Ávarp Katrínar Jakobsdóttur forsætisráðherra í aðalumræðum á fundi kvennanefndar Sameinuðu þjóðanna í New York 15. mars 2022

66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 15 March 2022

Statement by H.E. Ms. Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland

Honorable chair.

Iceland applauds this year’s priority theme and the opportunity to discuss the intersection of two of my government’s top priorities, achieving gender equality and combating climate change.

Iceland has ambitious action plans to reach these goals and has made good progress along the way. We are happy to share our insights, and we are also here to learn.

We recognize that Iceland’s Climate Action Plan will have a significant socio-economic impact. Therefore, we must run gender impact assessments before implementing the plan and its action.

Ideally, all actions should meet our social justice and gender equality goals, and meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

Throughout centuries, Iceland has benefitted in many ways from being an island. The vast oceans have sheltered us and surrounded with ample fishing grounds. With climate change, we have not been spared the effects, we see them for example in the receding of our glaciers and acidification of our oceans.

No country is an island when it comes to the effects of the climate crisis. Our future is dependent on one another, our destiny is universal.

Similarly, the fight for gender equality is universal. And now, it has become integrally linked to the climate crisis.

Women and girls are visibly disproportionately affected by climate change in areas suffering through droughts, land erosion and extreme weather. The consequences for women are both economic and social, challenging our progress towards many of the sustainable development goals.

The climate crisis has exacerbated instability and inequality, causing poverty and displacement. Access to education and health is affected, including sexual and reproductive health services to women and girls.

Iceland is one of the leaders of the Generation Equality Forum’s Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence. I would like to address the surge in gender-based violence during world-wide crises, as we have seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The climate crisis is already having destabilizing effects on peace and security. When people are displaced, women and girls are inherently subjected to vulnerable situations and are therefore under greater threat of gender-based violence.

This is now tragically on display in Ukraine because of Russia´s horrendous invasion. More than a million people have already fled their homes to seek shelter in the neighboring countries, and millions will follow.

Ukrainians fleeing the horrors have been met with sympathy and support, and I commend every country and every person who has contributed to this humanitarian effort. Still, grim experience sadly tells us that such mass displacement of persons can lead to massive violence against women and girls.

As we see more migration due to the climate crisis and outright war, we must prevent another “shadow-pandemic” of gender-based violence, as we have seen recently with the “shadow-pandemic” of gender-based violence during COVID-19.

Honorable Chair,

When discussing the future –these two enormous topics, social justice and the health of our planet, topics that will affect every facet of people’s lives throughout the next years and decades – we must include young people.

Young people have shown, with inspirational examples, that they are amazingly capable of mobilizing one another, and, in many cases, they are the best advocates of a more equitable and sustainable future –their own future. They are also fantastic at holding us – especially those in power – accountable, expecting less talk, and more action.

Women must play a key role in highlighting the impacts of climate change. There are many remarkable women at the forefront of this crucial discussion; activists, human rights defenders, scientists, policy makers and politicians.

We need more women to lead the way, we need more women at the table where big, impactful decisions are made. I am in no doubt that the world would be a better place with more women in the lead.

The climate crisis is not just an environmental issue, it is also an enormous social justice issue and an economic issue. We must use this opportunity in fighting the effects of climate change and creating a more sustainable planet, to also create more just and equal societies all around the globe.

This way, both planet and people will have a double benefit, which will hopefully lead all of us into a brighter and better future.