Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
With respect to forced child marriages, and I mentioned this in my comments, today an estimated one in three girls in the developed world is married before the age of 18. This practice, in my opinion, and I think others, denies girls their rights to an education, to health care services, and to future opportunities.
I want to be very clear. Canada is committed to taking a leadership role with respect to this issue. I stated that at the United Nations when I was there in October. We will continue to find ways to partner with others across the globe in order to combat this. I want to be very clear, and I'll state again what I stated in my notes, that when I was at the United Nations in New York on October 11 for International Day of the Girl Child, I was very pleased to formally announce that Canada is working with other partner countries to pursue the first-ever stand-alone resolution on child, early, forced marriages. This will be put forward by Canada at the UN General Assembly later this year.
Our government has taken a leadership role in addressing health challenges faced by women, newborns, and children in the world's poorest countries. Our government has been very focused on attaining real results. By focusing on areas where Canada is a world leader, we have put forward, and our Prime Minister put forward, the Muskoka initiative.
Now, as a physician, I'll be very clear. Interventions on pre- and postpartum care—I'm not sure if the member wants to hear this—are exceptionally important. She would know as a family physician, as I do as a pediatric surgeon, that these are life-saving acts. When you're standing in an emergency department, when you are standing in a circumstance where you could have sterile instruments but you don't, you know what the risks are to that child. I can tell you that my preference is always to be in a safe and controlled environment, which is what we are creating, and that's what Canadians—