EU Explanation of vote – UN General Assembly 2nd Committee: Eradication Rural Poverty to Implement the 2030 Agenda

Chair,

I am speaking on behalf of the European Union and 37 UN Member States, knowingly, the EU Member States as well as Japan, the United Kingdom, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Iceland.

I would like to thank the facilitator, the Secretariat, and the coordinator from the G77 and China for their efforts. 

We care deeply about poverty eradication. We work in partnership with developing countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda and ensure no one is left behind. Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere is a prerequisite to achieve progress across all the SDGs. However, we continue to have fundamental concerns regarding this resolution. 

Despite our good faith engagement, we are disappointed that, like last year, we made nearly no progress on the recurring issues that have prevented consensus on this resolution for more than eight years. Still, we welcome that this year’s resolution reaffirms ‘our collective commitment to multilateralism, international cooperation and to the United Nations’, promotes rural women’s ‘full access to land ownership, decent work opportunities, and their participation in decision-making’ and emphasizes that cooperation on digital, information and communications technology, science, technology and innovation must be based ‘on mutually agreed terms’. 

In our view, this resolution is duplicative.  The Secretary General produces an annual report that analyzes progress on the eradication of poverty holistically, and the issue of rural poverty should be addressed through that report.  It would be preferable to focus solely on the UN Third Decade of Poverty Eradication resolution, adopted by consensus. Moreover, we are disappointed that problematic ideological text remains and continues to reflect the domestic policies and political ideology of a single member state. We cannot accept the references to “win-win cooperation”, and “building a shared future for humankind”. We object to the use of language that emphasizes particular concepts and thus tacitly excludes some of the universally accepted  international standards and good practices for sustainable development that were adopted in the 2030 Agenda, such as the rule of law, human rights, transparency, equality, equity, accountability and leaving no-one behind. Further, the meaning of a community of nations is already present in the UN Charter and thus should not be re-interpreted. 

The transfer of technology that we commit to must be voluntary and on mutually agreed terms. We would have liked to see a clear and unambiguous language in this regard. 

We have joined more than a quarter of the Committee membership on voting “no” on this resolution. 

Chair, next year we look forward to finding a compromise that would enable all delegations to join consensus and view eradication of rural poverty in a holistic manner.

Thank you.