Statement by H.E. Hiroshi Minami

Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations

At the First Regular Session of the Executive Board of UN-Women

9 February 2016

 

Mr. President,

       At the outset, I would like to commend His Excellency, Ambassador Ib Petersen of Denmark, for his dedicated work as the outgoing President of the Executive Board.

 

       I would like to congratulate, Your Excellency, Ambassador Mohamed Khaled Khiari of Tunisia, on your assumption of the Presidency of the Board this year.

       Japan, as a consistent member of the Executive Board of UN-Women, is pleased to see the continuing enhancement of our partnership since the inception of UN-Women.

 

 

1. Structured Dialogues on Financing

Mr. President,

 

       Japan welcomes the report on Financing the Strategic Plan.

 

       In this connection, I am proud to announce that last month the Japanese Diet approved the funding of fourteen (14) of UN-Women’s non-core projects in the Middle East and Africa for an amount of over 22 million USD.

 

       As for our core funding, the Government of Japan has submitted its proposal to the Diet, with a 20% increase from last year on a yen basis, and we are expecting the approval by the Diet. If approved, the core and non-core contributions combined this year will reach nearly 27 million USD.

 

       This figure is encouraging when compared to the 20 million USD we contributed last year.

 

       But more significantly, Japan has increased its contribution for the third consecutive year. This represents a thirteen (13) fold increase from 3 years ago.

 

       In addition, Japan will finance seven (7) public relations projects this year in the amount of 1 million USD in order to operationalize its awareness campaign.

 

       It is essential that the activities of UN-Women draw the attention and appeal to the people on the ground.

 

Mr. President,

 

       Japan welcomes the institutionalization of the Flagship Program Initiatives (FPIs) because they allow UN-Women to make the best use of limited human and financial resources by providing a clear programming direction and strategy in line with the 2030 Agenda.

 

       What is important in the future is to build up UN-Women’s capacity to steadily implement projects under this new modality. Japan also invites UN-Women to devise strategies to disseminate and localize these initiatives to its partners at all levels.

 

       I would also like to again underscore the importance of fiscal transparency. In this context, I would like to strongly encourage UN-Women to develop a mechanism to ensure concrete outcomes featuring both narrative and quantitative documentation while also providing donors with necessary project information in a timely manner.

 

 

2. Addressing Women, Peace and Security Challenges

Mr. President,

 

      On the ground, 2015 was a tragic year for women and girls given so many cruel realities, including abductions by ISIL and Boko-Haram, human right violations by violent extremists and an increasing number of refugees.

 

       Protecting the human rights of women is one of the major challenges facing the world.

 

       In the meantime, women are not just to be protected. I would like to underscore the importance of recognizing them as active players contributing to peace and stability in fragile contexts, and I would like to highlight the necessity of empowering them.

 

       This is in line with the idea of “human security”, which Japan has been advocating for more than 15 years.

 

       In this respect, Japan is focusing on four strategic areas in financing fourteen (14) previously mentioned non-core projects:

 

       (1) Assisting the refugees, IDPs and host communities affected by conflicts;

       (2) Addressing atrocities committed by Boko Haram;

       (3) Preventing the spread of violent extremism; and

       (4) Promoting women’s empowerment particularly in conflict settings.

 

 

3. Conclusion ~ Action, Operation and Implementation

Mr. President,

 

       2015 was a significant year. In the areas of women specific issues, we saw the adoptions of the 2030 Agenda and resolution 2242, and the remarkable success of the Global Leaders’ Summit in September. Member States have made many promises and commitments.

 

      Now, we are bound to implement these commitments and to bring about concrete achievements through real actions.

 

      Japan strongly hopes that 2016 will be a year of action, operation and implementation for the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

 

      Japan joined the Security Council in January. We are also co-organizing the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi, Kenya this summer.

 

       We will again host the World Assembly for Women (WAW! 2016), which has become one of the most important annual international gatherings on women.

 

       Therefore, Japan is well positioned to take a leading role in championing women’s agenda this year, and looks forward to working with UN-Women and the Member States in these and other forums.

 

I thank you, Mr. President.