Closing remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the 58th session of the Commission on Population and Development

Madam Chair,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates, 
Leaders of civil society,
Dear colleagues, dear young people,

Muy buenos días! Greetings of peace – always on our minds as we deliberate in this multilateral space – peace in the home, peace in our hearts, peace in the wider world.

Last year’s 57th session of this Commission celebrated ICDP30. It drew record participation. This year again, this Commission garnered considerable engagement from Member States, civil society, from advocates for issues that affect older people and young advocates, too – all mobilized by the relevance of the theme: “Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages”.

In adopting the ICPD Programme of Action 31 years ago in Cairo, Member States set out a vision for the achievement of people-centred sustainable development, through investing in health, including sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, promoting gender equality, and empowering adolescents and youth. 

Deliberations of this Commission revealed that deeper investments in health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, have driven progress in economic and social development, advanced social justice and supported individual well-being.

As the Commission opened on World Health Day, there was good news on maternal mortality. Your efforts over the years to improve maternal health outcomes have contributed to a remarkable drop in deaths worldwide.

The news, however, was less positive for Indigenous women, African women and women of African descent, and for women in humanitarian settings – far too many of whom continue to be left behind. Now, there is urgent need to go further to ensure that no woman dies needlessly from entirely preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.

As you highlighted, we as a global community need to do better to reduce inequalities in access to healthcare, including through financing and strengthened international cooperation and partnerships.

We heard your hopes and priorities for furthering these investments to achieve universal health coverage and truly leave no one behind.

You voiced commitment to improve health and well-being for populations at all ages; to end violence against women, including online; to ensure that child marriage and harmful practices no longer diminish the lives and experiences of women and girls and young people, in all their diversity.

How unfortunate, then, that the Commission’s best efforts could not translate into an action-oriented outcome this year. Because let us be clear, millions of lives are on the line. Because this year like no other, women and girls expect UNFPA and the entire United Nations to rush to their rescue.

And once again, it will be poor people who are cast aside, and as always sadly, it is women and girls with the most vulnerability and the least access to health services who will bear the greatest burden of ill health and preventable deaths.

In recent months, the world appears to be in retreat, turning a face of indifference to human suffering at a time when humanitarian crises are pushing more and more people to the brink. As the principle of international solidarity comes under attack, more and more people are dying. They are being denied fundamental rights and choices, food, life-saving medicines and the basic necessities of life, caught up in catastrophes not of their own making, and for women and girls, there is a battle over their own bodies.

Who is listening to the women and girls? Who will defend their fundamental rights? I can assure you that UNFPA is listening. We are responding based on the evidence, based on what women and girls tell us they need. We are committed to defending their fundamental freedoms, wherever they may be – in an urban centre or a rural area, in a refugee camp, fleeing violence or disaster, trapped by hunger and war. We will continue to do the necessary research, data analysis, the surveys and census advising to support countries who strongly desire to improve statistical data collection and usage to identify and address the needs of their people.

As language is debated in these august halls, let us unfailingly uphold the fundamental values that must never be compromised.

Principle 1 of the ICPD Programme of Action and Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirm that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

And what better way to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the UN Charter than for “we the people” to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women”.

Madam Chair,
Distinguished delegates,

This Commission is the guardian of the ICPD Programme of Action. Your work, historically, has bettered millions upon millions of lives around the world. Even as there are opposing positions, I hope that we can agree that much more unites us than divides us.

Let us send a signal to those whom we serve that what is done here still matters.

For UNFPA, we will do our utmost to assist Member States to move forward. Because this is no time to turn back. Human lives, human rights and human dignity are at stake. 

Let us hold fast to Principle 3 of the ICPD Programme of Action:

“The right to development is a universal and inalienable right and an integral part of fundamental human rights, and the human person is the central subject of development.”

In this regard, UNFPA notes with great appreciation your adoption of the decision on the special theme for the 60th  session of the CPD on “Population, poverty eradication and sustainable development”, and we look forward to supporting Member States, in collaboration with our partners at DESA.

On behalf of all of us at UNFPA, I join in thanking our distinguished Chairperson, H.E. Ms. Catharina Jannigje Lasseur of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for her vision, her astute leadership, and her proactive engagement over months of preparation, and we commend her colleague Ms. Iris De Leede.

We appreciate the dedication and commitment of the CPD58 Bureau members from Burundi, Lebanon, Moldova, and Uruguay. 

Special thanks to the co-facilitators, Norma Abi Karam of Lebanon and Jessica Orduz of Colombia, for their tireless efforts to promote evidence-based discussions on the draft resolution.

May I recognize the UN DESA Population Division for their stewardship of the Commission, and the close partnership with UNFPA to support these efforts. 

To my own UNFPA expert colleagues, thank you for your long hours and skilled contributions to this year’s session. 

A final note of thanks to the distinguished representatives, delegates and observers of this 58th Commission for your hard work and active participation in the deliberations.

I happily observed that this 58th session has been distinguished by meaningful participation by young people and by intergenerational dialogue to good effect. As commissioners, you have carried the aspirations for health of young people and older people, and you have carried our common aspiration for the healing of an increasingly ravaged planet.

It is my hope that this Commission’s discussions will continue to shape national policies, influence international agreements, and galvanize partnerships that make a real difference in people’s lives. These deliberations provide an important substantial contribution to the upcoming 2025 High Level Political Forum and its review of SDG 3 on good health and SDG 5 on gender equality and towards the preparations for the Fourth Financing for Development Conference and the Second World Summit on Social Development.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

Quoting the gifted African poet Warsan Shire:

i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?

it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.

In looking forward to constructive substantive reflections next year under the theme “population, technology and research in the context of sustainable development”, on behalf of UNFPA, allow me to reaffirm our commitment to partnering with the 59th CPD Chair and all of you to support the full implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action and support the continued success of the 2030 Agenda and the Pact of the Future.

Remember that good health and healthy longevity begin with safe motherhood in the antenatal period. Let us continue to take forward our collective responsibility for a future in which everyone enjoys good health and well-being and everyone – at all ages – benefits from the fruits of sustainable development and lives in dignity and peace.