Annual Session – UN Women Executive Board Item 7: Strategic Plan 2026 – 2029

Benelux Joint Statement delivered by
H.E. Mr. Olivier Maes
Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg

New York, 18 June 2025

Thank you, Madam President.

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Benelux countries, Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and my own country, Luxembourg.

Let me begin by thanking Executive Director Sima Bahous for her presentation. We commend UN Women for the progress achieved in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, as outlined in the annual report. These gains are all the more significant in a context marked by an increasingly organized and institutionalized pushback against gender equality.

We are encouraged to see that the new Strategic Plan draws from the lessons learned during the previous cycle and is firmly anchored in the guidance provided by the 2024 Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR). We recommend that UN Women also proactively integrate the findings of the MOPAN Assessment Report, which offers valuable insights into lessons learned and identifies gaps to address in the next Strategic Plan period.

We welcome the responsiveness of UN Women to the expectations expressed by Member States—particularly in strengthening joint programming, enhancing coherence and harmonization, focusing on comparative advantage for greater efficiency, and clearly articulating its coordinating role in gender mainstreaming across the UN system. We emphasize that leveraging UN Women’s gender expertise in support of Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators, as well as their country teams, will be essential to effectively bridge existing gaps on gender equality across the system.

As the rights of women and girls—especially those most marginalized—continue to face serious threats, we commend UN Women for embedding the principle of Leaving No One Behind and an intersectional, rights-based approach at the core of the new Strategic Plan. These are not just guiding principles—they are essential tools for achieving sustainable progress.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of UN Women—a moment to reflect, but also to look forward. The adoption of this new Strategic Plan comes at a pivotal juncture. We wish to reaffirm that UN Women’s mandate is more vital than ever and therefore note with appreciation the continued commitment to the integrated approach of the Triple Mandate, which is a cornerstone of UN Women’s unique value proposition within the UN system.

With respect to the UN80 reform and the Humanitarian Reset, we encourage UN Women to articulate more clearly how these reform processes will be reflected in the implementation of the Strategic Plan. While the Plan references system-wide transformation and UN Women’s positioning within it, we would welcome a stronger emphasis on UN Women’s key role in ensuring that gender equality remains a priority across the UN system and that the gender architecture is reinforced throughout the reform processes. We believe UN80 and the Humanitarian Reset present critical opportunities to renew momentum around gender mainstreaming in the lead-up to 2030.

Finally, as the next Strategic Plan will be implemented in a challenging and evolving environment, we welcome UN Women’s recognition of the current funding gap, and the strategies outlined to both consolidate traditional partnerships and develop new ones. However, we encourage UN Women to clearly define its strategic priorities and articulate the trade-offs required to ensure the most efficient and impactful use of its resources. We would like to use this opportunity to ask what strategy will be used by UN Women to refine its global footprint, as stated in the new Strategic Plan.

With this new Strategic Plan, UN Women seeks to look ahead with urgency and resolve. This is needed. We hereby reaffirm our commitment to UN Women and its essential Triple Mandate.

I thank you Madam President.