National statement, delivered by H.E. Charlotte Kugelberg, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN, at the UN Women Executive Board Second Regular Session, New York, 9 September 2026
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Madam Executive Director, Exellencies,
Sweden remains a steadfast supporter of UN Women’s critical triple mandate. We welcome the good results in advancing global norms and standards, women’s economic empowerment, political participation, women, peace and security, humanitarian action, and efforts to end gender-based violence.
Sweden thanks UN Women for the report on the structured dialogue on financing. We appreciate the transparency of the reporting process while recognizing the growing financial pressures facing the organisation. Despite these challenges, UN Women continues to deliver important results for women and girls worldwide.
We encourage continued efforts to diversify the funding base through engagement with private and philanthropic partners, new government donors, and international financial institutions, while increasing flexible and multi-year funding.
Sweden is a long-standing and significant contributor to both core and non-core resources. We are proud to be UN Women’s largest bilateral donor. Our support is accompanied by high expectations regarding effectiveness, transparency, sound financial management, and measurable results, particularly at country level.
The UN80 initiative is an opportunity to strengthen the effectiveness of the multilateral system, and you can count on Sweden’s strong support to the process. We welcome the constructive engagement of all parties and the commitment shown to advance meaningful reform. We have consistently argued that country-level delivery must remain at the core of all reform efforts. UN Women’s continued engagement in implementing agreed reforms is imperative in this context.
In light of this, we are not in a position to support a potential merger between UN Women and UNFPA, as it has not been demonstrated that such a merger would safeguard mandates or strengthen country-level delivery.
Sweden welcomes the information provided on alternative options to a merger. These alternatives align well with the ambitions of the UN80 initiative. We encourage UN Women to move forward with implementation and keep this Board informed of progress.
In closing, it is vital that UN Women continues to deliver across its full triple mandate, with strong country-level implementation at its core.
UN Women can count on Sweden’s continued support and engagement. In return, we count on your leadership.
Thank you.
