OPENING STATEMENT
delivered by Methmalie Dissanayake

 

 

Your Excellencies, distinguished speakers, honourable members and delegates, colleagues and my sisters.

 It is a privilege to deliver the statement on behalf of the Asia Pacific CSO Forum which brought together the voices of 65 participants representing national and regional level organisations from 22 countries. 

 Imagine walking down a street at 7:30 in the evening, it’s getting dark and the whole street is in darkness, electricity has been cut off because people have been unable to pay the bills, any light comes from candles.  There’s no fuel to cook the food because prices have gone up so steeply.  There is not enough food in the house and women give what little there is to their children.  The meal is not nutritious, it may only be some boiled rice or roti. The parents and children are hungry, malnourished and very tired. Children do not go to school because families can’t afford the costs of public transport and in some families parents need to choose which child goes to school.   

 This is the lived reality of many women and girls in the region today. This is not acceptable!  This is not what we deserve! 

 Over the last 30 years, despite gains in the area of women’s development and advancement we are now at a critical juncture, witnessing dangerous co-option and dilution of Women’s Rights especially sexual and reproductive health and rights, increased violence and gender-based discrimination against women and girls in all their diversity, and a global pushback on women’s rights and women human rights defenders.  

 Our Poverty is a result from the lack of access to resources, structural barriers, regressive gender and other societal barriers and norms including child, early and forced marriages.

 The Climate Crisis is real, and remember, it is definitely not gender neutral. Climate change exacerbates poverty, however, resources are not being allocated to address the root causes of the climate crisis. Further to this, climate change analysis and responses are gender insensitive. Women and girls in all their diversities face the harsh inequalities that are further exacerbated during climate disasters taking into account the greater household burden and responsibilities shouldered by them. 

 The gendered division of labour and the burden of care work continues to  impede access to decent work.  

 Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination disproportionately impact the most marginalised which include but are not limited to rural women, Dalit women, migrant women, indigenous women, women with disabilities and diverse sexual orientation and gender identity groups.

 With this we call upon the Member States to:

  • Ensure access, availability, affordability, adaptability and quality of services that address the impacts of climate change and that the design, development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of all climate-related policies and services including SRHR.
  • Improve public investment in health and develop social protection systems including universal access to health to ensure sexual and reproductive rights for all women and girls, especially the most marginalised
  • Recognize, reduce and redistribute the unpaid care work burden on women by increasing national budget allocations for public services and bringing in equal pay policy, skills upgrading for women and opportunities for decent work. 
  • Ensure an enabling environment for civil society and commit dedicated resources to support and enable engagement. Representation, active and inclusive participation requires core, flexible, and sustained funding for feminist networks and grassroots organisations. 
  • Take strong measures to fulfil and protect women’s Human Rights as enshrined in global agreements and human rights standards  including the Beijing Platform for Action, International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and CEDAW.

Thank you.