Zambia has told the United Nations that it has remained steadfast in efforts aimed at reducing poverty and social exclusion of the vulnerable.

Delivering Zambia’s national statement at the 61st Session of the Commission for Social Development at UN Headquarters in New York , Community Development and Social Services Minister Doreen Mwamba said the Zambian Government was committed to implementing social protection programmes whose coverage is targeted at the poor, with a special focus on reducing poverty, hunger and vulnerability among women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

This year’s session is taking place under the priority theme, “Creating full and productive employment and decent work for all as a way of overcoming inequalities to accelerate the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

In her statement Ms. Mwamba welcomed the session’s theme, which she said was a fundamental element for achieving poverty eradication and sustainable development as a whole.

In order to create productive employment and decent work for all, the Minister said the Zambian Government was implementing Comprehensive Social Security Reforms aimed at addressing the plight of workers both in the formal and informal sectors.

The Minister further informed the Commission that Government remained committed to implementing the 10 per cent quota for persons with disabilities in all types of employment as provided under the Persons with Disability Act of 2012.

The Minister informed the UN that Zambia enacted the Children’s Code Act No. 12 of 2022 with the aim of safeguarding children’s rights and enhancing child protection.

“The Act will contribute strengthening the role of the family in addressing harmful practices such as child marriage, child labour, child abandonment, which has contributed to high levels of vulnerable children in childcare facilities across the country,” Ms. Mwamba said. To this effect, the Zambian Government had introduced a new policy to ensure that all married couples employed in the civil service were not separated. “This is in an effort to ensure families are stregthened by keeping them together.”

This is according to a statement issued by First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations in New York, United States of America, Namatama Njekwa