National remarks at the UN General Assembly consultations on Our Common Agenda

Mr President,

Sweden aligns itself with the statements made by the EU and by South Africa for the Leaders’ Network.

You can count on Sweden’s full support to make as much progress as possible during these important consultations. As mentioned by many others, for the continued work we would favour processes in multiple tracks, in line with the different parts of the Report.

We welcome today’s theme and see it as an opportunity to underline Our Common Agenda as a vehicle to accelerate and scale the implementation of the SDGs and to address new challenges.

Mr President,

Even before the pandemic, income inequalities were growing, leaving many people behind with regards to healthcare, housing, education, good-quality nutrition, water, sanitation and other services and rights. The focus on a new social contract is therefore extremely timely and relevant, we need to re-establish social trust, in the Government, in media, in each other. This can only be accomplished by more and better inclusion.

We need to ensure that the creation of decent jobs, inclusive growth, social safety nets and gender equality is at the core of our socio-economic crisis response. A response that fits within our planetary boundaries.

In 2016, Sweden launched The Global Deal Initiative for Decent Work and Inclusive Growth. The platform – now a truly multi-stakeholder partnership initiative hosted by the OECD in cooperation with the ILO - is an example of how new forms of partnerships on social dialogue not only help mitigate the effects of the pandemic, but also contribute to a faster and more equal economic recovery.

Mr President,

Through UN75 and OCA, we have all committed to accelerating the achievement of gender equality and ensuring that women and girls are at the center of all efforts, including in the rebuilding from the pandemic. These are transformative objectives that require transformative action. In support of the recommendations in the OCA report, we would like to echo and further expand upon some good practices:

• One, to create a social contract that is truly inclusive, we have to make it safe to participate. We keep hearing that civil society actors, in particular women human rights defenders and peacebuilders, are facing threats and reprisals for engaging in peace or political processes, or in public life at large. This is unacceptable and clearly illustrates that “full, equal and meaningful participation” is not possible unless we ensure protection. A key focus in our OCA work must thus be on the safeguarding of democratic space.
• Two, we have to talk about resources. The extensive work and expertise that goes into transforming unequal power structures must receive the resources it deserves. This includes gender-responsiveness in budgetary decisions, ensuring flexible, sustainable and core funding to women’s rights and gender equality organizations, as well as restructuring of economic systems to not only enable, but ensure, women’s agency.
• Three, we must be systematic. Using gender-responsive analyses and promoting women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation cannot be treated as ad-hoc activities. Rather, as highlighted in the report, these are goals in themselves and required tools for implementing OCA. These practices need to be fully backed by the leadership level – nationally, regionally, and internationally.

Mr President,

Let me again reiterate our commitment to the important work outlined in the report.

Thank you.