21 June 2023

CANZ Statement

Thank you Mr President.

As Australia's inaugural Ambassador for Human Rights, I am pleased to deliver this statement on behalf of Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

We thank the Working Group for its comprehensive report. The feminisation of poverty is widely recognised and documented.

the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights for women and girls in all their diversity is a key component of gender equality. This report makes clear that poverty and economic inequalities are human rights issues, negatively contributing to the whole spectrum of civil, cultural, economic, environmental, political and social rights of both present and future generations.

The discrimination experienced by women and girls living in poverty impacts all areas of life. This can be compounded for women and girls experiencing intersecting inequalities, stemming from discrimination on multiple grounds of race, ethnicity religion, disability, age, socioeconomic and migration status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

discriminatory norms and harmful gender stereotypes contribute to maintaining and deepening these inequalities, thereby keeping women and girls in cycles of poverty.

our countries take a human rights-based approach. We understand that the rights of women and girls to live free from poverty and inequality are systematically tied to a range of socioeconomic inequalities and rights violations.

Chair, would the working group expand on how we can best work collectively to dismantle the social and cultural norms that continue to enable discrimination against women and girls in all their diversity? (279 words)