[Delivery by New Zealand]

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of Australia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and my own country, New Zealand.

Chair, every year 12 million girls are married before they reach 18 years of age. The hard-fought gains to eliminate this practice are being reversed, including by the Covid-19 pandemic, and child marriage is on the rise.

The global community needs to renew and strengthen its efforts in order to meet Sustainable Development Goal 5.3 by 2030.

We want to thank the co-facilitators, Canada and Zambia, for running a transparent and inclusive process, and hearing all voices in the room. We particularly welcome their approach of updating the text to focus on accelerating efforts to reach those furthest behind.

To that end, we welcome references to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, as it acknowledges compounding vulnerabilities that increase the risk of child and early forced marriage for many girls, adolescents and women across the world, including the pandemic, climate change and conflict.

Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination can include not only geographical dimensions but also girls belonging to historically excluded groups – including women and girls with disabilities, indigenous women and girls, women and girls belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, and adolescents.

This year’s resolution also includes strengthened references to education. This is pivotal for successfully eliminating child and early forced marriage – as education is a key intervention, but its absence is also a driver of child and early forced marriage.

The resolution also calls for the elimination of loop holes in customary laws that enable, justify or perpetuate child early and forced marriage, another practical measure that we are pleased to see included in the text.

Child and early forced marriage is underpinned by harmful gender norms and discrimination against girls and women. The question of when and with whom to begin sexual activity and family planning decisions are often decided for them in violation of their fundamental sexual and reproductive rights. We regret we could not include strengthened language in the resolution on access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. We would also have liked to see a reference to comprehensive sexuality education which enables adolescents to make informed decisions on their sexual life.

We also welcome new language in the resolution on adolescents as a distinct group who are among the primary victims of child early and forced marriage and have unique needs and challenges as an age group that sits at the intersection between women and girls. In addition, we welcome language on participation, gender-responsive measures and sexual and gender based violence.

We look forward to continuing this important work with other member states and securing further progressive language in the 79th session.