Ambassador Lisa Carty
U.S. Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council
New York, New York
September 5, 2023
AS DELIVERED
Madam President, Madam Executive Director, thank you for your presentation this morning and thank you for the work of UNICEF staff and all they do every day to lift up the lives of children around the work, sometimes in enormously difficult circumstances. We welcome your emphasis on the SDGs and UNICEF’s critical role in helping achieve them by 2030.
The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs represent one of our best vehicles to expand economic opportunity, promote respect for human rights, care for our planet, advance good governance, and ensure no one is left behind.
We continue to see conflicts negatively impacting the most vulnerable, especially children. In Haiti, violence continues. We welcome the Executive Director’s recent visit there and appreciate the Secretary General entrusting her to be an advocate and leader on behalf of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) in Haiti. In Ukraine, Russia’s war continues to take a tragic toll, a generation of children are suffering psychosocial trauma and educational disruption. In Sudan, children and young women have been the victims of unspeakable atrocities. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield is visiting Chad this week to bring attention to the plight of Sudanese refugees there, particularly children.
In these and other contexts, it is essential to reduce inequity and build systems that are resilient to future shocks and stresses. To do this, we must maintain a focus on the needs of marginalized populations, including girls in all their diversity, children from marginalized racial, ethnic and Indigenous communities, LGBTQI+ individuals, and mothers and children with disabilities.
The United States values UNICEF’s vital contributions to uplifting the most vulnerable and advancing the SDGs, through life-saving interventions to fight acute malnutrition and wasting, leadership on WASH, efforts to bring vaccination rates back to pre-COVID levels, and ensuring all children have access to quality basic education.
The United States understands UNICEF’s need for reliable core funding, and we are proud to have been UNICEF’s largest core and overall contributor in 2022. The United States also encourages UNICEF to broaden its donor base, including from other Member States and the private sector.
Colleagues, the United States echoes Executive Director Russell’s points that — while we are currently off track to meet many of the SDGs — we can accelerate progress with the right mix of political will, investment, and collaboration. We look forward to a productive Board session and to jointly advocating for children at the SDG Summit and across UNGA High-Level Week.
Thank you.
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