Joint statement, delivered by the Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations, Samuel Žbogar, on behalf of Mexico, Slovenia and Spain, at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, Agenda item 121: Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly

Thank you Madam President and thank you for very clear messages and your call to all of us to align our actions with the resolutions that we are adopting.

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of Mexico, Spain and my own country Slovenia.

Madam President,

Thank you for convening this plenary meeting on the issue of General Assembly Revitalization during the 80th session.

First of all, we would like to thank the co-chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly during its 79th Session: the Permanent Representatives of the Republic of South Africa, Ambassador Mathu Joyini, and Romania, Ambassador Cornel Feruță.

The Ad Hoc Working Group under your leadership delivered an outcome (Resolution 79/327) with a number of important achievements.

Madam President,

A year ago, on this very podium, Slovenia, together with Mexico and Spain, and joined by a group of 79 other Member States, delivered a statement highlighting the importance of gender equality and the representation of women in leadership positions at the United Nations. We continued our engagement towards greater gender parity throughout the session, together with a large group of like-minded states.

The strong support of the wider membership to the message on the importance of gender balance and parity resulted in the adoption of key provisions within Resolution 79/327.

We welcome the provisions on the representation of women and gender balance in the top two most visible leadership positions. We see it as progress towards facilitating more equal representation of women and men in UN leadership, but much more remains to be done.

Madam President, your election as only the 5^th woman ever to serve as the President of the General Assembly is historic. However, it also reminds us that in the 80 years of our Organization, only a handful of women have presided over the General Assembly, and no woman has ever held the position of UN Secretary-General.

These facts are not only regrettable; they are unacceptable.

We therefore look forward to seeing more women put forward as candidates for both the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General, and we urge Member States to uphold the principle of gender balance throughout the nomination, selection and appointment processes.

At the same time, we call on Member States to consider additional measures to close the persistent gender gap. In line with Resolution 79/327 we look forward to exploring concrete steps to address the gender disparity in the position of the President of the General Assembly at the 81^st Session. One such step could be an agreement on the rotation between men and women in this important role.

But no matter what formula or mechanism we agree on, the outcome must be clear: an agreement among member states on a procedure to ensure gender parity in future selection processes for all UN leadership positions.

Madam President,

The urgency of this issue is undeniable. The United Nations is facing uncertain and challenging times. To take us forward, we need to take advantage of all the talent, experience and potential of the people the UN represents, including half of the global population that has so far been too often excluded from leading it.

Underrepresentation of women has no place in modern societies, political decision-making or multilateralism. Real change is not only necessary, but has long been overdue.

Madam President,

Some changes take time, but others require bold and immediate action. Now is the moment to be bold, to demand concrete action and results, both within the Revitalization process and beyond. Let’s make sure the UN leads by example and demonstrate our collective commitment to gender equality through the full, equal and meaningful participation of women at the highest levels of decision-making. Let’s end the 80^th Session the General Assembly with a woman President of the General Assembly and incoming woman Secretary-General.

I thank you.

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