Countdown to UN General Assembly Special Event, 25 September 2013 No 1

Report of the UN Secretary-General — A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015

The long awaited report of the UN Secretary-General, A life of dignity for all: accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, (A/68/202) has been published. While it is a report that the Secretary-General is mandated to provide each year, it also serves as a key document in the preparations for the UN General Assembly Special Event, both in reporting on progress in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in making recommendations for further steps to advance the post-2015 development agenda.

In its introduction, in addition to setting the scene on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the report makes specific references to the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. It also highlights the report of the High-level Panel (HLP) of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and its call that “no person anywhere should be left behind”, as well as the reports of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), the Global Compact and the United Nations Systems Task Team, the regional commissions, civil society and academia. Discussing the emerging outlines for a new sustainable development agenda, in addition that it should be rights-based, the Secretary-General emphasizes women, young people and marginalized groups. He also says that this report takes stock of where we are and where we need to go.

In assessing the achievement of the MDGs, the Secretary-General recognizes that stronger efforts are required for improving the quality of education and providing lifelong learning opportunities, especially for women and girls. Challenges, however, continue to exist for the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights, which are also contravened through gender-based violence. Early marriage remains an impediment to achieving gender party in education. In the remaining years to 2015 the focus should be on those MDGs that are most off-track and on countries that face particular development challenges.

The report addresses the transition to a new sustainable development agenda and ways for advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015. There has been a consultation process in nearly 100 countries, as well as global thematic consultations on 11 issue areas, on-line conversations and the “My World” survey, as well as the reports of the HLP etc (mentioned above). The Secretary-General notes that the key elements of the vision for post-2015 development agenda include universality: sustainable development; inclusive economic transformations; peace and governance; a new global partnership; and being “fit for purpose”.  As he points out the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals is also conducting discussions to formulate goals for sustainable development to be proposed to the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly.

Discussing the actions that need to be taken post-2015, the Secretary-General recognizes that the new agenda must ensure equal rights for women and girls, zero tolerance for violence and the end to child marriages. He includes “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” and “reproductive health and rights”, using ICPD-agreed language, instead of “sexual and reproductive health and rights” as included in the HLP report. He also addresses demographic challenges, including population growth rates, the demographic dividend, young people, the elderly, internal and international migration and urbanization.

The Secretary-General welcomes the International Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing in making proposals on “a strategy to facilitate the mobilization of resources and their effective use”, and also the High-level Political Forum, both of which were called for at the International Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20). He recognizes the need for improved data collection, dissemination and analysis to support the monitoring of a broader range of indicators under the post-2015 development agenda, noting the HLP’s suggestion that “targets will be considered to have been achieved only if they are met for all relevant income and social groups.” He also stresses the Rio + 20 agreement that the sustainable development goals “should be coherent with and integrated into the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015”.

As well as the SDSN and the Global Compact, the HLP suggested illustrative goals and targets. The Secretary-General, however, gives his own perspective, which might be viewed as a cause of some concern, insofar as he says goals and targets should take into account “cross-cutting issues such as gender, disability, age and other factors leading to inequality, human rights, demographics, migration and partnerships.”

Looking at the way forward, the Secretary-General says that, in addition to reviewing “current efforts” to achieve the MDGs, the Special Event will “also serve as an occasion to reflect on the broad contours of the development agenda beyond 2015.” He suggests that in the outcome document Member States could call for a UN summit in 2015 and sets out a procedure leading up to such a summit.

Recognizing that some may not be met, the post-2015 development agenda will need to complete the MDGs, scaling them up and addressing new challenges. The universal post-2015 development agenda “with sustainable development at its core” should, moreover, address the overarching objectives of sustainable development. These include poverty eradication, inclusive growth targeting inequality, protecting and managing the natural resource base of our planet within a rights-based framework and cognizant of the nexus between peace and development.

Member States should provide clarity on the road map to 2015 that could be supported by a report from the Secretary-General during the main part of the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly. It should draw on the outcomes of the OWG, the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing and other bodies.

Observations: While the Secretary-General’s report provides a comprehensive review of the progress that has been made in achieving the MDGs and sets out his suggested process for moving forward towards the post-2015 development agenda, there are a number of concerns that need to be taken into account with respect to issues related to gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

It must be kept in mind that while addressing gender issues, the Secretary-General’s report does not reaffirm the suggested illustrative goal of the HLP for a stand-alone gender goal, nor does it propose “mainstreaming gender”. Instead it talks about gender as a cross-cutting issue while recognizing that challenges continue to exist with respect to gender equality and women’s rights.

At no point does the Secretary-General’s report include “sexual and reproductive health and rights”, referring instead to the ICPD formulation of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and where these are mentioned they are tied to women, or women and children, or women and girls, rather than including young people or youth. Indeed when young people or youth are referred to it is in the context of education. Even then, curious wording, namely “sexual and reproductive education” is used instead of “comprehensive sexuality education”. For sexual and reproductive health and rights to be included in the post-2015 development agenda, it might be helpful to consider them within the context of “no person anywhere should be left behind.”

A more complete summary of the Secretary-General’s report is available here