National Girls Summit Keynote Address Gillian Mellsop UN Resident Coordinator, a.i. 25 June 2015 SHERATON, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA Check against Delivery
Your Excellency, Ato Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Your Excellency, W/ro Zenebu Tadesse, Minister of Women, Children and Youth Affairs Distinguished guests from the Government of Ethiopia, Colleagues from the UN System, Members of the civil society and private sector, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to join you today on behalf of the UN Country Team in Ethiopia. Let me start my remarks by acknowledging the presence of our important guests - the representatives of Ethiopian girls. And to you, I say, on behalf of the UN Country Team, that today, we have come to this high level National Girl Summit with a determination. A determination to put an end to Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) - harmful practices that continue to affect us and all the other girls and women in Ethiopia who are not here today, but who are on our minds and in our hearts. 1
Ladies and Gentlemen, Ethiopia has made huge strides these past years as it reaches for its ambitious plan of achieving middle income country status by 2025. And this event today is an expression of the Government s clear commitment to become a leader for African countries to end child marriage and FGM/C not only in Ethiopia but on the entire continent. Ethiopia has made significant progress in developing policies and strategies as well as in building the capacity of individuals and institutions to tackle those two harmful practices. The Government of Ethiopia has already taken bold steps by making a ground-breaking commitment in July last year at the London Girl Summit to end child, early and forced marriage, and FGM/C in this country by 2025. Now it is our turn as the UN in Ethiopia to maintain the momentum and pledge our support to translate the commitment into concrete action for girls. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, We cannot turn our backs on the physical and psychological trauma these girls have to go through an experience that is unimaginable and violates every innocence, 2
hope and rights that they are born with. The practice of child marriage robs girls of critical childhood time which is essential for their physical, emotional and psychological development. Child marriage also leaves behind a deep scar on the community and the nation where the practice continues to be key barrier for reducing child and maternal mortality and combating HIV/AIDS. FGM/C and Child Marriage are casting a huge shadow over Ethiopia s development prospects. Distinguished Participants, The United Nations in Ethiopia, especially through the partnerships developed by its specialised agencies such as UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNWOMEN, and WHO have been working to support the elimination of these harmful practices. We are doing this through educating girls and women about the harmful practices, promoting the enrolment of girls in schools, engaging religious and traditional leaders, involving men and boys as agents of change and empowering communities. We are also providing training for professionals working in the health, education, justice and social sectors in order to equip them with the relevant knowledge and skills to contribute effectively towards empowering and protecting girls. 3
Through the Gender Equality and Women s Empowerment Joint Program, UN agencies in partnership with the Government of Ethiopia and other non-government actors were successful in building the capacity of communities in the prevention and response to harmful traditional practices. These efforts have resulted in positive change in terms of the community s perception of the negative impacts of harmful traditional practices which is key to eliminating the practices. UN agencies are also working with partners on the ground to ensure that survivors of violence and harmful traditional practices have access to one-stop centres with comprehensive services, safe houses as well as free legal aid services, such as the 24 legal aid service centres set up in Afar, Somali, Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz. Let me take a moment to share with you some points that we at the UN Country Team would like to highlight as we go forward: First Coordination is key: The country needs to move in a coordinated manner to eliminate FGM and child marriage. We need to invest heavily in comprehensive technical and financial support to eliminate child marriage and FGM by 2025. Ending Child Marriage and FGM/C requires concerted effort involving a range of sectors including health, education, social affairs and justice. Hence, it is important to coordinate and support sectors towards 4
formulating their respective areas of action and implementing the same towards a set of measurable milestones leading to the 2025 target of ending the practices. Secondly We need to ground our interventions on evidence Ethiopia needs to work on improving the availability of accurate and timely data, especially on FGM, child, early and forced marriage, so that our programme interventions are based on evidence. Reinforcing monitoring and data management is essential for measuring and accelerating results. And thirdly, we need to integrate Ethiopia s efforts targeted at eradicating poverty with a multi-sectoral approach and with adequate funding to scale up our support for girls. Our approach should mainstream tackling child marriage, FGM, protecting women s reproductive rights, as well as promoting girls access to quality education. Our girls must be able to take full advantage of all the opportunities we are all working so hard to provide to all citizens in Ethiopia as we build an inclusive society. Tackling these practices and poverty reduction are not two parallel or even diverging roads they are one and the 5
same. We can t reduce poverty and inequality without unleashing the productive potential of the country s girls and women. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, For far too long, girls have been at the mercy of harmful cultures and traditions. No culture or tradition should be immutable if it violates human rights and is a stumbling block for an inclusive society. Community awareness and empowermentincluding girls empowerment - engagement and training of traditional and religious leaders, development of strong data systems, as well as strategic and harmonized interventions such as education of girls, will help lead to a shift in perception of these practices and ultimately abandonment. Let me stress once again that Ethiopia must not leave behind its girls. Without realizing the full potential of the country s girls, there can be no sustainable development. Here, I would like to reconfirm the commitment of the UN family in Ethiopia to continue working closely with the Government and other partners to end child marriage and female genital mutilation, to improve the quality of lives of Ethiopian girls and women and, ultimately, to accelerate progress for the country at large. 6
That is why empowerment and equality, especially in terms of opportunities for girls and women, is one of the key pillars of our new joint UN development assistance framework for Ethiopia. The UN family will continue to scale up programmes and interventions which have proven to have a positive impact on girls and women s empowerment. We will ensure that our interventions deliver concrete results through rigorous monitoring and evaluation systems. Finally, let us use this occasion to recommit ourselves to empowering adolescent girls through strategies, interventions and partnerships that deliver results so we can jointly end child marriage and FGM/C by 2025 or sooner. Ladies and Gentlemen, we should not forget: Girls and women are not just victims, they are agents of change and equal partners in ending child marriage and FGM/C. I am confident that Ethiopia once again will be a leading example in accomplishing difficult tasks. I am confident that in the future Ethiopia will be a model for eliminating Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage. 7
I thank you. 8