Major Groups and other stakeholders have submitted a series of position papers on the theme of the July 2022 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), ‘Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.’ The executive summaries of the position papers are consolidated into a note by the UN Secretariat, which is available in an advance, unedited edition.

Paragraph 85 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for stakeholders to be engaged in thematic reviews of progress on the SDGs at the HLPF. The note (E/HLPF/2022/2) titled, ‘Discussion papers on the theme of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, submitted by major groups and other stakeholders,’ was released on 22 April 2022. It includes summaries from ten Major Groups: Women; Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs); Local Authorities; Workers and Trade Unions; Education and Academia; Business and Industry; Persons with Disabilities; Volunteers; Ageing; and Scientific and Technological Community. Other stakeholders whose position papers are summarized in the note are: Asia-Pacific Regional Civil Society Organization (CSO) Engagement; Africa Regional Mechanism for Major Groups and Other Stakeholders; Communities Discriminated by Work and Descent; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons; Financing for Development (FfD); and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

In their messages, the Women’s Major Group outlines a “vision in which we all celebrate, protect, and honor the full diversity of human life and the planet with a special focus on fulfilling the human rights of women, girls, and gender-diverse people.”

The NGO Major Group urges Member States to address vaccine inequity, conflict and geopolitical instability, gender discrimination and violence, accelerating climate impacts, and unequal access to green technologies.

Many contributions underscore the impacts of multiple environmental crises the world is facing today, exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine. The UN Major Group for Science and Technology stresses that “international cooperation is essential to solve the most pressing problems of our interdependent societies,” and warns that the “ongoing conflict is threatening to derail all global efforts to tackle those problems and to achieve a resilient, just and sustainable world for everyone.”

Several inputs emphasize the role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in achieving the SDGs while building back better from COVID-19. The Business and Industry Major Group, for example, notes that partnerships are critical for a sustainable recovery that leaves no one behind. To “address the broken global economic architecture,” FfD calls for a review of development outcomes of public-private-partnerships (PPPs).

The full position papers will be posted on the HLPF website. [Publication: Advance Unedited Version: Discussion Papers on the Theme of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Submitted by Major Groups and Other Stakeholders]