25 November 2014: The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has approved draft resolutions that address: the eradication of poverty; agriculture development, food security and nutrition; culture and sustainable development; audit institutions; the role of transport and transit corridors in ensuring sustainable development; and lack of progress in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations.
The Committee was scheduled to conclude its work on 26 November, but the UNGA President has given a “one-time extension” until 5 December for action on outstanding items, the Committee Chair informed delegations.
By the draft resolution adopted on 25 November 2014 titled ‘Second UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017)’ (A/C.2/69/L.50), the Assembly would call for urgent measures to address the root causes of extreme poverty and hunger, stressing their negative impacts on sustainable development. The UNGA would also, inter alia: emphasizes the need to give poverty eradication the highest priority within the post-2015 development agenda; stress the importance of public-private partnerships in eradicating poverty and promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all; recognize sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth in eradicating poverty and hunger; stress that natural disaster and conflicts hinder poverty eradication efforts; and reaffirm the need to fulfill all official development assistance (ODA) commitments.
The Assembly urges making every effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 to improve the lives of the poorest people, particularly in developing countries and countries lagging behind and where progress is most off track, according to its draft resolution on ‘Agriculture development, food security and nutrition’ (A/C.2/69/L.49). The UNGA would stress the importance of continued consideration of agricultural development, food security and nutrition, and urge Member States to consider this issue in elaborating the post-2015 development agenda.
The draft resolution ‘Culture and sustainable development (A/C.2/69/L.47)’ aims to encourage Member States, UN agencies and others to consider culture and sustainable development in the elaboration of the post-2015 agenda.
‘Promoting and fostering the efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and transparency of public administration by strengthening supreme audit institutions’ (A/C.2/69/L.25/Rev.1) aims to, inter alia, improve public accounting systems in the context of the post-2015 development agenda. The draft resolution ‘Role of transport and transit corridors in ensuring international cooperation for sustainable development’ (A/C.2/69/L.13/Rev.1) calls for the promotion of regional economic integration and cooperation, including through improving cross-border transportation infrastructure.
By its draft resolution, ‘International financial system and development’ (A/C.2/69/L.48), the UNGA would express concern on a lack of progress on the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, and call for flexibility and political will to break the current impasse and achieve “a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and development-oriented outcome of the Doha Development Agenda multilateral trade negotiations.”
On 1 December 2014, the Second Committee will hold informal-informal consultations on the draft resolution titled ‘Implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development’ (A/C.2/69/L.31), which addresses the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), technology facilitation, and the global sustainable development report, among other topics. [UN Press Release] [A/C.2/69/L.31] [UNGA Second Committee Draft Resolutions]