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

The General Assembly Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) held its first meeting on 14 -15 March 2013. It was called for in Future We Want, the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20) to establish ‘an inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process’, open to all stakeholders to develop global SDGs. The Group will report to the General Assembly’s 68^th session.

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UN Commission on the Status of Women adopts Agreed Conclusions on Violence Against Women

After long and hard negotiations, on Friday 15 March the UN Commission on the Status of Women at its 57^th Session adopted its Agreed Conclusions on Violence against Women. After the previous failure to get Agreed Conclusions on this critically important subject and also the failure to get Agreed Conclusions on the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges in 2012, this was in itself a major achievement. Such Agreed Conclusions, however, were only reached because key concerns including prostitution, sexual orientation and intimate partner relations were set aside.

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Global Leadership Meeting on Population Dynamics in the Context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, 12-13 March 2013

The Thematic Consultation Global Leadership Meeting on Population Dynamics was convened from 12-13 March 2013 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Attended by over 100 participants including over 50 government representatives, it focused on four mega-trends: high fertility and population growth; low fertility and population aging; migration and human mobility; and urbanization.

Six working sessions were held: On the first day, there were sessions on high fertility, population growth and large youth populations; and international migration and human mobility. On the second day, there were sessions on urbanization, cities and sustainable development; population aging and population decline; and the way forward for national, regional and global level action.

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Thematic Consultation on Post-2015 Development Agenda Consultation on Conflict, Violence and Disaster, 13 March, Helsinki, Finland

The high-level meeting of the Global Thematic Consultation on Conflict, Violence and Disaster in the Post-2015 Agenda took place on 13 March 2013, in Helsinki, Finland. Co-convened by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and with support from the Government of Finland, it brought together some 120 leaders from civil society, government, the private sector, UN agencies and international organizations.

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Valerie DeFillipo appointed as Director of the Family Planning 2020 Partnership

“FP2020 was created to support the rights of an additional 120 million women and girls in the world's poorest countries to use contraceptive information, services, and supplies, without coercion or discrimination, by 2020, continuing the momentum started at the ground-breaking 2012 London Summit on Family Planning.
 
“Valerie DeFillipo brings technical family planning expertise, experience leading global multi-stakeholder partnerships, and a deep commitment to using FP2020 as a platform to strengthen existing structures providing family planning and contraceptives to vulnerable women and girls around the world. She is currently the President of the Friends of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).”

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Global Civil Society Conference on Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, Reconfirming Rights – Recognising Limits – Redefining Goals

20 – 22 March 2013, Bonn, Germany

The global civil society conference on Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, Reconfirming Rights – Recognising Limits – Redefining Goals will be held in Bonn, Germany on 20-22 March 2013. It will bring together civil society activists and representatives from key stakeholders to draw together civil society inputs into the Sustainable Development and Post-2015 discussions.

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Civil Society and the Open Working Group URGENT ACTION

The Open Working Group (OWG), in accordance with the outcome document of the Rio + 20 Conference, Future We Want, paragraph 248 calls for the “full involvement of relevant stakeholders and expertise from civil society, the scientific community and the United Nations system in its work to provide a diversity of perspectives and experience.”

As has been mentioned in previous posting on the NGOs Beyond 2014 website, it is important that civil society organizations (CSOs) urge that the modalities be set up for their inclusion in the process. As the first meeting of the OWG has been confirmed for 14-15 March, if your country is a member of the OWG (see attached list), you are urged to write to your UN Permanent Representative (Ambassador) at the UN in New York, citing the relevant paragraph from the Future We Want, asking that he/she work to ensure the inclusion of civil society in the process. (Addresses for the UN Missions in New York can be found in the ‘Blue Book’)

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Countdown to Bali meeting of the High Level Panel

The High Level Panel (HLP) will be meeting in Bali, Indonesia, 25 – 27 March 2013, to discuss ‘Global Partnerships’. Key issues, in keeping with the 24 Framing Questions, to be discussed with include:

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High Level meeting on Health

As reported by UNICEF, the High-level Dialogue has taken place in Gaborone, Botswana, on 5-6 March 2013. Organized by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and with the support of the Governments of Botswana and Sweden, advancing health priorities in the post-2015 agenda were discussed.

The meeting brought together some 50 participants from Member States, members of the UN High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (HLP), health ministers, civil society, academic institutions and the private sector. The participants discussed a draft report on health in the post-2015 agenda, including recommendations for framing the future agenda for health. The report, which was based on e-discussions and inputs on the World We Want 2015 website and 13 face-to-face discussions in different regions, calls for placing health at the center of the post-2015 agenda to protect environmental sustainability and advance economic development, human well-being, equity and social justice.

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Final meeting of the Post-2015 Thematic Consultation on Governance

As reported on the IISD website, the final meeting of the Post-2015 Thematic Consultation on Governance, in which was attended by 250 participants, took place in Midrand, South Africa from 28 February to 1 March 2013. Co-led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), it aimed to build consensus and recommend how to integrate global, regional, national and sub-national governance and accountability with the intergovernmental process on the UN’s post-2015 development agenda.

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