Organizational modalities for the September 2015 UN Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda

While there are two sessions of the Open Working Group  (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) still to go, plans are already underway for the UN Summit that will be held in September 2015 to adopt the post-2015 development agenda. The President of the UN General Assembly has appointed HE Mr Robert Guba Aisi, Permanent Representative of Papua New Guinea and HE Mr Ib Petersen, Permanent Representative of Denmark as co-facilitators of the intergovernmental consultations to achieve agreement on the organizational modalities for the summit that will take place in September 2015 at the level of Heads of State and Government for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, in accordance with UN General Assembly resolution 68/6.

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Parliamentarians make strongest ever call to implement the ICPD Programme of Action and for the full integration of its principles in the post-2015 development agenda

The Stockholm Statement of Commitment, which was agreed upon unanimously by all the parliamentarians present at  the 6thInternational Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action (IPCI 2014), represents the strongest call ever to implement the Cairo Programme of Action. Parliamentarians committed to mobilize their constituencies and governments to ensure that the Cairo principles are fully integrated in the post-2015 global development agenda and that human rights, gender equality, women and young people are at its heart.

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Positions on sexual and reproductive health and rights under focus area 5: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in OWG-11

UN General Assembly Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In introducing Focus areas 5,  during the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG-11), Ambassador Csaba Korosi, Co-Chair, said that basically everything had been retained from previous version but in more target like language. He referred specifically to universality and sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. They are applicable to all countries irrespective of their level of development. The focus area remained three-dimensional, including a broad variety of social aspects including target I on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. In addition he referred to the unfinished business of the MDGs and the inter-linkages with including with health.

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Positioning health in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda

Based on a presentation by Professor K Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India & President, World Heart Foundation, at Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, 18 May 2015

In his presentation at the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting, Professor K Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India & President, World Heart Foundation, said that, while continuing the commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “will provide a framework for integrating actions across multiple sectors to enable human development to proceed in a manner that optimizes the equitable use of planetary resources whilst minimizing threats to sustainability.” The SDGs will be universal and will position health as a shared global commitment within the broad framework of sustainable development. This is in contrast to the MDGs, which were principally directed at low and middle-income countries.

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World Conference on Youth adopts Colombo Declaration on Youth: Mainstreaming Youth in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

At the end of the World Conference on Youth, participants adopted the Colombo Declaration on Youth: Mainstreaming Youth in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The Colombo Declaration includes paragraphs in its recommendations for action on encouraging universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and information for young people, regardless of marital status and encouraging the provision of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in accordance with the ICPD Programme of Action, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.

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Sexual and reproductive health and rights as included in Focal area 3 Health and Population Dynamics and Focal area 4 Education and Life Long Learning

Sexual and reproductive health and rights were discussed in the 11^th session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG-11) under focus areas (FA) 3 on Health and Population Dynamics, particularly target F and FA 4 on Education and Life Long Learning and also under FA 5 on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

Under FA3 several delegates suggested that FA3 target A be separated into two targets one on maternal mortality and one on newborn and child

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Major Groups’ Statement on Gender Equality to OWG-11

Doris Mpoumou, of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/ Western hemisphere region presented the Women’s Major Group (WMG) statement to the 11^th session of the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG-11)

In the statement the WMG welcomed the retention of gender equality as a focus area but said that it was not bold and ambitious enough “to have a transformative impact on the lives of women and girls worldwide”.  

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Population Dynamics and the Open Working Group

As you may recall, population dynamics was included in the thematic consultations in preparation for the post-2015 development agenda in 2013, with the discussions focusing particularly on migration, urbanization, young people and the elderly. The Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals, moreover, has included population dynamics in its deliberations under Focus Area 3: Health and Population Dynamics. Although there was a call by some members of the OWG to move the topic to other focus areas, such as economic growth, employment and infrastructure or sustainable cities and human settlements, it remains in Focus Area 3. In this session of the OWG-11, however, not a lot of attention has been paid to issues related to population dynamics, with the exception of migration.

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OWG- 11: Women’s Major Group calls for rewording of health goal and inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Co-Chairs discussion with Major Groups and other Stakeholders

Shannon Kowalski, of the International Women’s Health Coalition, spoke on Focus Area 3: Health and Population Dynamics on behalf of the Women’s Major Group, and other stakeholders including the NCD Alliance, the FIA Foundation, the Partnership for Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport, the Stakeholder Group on Ageing, the Civil Society Working Group on HIV, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

In her intervention Shannon said:

“We strongly support a goal on health and suggest rewording it as follows: Ensure physically and mentally healthy lives for all across the lifecourse. This goal must:

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Post-2015: Say Yes to Youth Goal Event at the World Conference on Youth

As part of the campaign for “a standalone Youth Goal in the post-2015 development framework #Yes2YouthGoal”, Katherine Ellis, Youth Director of The Commonwealth, will debate the issue with Alain Sibenaler, UNFPA Representative and a host of other panelists at the World Conference on Youth on 8 May 2014. For further information visit their event website where you will also be able to watch it live. 

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