22 June 2016
Stakeholder Groups Provide HLPF Contributions
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The UN Secretariat has compiled discussion papers from Major Groups and other stakeholders on the theme of the 2016 session of the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF), ‘Ensuring that No One is Left Behind.' The report outlines proposals from 11 groups for making progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

hlpf2 May 2016: The UN Secretariat has compiled discussion papers from Major Groups and other stakeholders on the theme of the 2016 session of the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF), ‘Ensuring that No One is Left Behind.’ The report outlines proposals from 11 groups for making progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Women’s Major Group calls for action in the following areas to ensure that the 2030 Agenda will leave no one behind: inclusion and participation of grassroots organizations in planning, implementation and monitoring the 2030 Agenda at local and national level; financing and capacity building for women’s rights groups; and gender disaggregated data to inform gender-responsive SDG implementation, budgets and monitoring.

Children and Youth note that, unlike other marginalized groups addressed in the 2030 Agenda, children have no existing mechanism in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for tracking progress towards child focused goals and targets. They call for addressing this gap to avoid leaving children behind at the HLPF and beyond. They also suggest that the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM), launched in September 2015, should develop guidelines for national-level technology assessment mechanisms that use community-based approaches to assess the social, environmental and economic impacts of a technology.

Indigenous Peoples recommend that disaggregated data should be used for every SDG by including “indigenous identifiers” in national data censuses, household surveys and other data gathering efforts. They also ask UN Member States and the UN System to increase political space for Indigenous Peoples and civil society, and to increase financial resources to support Indigenous Peoples’ participation on SDG implementation, policy formulation, development of national indicators, and data and reports production.

NGOs call on all governments to “urgently develop” national and local strategies for SDG implementation, including concrete, binding action plans with targets, timelines and milestones. They propose that: UN Member States report at least every five years to the HLPF on 2030 Agenda implementation, similarly to country reporting at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC); and that all public-private partnerships be held to account in a fully transparent manner, with “clear terms of reference for what is expected of all parties.”

As part of the NGOs’ contribution, Together 2030 proposes that the HLPF monitor and review the work of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) to ensure that the process respects the ambition of the 2030 Agenda and is linked to regional and national indicators development. Together 2030 also calls on UN Member States to ensure that those “left behind” have the opportunity to participate and contribute to the deliberations of the HLPF.

Local Authorities report that the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, in collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Habitat, have been working on the “localization” of the SDGs, which refers to the implementation and monitoring of SDGs at local and regional levels. It argues that the 2030 Agenda will only be achieved at the sub-national level if appropriate institutional architecture and governance models are established, and indicates that the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments is developing a roadmap of guiding principles and solutions to create an enabling environment for the effective implementation and monitoring of the SDGs at local and regional levels.

Workers and Trade Unions highlight the importance of social dialogue as a critical means for implementing the SDGs. They define social dialogue as any type of negotiation, consultation or exchange of information between representatives of employers, workers and governments on issues relating to economic and social policy, and say social dialogue is an example of multi-stakeholder partnership that has been ongoing in many countries for decades.

The Scientific and Technological Community expresses its “strong” support for the TFM and the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR). It notes the “urgent need to mobilize the data revolution” for the benefit of all countries and stakeholders, and outlines that many datasets available through the International Council for Science (ICSU) World Data System (WDS) data repositories and data services are relevant to the monitoring of SDGs’ implementation.

In order to ensure the participation of a wide range of stakeholders in the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda, the Education and Academia Stakeholder Group calls for offering participation in all UN official languages, and notes that the “English-centred” processes conducted during the negotiation and adoption of the SDGs “greatly limited broad participation.” It says reporting and review must be evidence-based, and “shadow” or stakeholder reports should be given due recognition.

Persons with Disabilities call for utilizing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as a guiding framework in implementing the SDGs, and for including persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in all phases of SDG implementation.

Volunteer Groups recommends that the HLPF: set up an accessible and transparent platform open to all stakeholders; urge UN Member States and stakeholder groups to provide evidence on the involvement of the most marginalized in their reviews; and prioritize climate action.

Finally, the Asia-Pacific Regional Civil Society Organization Engagement Mechanism (AP-RCEM) says the HLPF should encourage UN Member States to adopt a “whole of society” approach in conducting national reviews, based on an inclusive, transparent, and accessible approach, and should utilize information and data accessed from governmental and non-governmental sources. It adds that when doing their Voluntary National Presentations at the HLPF, UN Member States’ should demonstrate accountability for actions affecting people and environment beyond national territories. [Note by the UN Secretariat: Discussion papers on the theme of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, submitted by major groups and other stakeholders (E/HLPF/2016/2)] [IISD RS Story on ECOSOC President Briefing on HLPF 2016 Preparations] [HLPF 2016 Website]


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