Joint Nordic Statement: UNICEF Executive Board Annual Session 2025

Joint Nordic Statement by H.E. Ms. Anna Johannsdottir,
Permanent Representative of Iceland to the United Nations
UNICEF Executive Board Annual Session 2025
Annual report on the implementation of the UNICEF Gender Action Plan, 2022–2025, item 6
12 June, 2025

Mr/Madam President, 

I make this statement on behalf of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and my own country, Iceland.

Let me begin by expressing our appreciation for this briefing on the implementation of the Gender Action Plan for 2022 to 2025. We are encouraged by the progress outlined in the report, which shows that UNICEF is reaching more girls than ever before.

The report clearly reflects the importance of placing girls at the centre of programming and the benefit of employing the two-track approach that both advances gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. 

In light of the persistent challenges facing adolescent girls, the Nordics would like to emphasise the importance of UNICEF’s work in this field. Globally, one in five girls is married before the age of 18, and adolescent girls continue to face higher risk of violence and limited access to education, particularly in humanitarian settings - where we need to double down on our commitments 

We therefore encourage UNICEF to continue to strengthen gender integration in humanitarian response programming and further integrate gender-transformative approaches across all areas of work. 

We are pleased to see strong results through UNICEF’s skill building programmes, such as Skills4Girls, which equip girls for the future and directly reduce early school dropout and child marriage.

UNICEF’s role in revitalizing HPV vaccination campaigns is another highlight, which has yielded impressive results through community-based outreach. 

Furthermore, the Nordics commend UNICEF’s work in high-prevalence HIV areas, where community-led initiatives helped over 80 percent of adolescent girls to gain new knowledge and skills through HIV awareness programmes.

We would also like to use this opportunity to highlight the importance of UNICEF’s internal progress on gender parity, particularly at senior levels. However, we note the underrepresentation of women in emergency duty stations and the gaps in how women experience the workplace. 

As UNICEF prepares its next Gender Action Plan, the Nordics would like to emphasise that access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and comprehensive sexuality education for adolescents must be a priority. SRHR is important not only for the health and well-being of adolescent girls, but also for their empowerment and full participation in society. It also plays an important role in reducing early and forced marriages and preventing gender-based violence.

Bearing in mind that preparations for the next Gender Action Plan are currently underway, we would like to ask: 
• How does UNICEF plan to sustain and scale up successful initiatives like Skills4Girls to reach even more adolescent girls, especially in fragile and humanitarian settings?

In closing, we would like to underscore the importance of UNICEF remaining firmly rooted in its core operational priorities, in line with its mandate to protect and promote the rights of every child. These priorities include advancing gender equality, and we encourage UNICEF to continue scaling up efforts that empower girls and ensure that their needs are fully integrated into programming across all areas of work.