuring that support on the ground is addressed by complementary actions, with the humanitarian assistance focused on tackling rising levels of hunger and malnutrition, and the development assistance addressing the underlying drivers of food insecurity, working with governments and partners, toward better development outcomes overall – including inclusive growth.

Last fall, Member States approved the new Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review. We recognized that the development work of the entities of the United Nations development system, through their support for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in countries in conflict and post-conflict situations, contributes to peacebuilding and sustaining peace when reducing people’s needs, addressing risks for development programming and fostering resilience. With peace elusive in almost every community currently at risk of famine or at emergency levels of food insecurity, this is a critical angle I am sure will be discussed today.

Mr. Piper, from UNDCO will moderate this event and will also showcase how the UNDS reform can best leverage the leadership role of the Resident Coordinators (who often double hat as Humanitarian Coordinators in emergency settings) in acting as a convenor in partnership with the UN country teams, with governments and partners such as NGOs, civil society and the private sector to galvanize measurable results on food security.

I look forward to a good two-hour session which I am convinced will be fruitful and wish to thank OCHA and DCO for their support in preparing this event. am pleased to now hand over to Mr. Robert Piper, head of DCO, to moderate this event.

Closing Remarks

Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, ECOSOC Vice President in charge of OAS

ECOSOC Transition Event

22 June 2021, 16:00-18:00 (GVA), CR-XX, Palais des Nations

Excellencies, Ladies, and gentlemen.

This was an excellent meeting. Many ideas and solutions have been raised and I would like to thank all our panelists for the rich interventions and discussions.

I would like to echo many of the participants, we are convinced that for the best food security outcomes, international humanitarian assistance and development assistance should go hand in hand. By building long term resilience of vulnerable population, we can address the structural causes of hunger and reduce needs over time. This requires investing in development, including with innovative financing.

We know that areas most at risk of famine today are areas where conflict has become protracted and particularly lawless. This driver cannot be ignored. We must particularly think about how development actors can better operate in conflict-stricken or fragile countries.

Strong partnerships with national and international partners, including civil society and IFIs, are critical for supporting the eradication of poverty in all its dimensions, and adequate attention to leaving no one behind.

As mentioned earlier, we need to transform our food systems to make them more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. Mobilizing ambitious action in that regard is the goal of the Food Systems Summit which will be convened by the Secretary General in September.

I look forward to seeing the solutions of the High-Level Task to fruition and to the great work ahead regarding strengthening the link between humanitarian, development, and peace.

Before inviting my colleague Ambassador Pascale to make her closing remarks, I would like to express my gratitude to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, Mr. Alberto Alvarez, for reminding us that all too often stories are about numbers and not names. . However, even in this room there are people who with their dedicated daily work show us that every life matters. I wish to acknowledge Ms. Dabagai Dabagai and express my sincere appreciation to her and her colleagues for her work in Nigeria, as well as to many other courageous people we listened to today.

I am pleased to hand over to Ambassador Baeriswyl to close this event.