Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS) have submitted position papers on the theme of the 2024 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), ‘Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises: The effective delivery of sustainable, resilient, and innovative solutions.’ The executive summaries of the position papers are consolidated into a note by the UN Secretariat, which is available in an advanced, unedited version.
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 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 23 April 2024. It includes summaries from 16 Major Groups: Women; Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs); Local Authorities; Workers and Trade Unions; Business and Industry; Scientific and Technological Community; Ageing; Persons with Disabilities; Education and Academia; Asia-Pacific Regional Civil Society Organization (CSO) Engagement Mechanism; Economic Commission for Europe Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism; Communities Discriminated by Work and Descent; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Persons; Civil Society Financing for Development (FfD) Mechanism; Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) 2015-2030; and Together 2030.
“The 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are at breaking point due to lack of political will in the face of overlapping, multidimensional crises fueled by misdirected and short-term decision-making,” emphasizes the NGOs Major Group in its messages to the Forum. The Group calls for concerted collaboration between Member States, civil society, academia, and the UN to overcome challenges in SDG implementation and monitoring and review during the HLPF in July, the Summit of the Future (SoF) in September, the Second World Summit for Social Development in 2025, and the 2025 Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4).
Together 2030 underscores that while “the [Summit of the Future] and the SDGs follow-up and review are different processes, their links are strong and need[] to be clearly established.” “It won’t be possible to accelerate and deliver on the SDGs” without multilateralism and multilateral tools, the Group argues.
Many contributions, including from NGOs, Local Authorities, Workers and Trade Unions, Ageing, Persons with Disabilities, and Economic Commission for Europe Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism offer insights on the five Goals under review in 2024 – SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals). Several underscore the role of the Summit of the Future in accelerating the SDGs.
The full position papers will be posted on the HLPF website. The HLPF convenes in July under the theme, ‘Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises: The effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions.’ [Publication: Advanced Unedited Version: Discussion Papers on the Theme of the HLPF, Submitted by Major Groups and Other Stakeholders]