The co-facilitators of the Ministerial Declaration to be adopted at the 2021 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) have circulated a final outline for the zero draft of the declaration. Feedback on the outline has been provided by the NGO Major Group.

An initial draft outline was discussed at virtual consultations on 7 April 2021. In a letter of 12 April, the co-facilitators share an updated, final structure for the Ministerial Declaration.

The original outline proposed to include sections on: the impact of COVID-19 on the 2030 Agenda; progress towards the SDGs under review in 2021 (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, and 17); and accelerated actions to achieve the SDGs.

The final outline has an additional section on “other priority issues.” This section would address multi-dimensional poverty, leaving no one behind, human rights, social inclusion, gender, children and youth, disaggregated data, localization, and digital connectivity, among several other topics. These topics were previously included as cross-cutting issues under the section on the SDGs under in-depth review.

The NGO Major Group provided feedback on the final outline. Their response:

• Calls for a focus on the root causes of problems and on enabling systemic change;
• Notes the need to expand cooperation efforts such as extending the G20’s debt service suspension initiative to middle-income countries to ease COVID-19 responses and vaccination access;
• Suggests that the section on ‘Assessing the SDGs’ include a call to reorient the economic system to include measures of wellbeing, “moving away from the unwavering focus on GDP”;
• In the section on ‘Other priority issues,’ suggests highlighting the importance of civil society participation, as well as accountability measures, including for the private sector; and
• In the section on ‘Accelerated actions,’ calls for highlighting policy coherence as a key component.

The co-facilitators intend to circulate the zero draft of the Declaration on 16 April. The Permanent Representatives of Finland and Iraq are serving as co-facilitators for the Ministerial Declaration.

The 2021 session of the HLPF will take place from 6-15 July, under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). [Co-facilitators’ letters on HLPF Ministerial Declaration] [SDG Knowledge Hub sources]