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Statement by H.E. Mr. Hiroshi Minami
Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
At the high level plenary meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate
the 20th anniversary of the World Summit for Social Development
11 December 2015
Mr. President,
At the outset, I would like to express my gratitude to you for convening this meeting.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in September and the Sustainable Development Goals have been defined . Sustainable Development is recognized as the integration of three dimensions of development: economic, social and environmental; therefore the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals will lead to the genuine advancement of social development.
We strongly support the fact that the 2030 Agenda is based on a human-centered approach, referred to in the document as “leaving no one behind”, which we align with the notion of human security. It is important to implement the protection and empowerment of people in vulnerable situations, so as to ensure that truly no one will be left behind.
In this context, Japan has been emphasizing its support for the protection and empowerment of women, especially those in the armed conflict, and other vulnerable groups such as children, persons with disabilities and the elderly. We will also make efforts to encourage and increase the participation of these people and other stakeholders by including them in every phase of social development.
Mr. President,
Japan has reformed its Official Development Assistance Charter for the first time in 12 years. In this Charter Japan has inserted language on the importance of the promotion of women’s participation and the consideration of children, persons with disabilities, the elderly and other socially vulnerable people in implementing development cooperation.
In this connection, I am pleased to introduce some concrete examples of our development cooperation. Over the next three years, Japan will implement assistance over 350 million dollars in order to ensure quality of education for all people, and in particular toward the empowerment of women and girls. In order to promote the independence and participation of persons with disabilities, we have dispatched persons with disabilities overseas as specialists for vocational training programmes. Japan, as the world’s most aged society, is already engaged in numerous efforts such as improving the access of older persons to employment, improving their work environment and combating discriminatory dismissal. We are gladly sharing these experiences with other countries particularly our neighbors in the Asia and Pacific region.
In this connection, please allow me to mention that Japanese Professor Ishikawa, an expert in the field of the assistive technology for the persons with disabilities, runs as a candidate for the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2016. As engagement with the CRPD is an important aspect of Japan’s contributions to the international community, I would like to take this opportunity to request your generous support for Professor Ishikawa’s candidature in order to promote inclusive societies.
Many people in the world still face extreme poverty, inequality, discrimination and social alienation. W e acknowledge the importance of enabling environment for the empowerment of all individuals to attain advance of social development. From this point of view, we feel it is useful to promote volunteerism, which is one important means of implement ation of the 2030 agenda. We expect all member states to positively address the implementation of the resolution on “Integrating volunteering into peace and development: the plan of action for the next decade and beyond”, which was submitted by Brazil and Japan to this year’s third committee and adopted by consensus.
In conclusion, let me reiterate that Japan will continue to tackling challenging issues to realize the 2030 Agenda and ensure that no one is left behind.
I thank you.
