Виступ делегації України на засіданні Третього комітету ГА ООН щодо посилення ролі жінок

Mr. Chair,

As I am about to deliver this statement in my national capacity, I also would like to highlight that Ukraine aligns itself with the statement, delivered by the EU.

Ukraine reaffirms its commitment to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Over the past year gender equality has been a crosscutting issue for all the activities of the Ukrainian Government, since it is a critical factor of economic and social development, as well as the indicator of the State’s maturity.

In April this year, the Government of Ukraine approved the State Social Program for ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men for the period up to 2021. This program includes the improvement of the regulatory framework, incorporation of the gender component into economic and social development programs, reduction of gender imbalance in the civil service.

We’ve also established the position of Government Commissioner on Gender Equality Policy with the aim to strengthen coordination and monitoring of government gender equality commitments.

During the term that Ukraine has been a member of the Security Council, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, peace and security has been our great and long-standing daily priority.

We are successfully implementing the National Action Plan for Implementation of UNSCR 1325 for 2016–2020 to ensuring greater participation of women in decision-making in the areas of national security and defense, peacemaking, as well as ensuring protection of women and girls, prevention and response to gender-based violence. Practical steps are taken to integrate women, peace and security agenda in the on-going security and defense reform of Ukraine.

Gender-responsive budgeting was also included to the national Strategy for development of public funds management system adopted last year. We would like to extend the words of appreciation to the Government of Sweden for successful implementation of the Gender Budgeting in UkraineProject. It was implemented in a comprehensive way and integrated gender perspectives at all stages of the budget planning

Moreover, the Government of Ukraine continues its work in developing the Communication strategy in gender policy and the multi-year Gender Equality Strategy for Security and Defense sector.

On 6 July 2018, the Government of Ukraine and UN Women signed the Host Country Agreement, which elevated the status of the UN Women in Ukraine to the Country Office. This important step will allow to broaden and deepen the partnership with the UN Women and bolster the support to the Government of Ukraine in strengthening the national mechanism to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men.

Mr. Chair,

Foreign aggression against Ukraine brought fear and insecurity to the majority of women and girls in occupied territories of Ukraine, both in Crimea and Donbas. Women and girls of Ukraine continue to face hardships on an unprecedented scale in the history since our independence in 1991.

In these circumstances, the Government of Ukraine enhanced its efforts to ensure protection of the women’s human rights and empowerment in all spheres of life.

Last month Ukraine adopted the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Recommendations set out in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the eighth periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women until 2021.

Ukraine reiterates its commitments to ensuring full enjoyment for women and girls of all human rights. A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has become the first state institution to join the HeForShe solidarity movement in Ukraine, reaffirming the commitment of our Government to enhance comprehensive advancement of gender equality and women’s rights.

In conclusion, Mr. Chair, I would like to emphasize that sustainable development is impossible without full enjoyment of equal rights for women and girls, men and boys.

Thank you.