Discurso do Representante Permanente, Embaixador Tovar da Silva Nunes, no Dia Internacional de Cuidado e Apoio

Banner de promoção do evento

O Representante Permanente, Embaixador Tovar da Silva Nunes, participou, como orador, no dia 29/10/24, em evento intitulado "The commemoration of the International Day of Care and Support: investing in human rights-based care and support economy in attaining the Agenda 2030", promovido pela ONU-Mulheres, pela Organização Internacional do Trabalho, e pelo Alto Comissariado das Nações Unidas para os Direitos Humanos, em Genebra.

A data comemorativa foi estabelecida pela Resolução 77/317 das Nações Unidas, com o objetivo de sublinhar os direitos das pessoas que trabalham com cuidado, bem como das pessoas que dele necessitam.

O evento foi realizado no Palais des Nations e contou com a presença de vários representantes permanentes das missões aqui sediadas e autoridades no tema.

Segue, abaixo, íntegra do discurso proferido pelo Representante Permanente na ocasião:

“I would like to congratulate UN Women, the International Labor Organization, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for the initiative of bringing us together to celebrate the International Day of Care and Support.

More than just a commemoration, the event gives us the opportunity to exchange experiences on the matter, which is so relevant in our times - to the point of constituting a specific economic sector - and, at the same time, still has several gaps to be addressed.

The fast-growing care economy, comprising both paid and unpaid care work, is essential to all other work and to the well functioning of our societies. In the care economy, the great majority of workers lack the basic social and labor protections, and inequalities of all kind are pervasive. As it normally happens, these inequalities have a more severe impact on the most vulnerable groups.

In particular, we can hardly think of another activity where gender inequalities are more evident. The figures are eloquent and speak for themselves: in Brazil, women dedicate 9.6 more hours per week to domestic work and caring for people than men; moreover, around 92% of women aged 14 or over perform some form of care or domestic work, to the detriment of their participation, retention and progression in the workforce.

Globally speaking, the situation does not change significantly, as demonstrated in the 2024 Gender Snapshot, published by UN Women and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Aware of such circumstances, Brazil is working to promote decent work in this economic sector. Last July, the Brazilian government submitted to the Congress a bill aimed at establishing the National Care Policy. The proposal aims to guarantee the rights of both the people who need and those who provide care - with a special attention to gender, racial, ethnic, and territorial inequalities.

Furthermore, during the Brazilian presidency of the G20, the Working Group on Women's Empowerment discussed the reality of undervalued and unpaid work in the care economy. One of its main outcomes was the hosting of the international seminar "Care Work and the Sustainability of Life and the Economy", this past July, where experts from different G20 countries and from international organizations discussed a global approach to the care economy, the impact of care work in the use of time and the overburden on women, among other topics.

It is also important to recall that, in February 2024, Brazil joined the Global Alliance for Care, a multistakeholder initiative jointly convened by Mexico and UN Women. This platform comprises, now, more than 200 members, including countries, international organizations, civil society representatives, unions, academia and philanthropic entities, to exchange experiences on the topic.

Sharing experiences is certainly one of the best ways to give visibility to the needs of the care and support workers, which can be forsaken in the national and international levels. I therefore congratulate the organizers once again for promoting the event and look forward to hearing other views on the matter.”