Global Poverty Forum

Putting People First

Statement

by

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid
Executive Director
United Nations Population Fund

17 October 2009
Beijing

 
Excellency Vice -premier Hui Liangyu,
Honorable Ministers and Vice-ministers,
Excellencies the ambassadors,
Representatives from international and UN organizations,
Representatives from government institutions,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to join you here today to open the 2009 Forum on Poverty Reduction and Development.

As we meet, unprecedented crises are spreading around the globe, which are threatening social development, causing rising poverty and insecurity. As I speak, unemployment is increasing worldwide, up to 100 million more people will fall below the poverty line this year than was predicted before the recession, and the number of hungry people in developing countries will exceed one billion.

The financial, food, fuel and climate crises threaten to reverse hard-won gains in development and to derail efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

This Global Poverty Forum provides us with an opportunity. It provides us with a platform to discuss the strong and urgent actions needed to assist resource-constrained countries in making progress towards the MDGs and providing a social safety net for the poor and vulnerable who are least able to respond to the crises.  Failure to address their needs will lead to an increase in social exclusion and social tensions.

Experience from past economic downturns shows that the health status in countries is likely to deteriorate and school enrolment and completion rates will drop, especially in resource-constrained countries. Many of the adverse effects will hit those who are vulnerable, including migrants, persons with disabilities, youth, the elderly, and girls and women. We also know that governments in developing countries have begun to cut their education and health budgets which only makes the impact more severe on the poor and vulnerable, and they are often women and children.
While strong economic growth during the past decade in developing countries, especially here in China, put the MDG target for poverty reduction within reach at the global level, this progress is now under threat.

With simultaneous recessions striking all major regions, painfully slow recoveries in many countries is likely, which makes the fight against poverty even more challenging and urgent.

Millions of people have lost their sources of income, housing and security. In response, we have to put people first and take urgent measures to ensure their well-being, security and dignity.
First, progress toward the human development goals must be accelerated. More attention needs to be focused on people and meeting their needs and protecting their rights. We must focus on strengthening key programs in health and education, and in controlling major diseases including AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. More progress needs to made in reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. And more progress needs to made in supporting the advancement of women, and ensuring universal access to education and to reproductive health.
Second, we need to respond with solidarity. Most resource-constrained countries require additional financing to support growth and protect the poor and vulnerable from the impact of the crisis.
And third, action needs to be taken to address the risks and imbalances inherent in the global financial and trading system. The global community must also achieve a quick and successful conclusion to the Doha round of trade negotiations.
The current crisis calls for strengthened partnership between governments, the private sector and civil society in advancing human development. This means an increase in official development assistance rather than a tightening of development budgets, and an increase in South-South and triangular cooperation, using innovative ways to optimize available resources and maximize the skills and knowledge of people to expand employment.
As the world’s most populous nation and a big contributor to reductions in global poverty, China plays a significant role in advancing human development and keeping the world economy advancing.
 
China has registered significant increases in bilateral assistance and can further support countries by providing increased official development assistance through the United Nations system.

The United Nations will continue to support countries as they strive to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and respond to the financial crisis.  The UN is developing a Global Impact and Vulnerability Alert System to monitor the impact of the economic crisis on the poor and vulnerable. This system will collect real-time data using new technologies to build a comprehensive picture of what is happening on the ground to enable an effective and targeted response.

The agency that I head, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will continue to be a strong partner in this global effort.  We will continue to support countries as they implement the recommendations to which they agreed 15 years ago at the International Conference on Population and Development.

This agreement makes the connections between population, economic growth and sustainable development.  It recognizes that population dynamics such as rates of fertility, mortality and ageing affect development and vice versa. And it calls for greater attention to reproductive health and rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Better understanding of these issues has brought real change in the daily life of millions of women, men and young people. They now have wider choices and can make voluntary and informed decisions on fundamental aspects of their lives, including their right to determine freely and voluntarily the size of their  families.

As we strive to achieve the MDGs, the Cairo consensus on population and development provides a blueprint on the way forward.
 
I would like to wish the Forum great success.

 Thank you.