Women’s Major Group Statement on Poverty Eradication at Second Session of the Open Working Group

Following the strong statemement by Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) on behalf of the Women’s Major Group (WMG) at the first session on the Open Working Group (OWG), Shannon Kowalski of the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) spoke on behalf of the WMG at the second session.

In her presentation she emphasized that the SDGs must be grounded in the protection and promotion of the human rights of all, with specific attention to the human rights of women and girls.

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Open Working Group on Sustainable Development – Second Session

As reported in the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, the Second Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) took place on 17-19 April 2013 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

In addition to the OWG members, other member states, observers, representatives from the UN system and of Major Groups participated in the meeting that was devoted to conceptualizing the SDGs and the SDG process, and to poverty eradication.

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Leading towards 2015

The President of the General Assembly at the end of the Briefing on the work of the High Level Panel (see below) outlined the streams leading towards 2015, stressing the need for them to converge as soon as possible.

Leading towards 2015...

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Briefing for Governments on work of the High Level Panel

On Monday 22 April the General Assembly was briefed on the work of the Secretary General’s High Level Panel (HLP) following the two previous briefings that had been given on the New York and London sessions of the HLP. The focus of this meeting was the 3^rd (Monrovia) and 4^th (Bali) sessions.

The Special Envoy of H E Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia, spoke on the HLP meeting in Bali. It was the fourth HLP meeting and part of the process moving forward from NY, London and Monrovia. The topic for discussion in Bali discussed focused on global partnerships and means of implementation for the development agenda. He drew attention to the opportunities for consultation and outreach on the first day of their meeting to CSOs, youth, women, parliamentarians etc, followed by the meeting of the HLP on the 2^nd day and the meeting with the co-chairs on the 3^rd day and the Bali Communiqué.

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Next round of discussions on Environmental Sustainability in the Post-2015 Agenda, 15 - 28 April 2013

The next round of discussions on Environmental Sustainability in the Post-2015 Agenda has begun and will continue until 28 April 2015.

There are three new topics:

• Environmental sustainability and poverty;
• Environmental sustainability and equality; and
• Environmental sustainability, human rights, peace and security

As included on the World We Want 2015 website:

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Building Youth Leadership: MENA Regional Training for Sexual and Reproductive Rights Advocates

Deadline to Apply: April 30, 2013

The Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YCSRR) has announced that  it is holding a Regional Training Session for Building Youth Leadership in the MENA Region, following its successful trainings in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean and Africa regions.

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Second session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals

The second session of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals will take place in New York, 17 -19 April 2013.

As stated on the UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, the meeting will be broadcast through UN webcast.

According to the Draft Programme of Work, the Overarching framework for the work of the OWG is poverty eradication and sustainable development. The following cross-cutting issues have been identified that will underpin all discussions, namely: governance, inequality and equity, gender equality and women’s empowerment, human rights and rights-based approaches and means of implementation and its deliberations will be guided: by the principles affirmed in the Rio+20 outcome document, the need to balance the economic, social and environmental dimensions, ensuring coherence, implementation and assessing progress.

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Family Planning 2020 Working Group Application Announcement — Extension of Deadline for FP2020 Working Groups

Family Planning 2020 has announced that the deadline to serve on a FP2020 Working Group or on a FP2020 Consultative Network to the Working Groups has been extended to Tuesday 30 April 2013. See our posting on 2 April 2013 for further information.

Please note that the application process for the Market Dynamics Working Group will open at a later date. Click here to learn more information and to sign up for an update when the application process is launched.

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:

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High-level Political Forum

Another UN body is coming into being which is likely to have an impact on the deliberations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It is the High Level Political Forum (HLPF). It was called for the outcome document for the Rio + 20 Conference that was held in 2012, the Future We Want. It will replace the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and, insofar as its origins are in Rio + 20, the HLPF could focus more on the SDGs than on other aspects of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It is, however, going to be an important player going forward, given that proposals are being discussed to hold periodic meetings at the highest level, as well as annually at the Ministerial level.

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