The President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) will convene a high-level meeting on improving global road safety in June 2022. A one-day preparatory event in December 2021 will focus on investment in road safety.
UNGA President Abdulla Shahid will convene the high-level meeting on 30 June and 1 July 2022 in New York, he informed UN Member States in a letter of 9 November. The UNGA decided in resolution 74/299 and resolution 75/308 that the meeting will have the theme ‘The 2030 horizon for road safety: securing a decade of action and delivery.’
Representatives of Cote d’Ivoire and Russia co-facilitate negotiations on the political declaration to be adopted in June.
The meeting is mandated to result in a political declaration agreed in advance through intergovernmental negotiations. On 9 November Shahid announced that he has appointed representatives of Cote d’Ivoire and Russia to co-facilitate negotiations.
Leading to the high-level meeting in 2022, Shahid will convene a “supporting event” on 3 December 2021 in New York. It will include an interactive thematic dialogue on investment in road safety and a multi-stakeholder hearing.
Shahid notes that safe transport is a subject of targets under SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 13 (climate action). In addition, SDG target 3.6 calls to halve the number of global road deaths and injuries.
The Second Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030) aims to prevent at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) notes the particularly high rates of road deaths in Africa and Southeast Asia, compared with OECD countries.
In October 2021 the UN Road Safety Fund announced the funding of ten new projects in developing countries. These include:
- Expanding ‘safe school zone’ models in highly urbanized areas in the Philippines;
- Strengthening the capacity of the national road safety commission in Iran;
- Building the data-set for the first Arab Regional Road Safety Observatory;
- Expanding non-motorized transport structure in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Guinea; and
- Strengthening technical capacity for safe street design in Afghanistan.
Previous UNRSF projects are “proof of concept” of how road safety financing of proven interventions can save lives and reduce injuries, UNECE reports. For example, in Brazil, through UNRSF financing, the road traffic rule enforcement system has been strengthened, contributing to a decrease in the rate of traffic deaths per 100,000 habitants from 17.03 in 2019 to 15.64 in 2020. [Concept Note for 2022 HLM] [Publication: UN Secretary-General’s report on road safety]