Major groups and other stakeholders released a statement in response to the Secretary-General's 2018 SDGs Progress Report that calls for urgent action and accountability to implement and achieve the 2030 Agenda, stressing it is “now or never”.
In the statement, MGOS share concerns related to the operationalization of SDG 10, a lack of urgency, and accountability, among others.
5 July 2018: Major groups and other stakeholders (MGOS) released a response to the 2018 SDGs Progress Report of the UN Secretary-General, ahead of the 2018 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). In a statement, MGOS reflect that a sense of urgency around achieving the SDGs is lacking, even though “the world is not on track to reach the 2030 Agenda.”
On SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), MGOS describe this SDG as “neglected” because indicators are lacking or “practically unmeasurable” and no UN agency has “claimed” SDG 10, meaning that it lacks UN ownership. MGOS note that Member States have neglected to operationalize the concept of leave no one behind by taking concrete steps to reduce inequalities, particularly for discriminated against or disenfranchised people and groups, or ensuring access to services or opportunities, among other challenges. Further, MGOS state that the Secretary-General’s progress report misses opportunities to make connections between individual SDG statistics and inequalities within and between countries, such as low levels of access to electricity and handwashing facilities in least developed country (LDC) primary schools.
Further, MGOS state that Member States have failed to reflect these SDG 10 challenges in the 2018 HLPF draft ministerial declaration, lamenting that delegates debate the “semantics of referring to ‘vulnerable people’ or ‘people in vulnerable situations’ without committing to concrete or urgent actions to ensure equality of opportunity of equality of circumstances.” MGOS further contrast the climate change impacts faced by small island developing States (SIDS) with delegates’ debates over climate change versus “weather-related incidents.”
On accountability, MGOS state that governments at the global level “[get] away with their inertia on SDG implementation” because of limited civil society participation and media presence at the HLPF as well as the non-binding nature of the 2030 Agenda. MGOS argue the HLPF’s current mandate is “a long way from providing a meaningful mechanism” to hold governments accountable. They recommend that the UN General Assembly (UNGA) dedicate increased time, resources and commitment to making the HLPF a mechanism for accountability and engagement, including through addressing identified challenges in its review of HLPF modalities during the 74th session of UNGA.
On voluntary national reviews (VNRs), MGOS observe that the “voluntary” nature of such reviews limit government accountability, noting that many VNR reports “cherry-pick” the SDGs under review in that particular year. MGOS further criticize the VNR presentations, and say that they “obscure” the impact of one country on other countries’ SDG progress.
On official development assistance (ODA), MGOS call on donor countries to “consistently report on their ODA” and for the HLPF to “explicitly recognize” that, unless there are significant increases in international public finance, developing countries cannot realistically plan to implement or achieve the SDGs.
In conclusion, MGOS emphasize that “time is running out” to achieve the 2030 Agenda and make the SDGs meaningful. They caution that this HLPF may be the last opportunity for the UN to demonstrate its leadership on sustainable development and for the international community to generate the political momentum to reach the SDGs.
As of 5 July, 97 organizations have signed the statement. [MGOS statement] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on HLPF Ministerial Declaration negotiations] [SDG Knowledge Hub coverage of HLPF process]