Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda: Follow-up to the Bonn Conference, March 2013

The Outcome documents, keynote speeches, videos of the plenary sessions and graphic documentation are now available. 

The three-day Conference on Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda: Reconfirming Rights, Recognizing Limits, Redefining Goals, held in Bonn, Germany was attended by 260 representatives from over 200 civil society organizations (CSOs) from across the globe. Discussions took place around ten thematic areas:

• Securing Human Rights for All
• Respecting Planetary Boundaries
• Structural Transformation for Women’s Rights & Gender Justice
• New Economic Paradigm
• Securing Social Justice
• New Global Partnership on Sustainable Development
• Climate Change
• Securing a Decent Future for all Children, Youth and Adolescents
• Peace & Security
• Ending Poverty

The deliberations resulted in a number of Sign-on Session Statements (See below)

Messages from the Conference

Although the Conference did not aim at formulating a single declaration, there were some strong messages that received strongest support:

“Any development agenda must be rooted in the existing international human rights architecture, which includes social, economic and cultural rights, women's rights including sexual and reproductive rights, rights to work and rights at work and rights of indigenous peoples, socially excluded communities, children, migrants, people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities and those living with disabilities, among others.

“Planetary boundaries and the rights of future generations need to be respected. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities requires that the burden of adjusting to these limits be equitably shared.

“The current global economic and financial regime imposes obstacles to poverty eradication and the full realization of all human rights for all. As former German President and IMF Managing Director, Horst Köhler, reminded us in his inaugural keynote speech, we cannot "talk about food security without regulation of financial markets, poverty without (addressing) unfair trade, peace and security without small arms control, land degradation without talking of climate." We must create some rules and remove others to ensure that the global frameworks do not constrain human rights and development goals.

“Goals must be universal. Inequalities have to be addressed. The responsibilities of the rich and powerful need to be clearly spelled out. Commitments by all stakeholders must be time-bound; accountability and transparency are paramount.”

Sign-on Statements

Civil society organization are invited to sign the Session Statements. There are specific references to sexual and reproductive health and rights in the statements on Poverty and Gender; Social Exclusion and Inequalities; Structural Transformations for Women’s Rights and Gender Justice; and Securing Decent Future for Children, Youth and Adolescents.

Preamble from the Harvesting Team (Link)

Session Statement on Poverty and Gender (Link)

Session Statement on Social Exclusion and Inequalities (Link)

Session Statement on Structural Transformations for Women’s Rights and Gender Justice (Link)

Session Statement on Securing a Decent Future for all Children, Youth and Adolescents (Link)

Session Statement on Ending Poverty (Link)

Session Statement on Planetary Boundaries (Link)

Session Statement on Securing Social Justice (Link)

Session Statement on Peace and Security (Link)

Session Statement on Climate Change (Link)

Session Statement on Ageing and Disabilities (Link)

Session Statement on Securing Human Rights for All (coming soon)

The meeting was supported by the Berlin Civil Society, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.