Statement of UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem to the High-Level Segment of the 46th session of the Human Rights Council

Two million additional cases of female genital mutilation may occur over the next decade as COVID-19 shutters schools and disrupts programmes that help protect girls from this harmful practice.  

We must act now to stop this from happening. 

Statement of UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem to the First Regular Session of the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS.

When universal health coverage became an agreed global goal just five years ago, it marked a huge leap forward. It is a vision of care and compassion for one another, in sickness and in health. The COVID-19 pandemic reveals just how vital it is that we make that vision real. None of us is safe until all of us are safe.

Realizing human rights, equal and inalienable for every person, is the most just and meaningful goal of any society.

Human rights are universal principles, yet as Eleanor Roosevelt once reminded us, they begin in “small places, close to home…. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.”

More than a billion people: that’s how many live with a disability today. Some disabilities are apparent, but not all. Learning disabilities and mental disorders, for example, may hinder one’s full and effective participation in society. Often unrecognized, they can profoundly complicate navigating a world with little in the way of accommodation or accessibility.

On World AIDS Day, as we unite in support of people living with and affected by HIV, let us remember all those who have lost their lives to AIDS, and those who mourn them.

As the world combats another virus, COVID-19, it must not forget HIV.

Enough! That’s what we say, today and every day, to all forms of violence against women and girls.

Enough to domestic violence. Enough to rape. Enough to harmful practices like female genital mutilation. And enough to impunity for one of the most flagrant and pervasive violations of human rights.

A statistic is not only a number – it tells a human story. It speaks of people’s health and well-being, problems and prospects, and socio-economic circumstances. When collected and analysed well, statistics can advance sustainable development, identifying those at risk of being left behind.

It is every girl’s right to speak and to be heard.

Today, on the International Day of the Girl, let’s commit to listening to and lifting up girls’ voices.

Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the High-level Meeting on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, 1 October 2020

Remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem to the Meeting of Heads of State and Government on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the
Era of COVID-19 and Beyond on 29 September 2020.