외교부

Statement by Ambassador Park In-Kook
Permanent  Representative

UNICEF Executive Board First Regular Session 2010
Agenda item 3 : Annual report to the Economic and Social Council

January 12, 2010

New York


Mr. President,

At the outset，allow me to begin by congratulating you on the assumption of the presidency and by wishing you a successful stewardship. Taking this opportunity, I would like to express our delegation's deep appreciation to Ms. Vennaman, Executive Director, for her extraordinary energy and dedication as well as her strong leadership for the last five years. Under her leadership, UNICEF has become a better equipped, more capable, and more robust organization to help children reach their full potential all over the world and to meet the challenges children face in the 21st Century. She leaves a strong legacy not only to UNICEF, but also the larger UN system. For this, we thank her. 

UNICEF 's role in providing a safer environment for children around the world is now more important than ever before, this is especially true at the present juncture as development work overall is experiencing the negative effects of the global economic downturn. In this regard, my delegation appreciates UNICEF’s efforts to minimize the negative effects of the global economic downturn by building a strategic partnership with emerging donors and private actors. The Republic of Korea further strengthened such efforts through the Korea-UNICEF Framework Agreement, which was signed on 22 September of last year by my Foreign Minister and UNICEF’s Executive Director. I believe that this framework agreement set a firm foundation for our stronger cooperation.

My delegation also notes with great appreciation that UNICEF has placed its partnerships with other UN organizations, from programming to budgeting and financial rules, at the center of its partnership strategy. “Delivering as one” is an aim which lies at the very heart of any discussion on UN reform. The harmonization and coherence of efforts among various UN bodies and fora is essential to successful development assistance to states in need. 

Mr. President, 

My delegation greatly values UNICEF’s focus on "capacity development"an important factor in ensuring that the effects of development work are long lasting and sustainable as indicated in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. We also regard UNICEF’s initiatives to expand access of its national partners to development knowledge, to administer training courses on effective evaluation, and to build an integrated data collection system as major progresses in strengthening the "capacity development " component of effective development.

Among these progresses, we particularly appreciate UNICEF ‘s endeavors in building a streamlined data collection system. The system represents a stepping stone in helping to design development programs based on sufficient information on the situations and needs of states in question. The well accumulated data of one state can serve as a valuable reference to another state experiencing a similar situation, facilitating a deeper understanding of the significance of South- South Cooperation. In this connection, my delegation recommends UNICEF to further study ways that leading countries in the field of information technology, including my country, can support such efforts. 

Now, I would like to touch upon UNICEF’s scheme in applying the concept of gender mainstreaming and equity into every facet of its work, while recognizing the close link between the protection of children’s rights and those of women's rights. The training of staff members on the concept of gender mainstreaming is the first step towards realizing this goal. Thus, UNICEF’s efforts for recruiting gender mainstreaming- related experts can contribute to filling the gap between UNICEF's goal and the current situation. Partnerships with other UN organizations, particularly UNIFEM, would also be helpful in bringing about improvements in this area. The Korean Government highly anticipates the imp1ementation of a common introductory e- learning course on gender for staff, produced by UNICEF jointly with UNDP, UNFPA, and UNIFEM in this crucial area.

Furthermore, we appreciate UNICEF's approach to the humanitarian response based on gender equality. We applaud UNICEF's drive to expand this concept to a broader organizational policy and program development through the Global Consultation on Gender Equality in humanitarian action held in February of last year, and to recruit a related specialist.

Mr. President,

Lastly, I would like to emphasize the importance of monitoring and evaluation. I believe that the proper protection of children's human rights can be realized only when UNICEF's policies and programs are well implemented and carried out. The best practice and implementation can be ensured through an effective monitoring and evaluation process. The results of this monitoring and evaluation must serve as feedback in making policies and programs, which will constitute an important first step to further improvement.

As such, my delegation highly commends UNICEF’s attitudes to utilize the Joint Inspection Unit's reports relevant to UNICEF as an effective tool to evaluate objectively and compare its policies with similar policies of other UN organizations. UNICEF's considerable efforts to reflect JIU's recommendations in various aspects and work of the United Nations in its own policy and planning, therefore, illustrate the important role and value of efficient monitoring and evaluation. In anticipation of JIU's additional reports, we hope UNICEF will continue to participate in such objective evaluations.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards, which allows states to review internal and external audit reports under certain conditions, will improve the evaluation system. The Republic of Korea expects the IPSAS, to be adopted in 2012, to carry out its intended role in ensuring the transparency of UNICEF's monitoring and evaluation functions.

With a stronger partnership and an improved system of UNICEF, we can provide a better future for the children of the world. In conclusion, my delegation would like to reiterate Korea's continuous support for UNICEF's noble work and extend our appreciation for its untiring dedication to children in need. Thank you / end/