General Assembly
Statement by
Dr. Uri Resnick
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
28 October 2009
Mr. Chairman,
I wish to open by thanking the Secretary-General for this important reprort on human resources development. As affirmed in the Draft Resolution on this agenda item, a coherent, multi-faceted approach is necessary in order to eradicate poverty and advance human resources development. Legal empowerment of the poor, specifically in terms of property and labor rights, coupled with promotion of employment and gender equality, should be approached as inter-related challenges that require a coordinated response.
Israel supports the work of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor and welcomes the Secretary-General’s report on this key subject, which we recognize as a precondition for reducing poverty. Equipping people with the awareness of their rights to obtain property and the means of accumulating it through gainful employment are without doubt the sine qua non of any successful transition from poverty to self-sustenance. Moreover, as research studies consistently show, gender inequalities are a central factor hindering progress in eliminating extreme poverty.
In fact, the emphasis on the key role of women’s empowerment in combating poverty has long been a cornerstone of Israel’s approach to sustainable development. Embodying this view, The Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center, based in Haifa, has addressed the connection between gender, poverty reduction and sustainable development for nearly 50 years. By training many thousands of professional women and men from developing countries and transitional societies, and providing them with the necessary tools for women's empowerment, the center offers a successful model to reduce poverty in a meaningful way. The rich experience gained through this prolonged activity offers some insight into successful strategies for tackling gender-equality challenges.
On one hand, we have focused on directly training women from developing countries in such fields as entrepreneurial success, microenterprise development, rural tourism, creation of additional sources of income, small holder agricultural techniques, media strategies for social change and many others.
In addition, we have emphasized the development of empowerment strategies to heighten the consciousness of policy makers to issues relating to women’s economic and social welfare and to foster capacity building of women’s organizations. In this vein, we look forward to hosting in Israel some 60 women leaders from over 50 countries, as well as the United Nations Special Advisor on Gender Issues, at next month’s “International Conference for Women Leaders”, which will focus on the effects of the global financial crisis on women. We believe that such events serve an important role in creating the networking possibilities between women’s organizations and public-sector decision makers that are necessary to successfully advance the cause of gender equality.
The link between promoting gender equality and fostering employment opportunities in the developing world is wedded to the development of innovative agricultural technologies. By designing market-oriented, sustainable agricultural models that are tailored to the specific needs and capabilities of small holder farming communities, it is possible to simultaneously promote the goals of promoting gender-equality and creating lasting employment opportunities that are, in turn, the most effective means of bringing people out of the cycle of poverty.
Israel is proud to be a pioneer in the field of agro-technological innovation, having engaged in the development of successful models of small holder gravitation-based irrigation systems, and projects designed to inculcate impoverished youth with the agro-technological knowhow they need to ensure a brighter future for themselves. We know that these models work because we have witnessed them flourish in different locales in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. By tackling the inter-related challenges of poverty reduction in a coherent, systematic fashion, such models can make a substantial difference.
Israel is firmly committed to offering its knowhow to advancing the goals of poverty eradication and human resources development. We look forward to engaging with our numerous partners in working on developing and implementing solutions to the many challenges still facing us in this field.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
