STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR ASOKE K MUKERJI, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF INDIA TO THE UN AT THE ANNUAL SESSION OF EXECUTIVE BOARD OF UN WOMEN (17 JUNE, CR-2, CB, Around : 1230 hrs)
 

1. Thank you Mr. President for giving me the floor. Your stewardship of these proceedings has been exemplary!
 

2. I convey my thanks also to the distinguished Executive Director and Under Secretary-General, Madam PhumzileMlambo-Ngcuka for her extremely informative statement.
 

3. We compliment her for an  extremely well crafted report on the progress made in implementing the Strategic Plan 2011 - 2013,  for 2013, which has been placed for consideration before the  Board.
 

4. India very recently completed the world's largest democratic event in human history, i.e. the General Elections. Two interesting statistics drawn from this event would be relevant for our consideration today:
 

5. First, more than 400 million women out of the more than 800 million electorate, were enabled to shaping the decisive election result. This is surely the largest number of women to have participated in elections anywhere in the world so far. In 16 of our states, the turnout of women electorate far outnumbered their male counterparts.
 

6. As this body is aware, with nearly 1.5 million elected women representatives, India is the global leader in implementing the objective of political empowerment of women. These figures substantiate the scale at which the landscape of political empowerment of women in India is rapidly changing. 
 

7. Second, more than 90% of Indian voters who cast their votes, when asked about their expectations from the new government, placed combating of violence against women as a high priority, which was second only to corruption. Tackling this menace has therefore been the highest priority of our new government, which has already pledged zero tolerance in this regard. The campaign "Save the Girl Child, Teach the Girl Child" ( Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao) is demonstrative of this commitment. In this context, we commend UN Women for its programmes across the globe in ending  violence against women.
 

8. Turning now to the Report of the distinguished Executive Director, we note with appreciation that UN Women delivered some $133 million in country programmes in 2013, an implementation rate of 88 per cent overall of budgeted activities, reflecting the highest programme delivery since the Entity s establishment. It is indeed a worthy achievement and deserves emulation by other agencies in the UN Development System.
 

Mr. President,
 

9. Here I would like to pause briefly to highlight two key themes which need to be factored into the programming activities of UN Women as we collectively gear for shaping the development discourse on the post 2015 development agenda.
 

10. First, these activities must reflect a clear vision of a "gender equal world". A comprehensive report outlining UN women's contributions towards this vision, given that 2015 would be your fifth operational year, would be immensely useful for gender issues in the elaboration of the post 2015 development agenda.
 

11. Second, from a developing country perspective, empowering women using enabling technologies, can be a game changer if harnessed and applied to its full potential. Many here are aware that technology has the power to significantly transform the narrative of the women's empowerment debate in developing countries. By applying enhanced Information and Communication Technologies for women in education, healthcare, clean drinking water, and energy, we can significantly empower their role as force-multipliers in society. By facilitating the access to, and use of, such technologies, we can empower women to realize their full potential, including as the manufacturing and services sectors of the economy. In many developing countries where women need to be enabled to become economically empowered while continuing to perform their roles in their homes, the change that such technologies can unleash has immense potential.
 

12. One of the challenges we will face in achieving this objective will be to bridge the digital divide. As a well-researched report released at the first International Forum on Women, ICT, and Development convened by the US State Department last year in Washington DC pointed out,  the gender gap in women's access to the Internet is even greater than that of mobile phones, with women being 23 percent less likely to use the Internet in low-to-medium income countries. That gap soars to 43 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, where men are almost twice as likely to have access to the Internet as women. This lack of access is giving rise to a second digital divide, one where women and girls risk being left further and further behind. The report issued a clear call to action to double the number of women online in the next three years, both by bridging the gender gap and broadening overall access in developing countries. We therefore hope and call upon UN Women to make this theme a key aspect of their programming priority in developing countries.
 

Mr President,
 

13. With regard to the Agenda Items before our consideration for this Session, allow me to state that my delegation places a very high priority on the role of independent evaluations and audits. To us, evaluations provide a very useful source of course correction based on evidence and well researched data, and therefore, compliance with findings and recommendations of Evaluation Reports must be made time bound and their follow up reported upon.
 

14. Second, work on gender equality and empowerment of women continues to remain chronically underfunded. If we have to ensure that UN Women stands for action, the donor community must move beyond the political rhetoric of just stated commitments, and transform them into the much needed monetary support for the organization. A fact pointed out in your earlier report clearly states that OECD-DAC aid commitments for gender equality fell by 19 percent from US$25.3 billion in 2009-2010 to $20.5 billion in 2010-2011.  We hope that this would be addressed sooner than later, and tomorrow's pledging event would witness a correction in this trend.
 

15. As the largest contributor to UN Women Core Resources from developing countries, let me also re-iterate that as part of our stated commitment of five million US dollars to UN Women's core predictable funding, India has already contributed four million US dollars to UN Women so far. We will continue to provide full political and financial support to UN Women and call on others to do likewise.
 

16. To conclude Mr. President, as we collectively strive to achieve the vision of a "gender equal world" through the post 2015 development agenda, allow me to quote the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who writing a letter to the Women of India in Young Indian on October 4, 1930 had said and I quote: "To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it's a man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then women is immeasurably man s superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman"
 

17. We believe that in UN Women, you have the wherewithal to achieve this future for "gender equal" world globally. We reaffirm India s steadfast commitment to achieving that future, whatever effort and resources, the task might take. We assure you that India will always be willing to walk the extra mile, as UN Women embarks upon this journey.
 

Thank You.