Dear Network Members,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It’s a pleasure to welcome you all to this year’s joint Face-to-Face meeting of the Conflict and Human Rights and the Gender Equality Networks. I’m especially delighted to see that so many of our colleagues from the field have come all this way to be present here today.
The theme of this year’s meeting – “Gender Equality, Justice, Peace- and State-Building: SDC’s Contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” – is as relevant and timely as ever. Record numbers of people, now at 60 million, are fleeing war and conflict – more than at any time since the Second World War. In many parts of the world, peace remains frail and often temporary. The number of fragile contexts is increasing. The links between peace, security, human rights and development are becoming ever more apparent – and so are the consequences when they disintegrate.
According to the OECD, more than 60% of the world’s poor will be living in fragile states by 2030. This is where our poverty reduction mandate will increasingly take us. The task ahead of us will be challenging. It will test our resolve and the viability of our work. But I am confident that we are on the right track and that we are well-equipped to meeting these challenges in the future. Let me explain the reasons for my optimism.
A renewed commitment to fragility and gender in the Dispatch 2017-2020
The new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explicitly recognizes the links between peace, security, gender equality and development. This achievement was in no small measure the result of Switzerland’s tireless efforts to make gender equality and conflict prevention an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There is every reason to be proud of our contribution. However, we now have to put words into action and work towards implementing them. This is why Switzerland's new Dispatch on International Cooperation 2017-2020 closely mirrors the SDGs and the principles of the 2030 Agenda – and it reconfirms the SDC’s strategic focus on fragile states and gender equality.
If the Parliament approves the Dispatch in its present form, half of the SDC’s bilateral cooperation budget will be devoted to fragile contexts over the coming four years. The lion’s share will go to projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. We know that our work in these contexts will require a long-term commitment and that we will have to demonstrate staying power if we want to have lasting impact. We must also learn to better link the different tools of Swiss foreign policy and involve all relevant humanitarian, human rights, peace-building and development stakeholders. This is why measures to promote peace and human security, led by the Human Security Division, are included in the new Dispatch for the very first time.
Equally for the first time, “gender equality and the rights of women and girls” are now featured as a key strategic objective in the Dispatch. We have been active on gender issues for many years, of course. But by explicitly incorporating a strategic goal on gender equality and the rights of women and girls in the Dispatch on International Cooperation, we are underscoring their critical importance to our work and setting a new benchmark against which to measure our performance in this area.
Of course, fragility and gender are inextricably linked: In fragile contexts, women often have very limited access to state institutions, and their needs and rights are often not reflected in civic and public life. Just last week, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released a new report highlighting the plight of women and girls in the world’s poorest countries. It shows the extent to which gender inequality remains an “insurmountable obstacle for many women” living in fragile contexts, many of who face “countless barriers” in every aspect of life, including in health, education and employment.
If we want to help build strong state institutions that are truly responsive to all citizens – particularly in countries emerging from conflict – we need to promote women’s political participation and women’s voice and leadership on all levels. And we need to do so from the very beginning of any political transformation process.This is why efforts to promote gender equality and empower women and girls must be placed at the center of our international cooperation work, as we have now done in the new Dispatch.
SDC projects linking gender equality, conflict and fragility
I know that you are already doing great work across a wide range of projects addressing gender equality, conflict and fragility. Your track record speaks for your professionalism and dedication to these important issues. Even when faced with the most challenging circumstances:
- You are working to help increase women’s representation in municipal governance and participation in local political processes. In Tunisia, for example, 200 women candidates received training supported by the SDC in the run-up to the 2014 national election. Nine of them were elected and now have a seat and a say in the national parliament. Other similar projects are being implemented in Benin, the Horn of Africa, the Mekong region, Haiti, Central Asia and Ukraine.
- You are fighting for justice and the legal rights of men and women affected by conflict and violence. In over 12 different countries, SDC programs to combat sexual and gender-based violence offer medical care and legal advice to victims of violence. Through the SDC’s program in the Great Lakes region, for example, more than 20,000 persons have received assistance, among them 13,000 victims of conflict-related sexual violence. In Honduras, Bolivia, Afghanistan and Nepal, programs are aimed at promoting equal access to justice and encouraging women – and men – to take legal recourse and hold the perpetrators of violence and human rights abuses accountable for their actions.
- You are giving a voice to women in economic decision-making, budgetary planning and public service delivery. In Laos, for example, an SDC program aims to strengthen community participation by women and ethnic minorities and ensure that they are the final beneficiaries of infrastructure projects comprising health centres, schools, irrigation projects, drinking water supply or roads. And in the poorest regions of Tajikistan, women are now participating in decisions over the water and health service points thanks to an SDC-funded project.
These are all impressive achievements, and I’d like to thank you for your unwavering devotion and hard work. Thanks to your efforts, we not only have tangible results to show for, but also the proof that our presence in fragile contexts is making a real difference in the lives of the poor, including women and the most marginalized groups.
It also provides important evidence to back up our position, as we enter the next phase of the Parliamentary debate on the new Dispatch on International Cooperation 2017-2020. Which brings me to the Dispatch process and the current political and strategic discussions around it.
The Dispatch process and attendant strategic discussions
[Commentary and personal reflections in light of 2 June session and political climate]
Concluding remarks
I’m convinced that if we continue to cultivate a spirit of mutual learning and strengthen our network culture we will become more flexible and better prepared to tackle the risks and challenges of tomorrow.
In this spirit, I wish you an interesting and enriching discussion, and I look forward to hearing about the outcome of this Face-to-Face meeting.
Thank you.