Members of MDG Global Watch Excellencies and distinguished participants

I am honoured to participate in the launching of the new global not-for profit organization, MDG Global Watch. I want to congratulate all the members of the organization, in particular Ambassador Irma Loemban Tobing Klein and Mr. Emmanuel Goued Njayick who have been instrumental in the establishment of this organization.

The establishment of MDG Global Watch is very timely in the context of the five year review of implementation of the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs in the General Assembly in 2005. The Millennium Declaration and the MDGs continue to provide a unifying framework for the development activities of Member States of the United Nations and the entities of the United Nations system. Non-governmental organization have also embraced the opportunity the MDG framework provides to address the critical goals of eradicating poverty, achieving universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDs, ensuring environmental sustainability and promoting global partnerships and solidarity. The United Nations system seeks to support Member States in their pursuit of the goals of the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs.

The Millennium Declaration recognized that gender equality was essential for eradication of poverty, disease and hunger and for achieving development that is turely sustainable. Evidence shows that gender equality is a powerful engine for development. It is also increasingly clear that investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity, efficiency and sustained economic growth. Persistent gender inequalities involve a major development constraint. The Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, has pointed out: "There is no time to lose if we are to reach the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015. Only by investing in the world's women can we expect to get there."

One of the MDGS, Goal Three, is specifically focused on gender equality and empowerment of women, with a target on gender disparities in education and indicators on education, wage employment and representation in parliaments. Goal Five is focused on improving maternal health and has a target and indicator related to maternal mortality ratios. The target under Goal Two on achieving universal primary education is gender-specific, focused on access to primary education. One of the indicators under goal Six, on HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, specifically mentions pregnant women in relation to HIV/AIDS. None of the remaining four goals on poverty, child mortality, environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development have gender-specific targets or indicators.

While it is a major achievement to have one goal specifically focused on gender equality and empowerment of women, it is critical to ensure that gender perspectives are incorporated into all other MDGs. Where the millennium development goals have not given explicit attention to gender equality it will be necessary to work to ensure that gender perspectives are clearly outlined in concrete plans for the implementation. There are important gender perspectives which need to be brought to the fore if the MDGs are to be fully implemented, requiring the development of gender-sensitive approaches, targets and indicators. This requires clearly linking the MDGs to the broader framework of the outcomes of the global conferences of the 1990s, particularly the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly. The MDGs comprise a sub-set of the goals established in these global conferences, around which there is intensified global commitment on implementation, and on measurement and reporting of progress.

Reports by UNDP (Millennium Development Goals: National Reports: A Look Through A Gender Lens), the World Bank (Gender and Millennium Development Goals) and UNIFEM (the most recent Progress of the World's Women) have illustrated the importance of gender perspectives in achieving all the MDGs but pointed to a lack of adequate attention to gender perspectives in both the formulation and implementation of the MDGs. It is important to clearly identify the gaps and challenges related to the MDGs, in particular in relation to goals and achievements on critical areas such as violence against women and reproductive health which are not well covered in the MDGs. It needs to be kept in mind , however, that despite significant efforts, few measureable targets were established in the Platform for Action and the outcome of the review and appraisal in 2000. The Millennium Development Goals, with globally endorsed targets and indicators, does therefore represent an important opportunity for increasing the focus on national level implementation and measuring progress and outcomes.

While gender perspectives are relevant to all the MDGs, I would particularly like to highlight three areas where it is imperative for gender perspectives to be included: Goal One on the eradication of poverty and hunger because of the disproportionately high incidence of poverty among women; Goal Four on reducing child mortality where serious inequalities in relation to the girl child in many contexts can be neglected unless targets and indicators are made gender-specific; and in relation to land tenure - in Goal Seven on ensuring environmental sustainability (indicator 31) – because ensuring that women have access to productive resources is critical for sustainable development.

The goals, targets and indicators already established in the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs need to be "unpacked" in terms of their gender equality implications. Clear strategies should be developed for ensuring that all implementation activities take gender perspectives into account, and effective mechanisms need to be established for monitoring progress towards gender equality and the empowerment of women, including gender-sensitive indicators. Targets and indicators are only useful if they are monitored.

There should be an enhanced focus on support to implementation at national levels. It is critical that gender perspectives are given more attention in the annual progress reports to the General Assembly; in the work on statistics and storylines; in support to national reporting processes, in advocacy campaigns, as well as in the work of the Millennium Project and its taskforces. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) should also be used more effectively to support gender-sensitive implementation of the MDGs.

This requires the active involvement of Governments, all parts of the United Nations system, international and regional organizations, including bilateral organizations, NGOs and civil society, academia and the media. Effective partnerships between all actors at different levels will be essential for effective monitoring and accountability. In this context, the work of the MDG Global Watch will be critical.

Finally, the Millennium Project Taskforce on Goal Three, in its final report, points to important progress in achieving the goals of the Beijing Platform for Action but also highlights many persistent constraints and challenges. The taskforce, however, also indicates that progress is possible. Gender inequality is a problem that has a solution. More than three decades of research, activism and innovation, have shown that achieving the goal of greater gender equality and empowerment of women is possible. It does, however, require explicit commitment, concerted action, adequate resources and clear accountability.

The taskforce working on Millennium Development Goal 3 in the Millennium Project recognizes that achieving true gender equality and women's empowerment requires a different vision for the world, not just piecemeal rectification of different aspects of existing inequality between women and men. "The Task Force's vision is of a world in which men and women work together as equal partners to secure better lives for themselves and their families. In this world, women and men share equally in the enjoyment of basic capabilities, economic assets, voice, and freedom from fear and violence. They share the care of children, the elderly, and the sick; the responsibility for paid employment; and the joys of leisure. In such a world, the resources now used for war and destruction are instead invested in human development and well-being; institutions and decision-making processes are open and democratic; and all human beings treat each other with respect and dignity." I am sure that all of us gathered here share this vision and a common commitment to the full integration of gender perspectives into implementation of the Millennium Development Goals to ensure both equality between women and men and achievement of the vision and goals of the Millennium Declaration. We must fully utilize the opportunity that the major review of the Millennium Declaration and MDGS provides. We welcome the inputs of the MDG Global Watch into this important work.

Thank you.