UN Commission Calls for Increased Efforts to Promote Gender Equality and a Stand-Alone Goal on Gender Equality in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

After two weeks of intense negotiations, the 58th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women ended with a strong call in its outcome document, the Agreed Conclusions, to prioritize gender equality and the human rights of women in order to achieve sustainable development.

The Commission addressed the challenges and achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in improving the lives of women and girls in developing countries. While the MDGs resulted in a reduction of poverty in some respects, the goals furthest from being achieved are those focused on women and girls—particularly on achieving gender equality and improving maternal health.

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UN Economic and Social Council selects theme for 2nd meeting of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

At its meeting on 18 March, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) decided the theme for the next meeting of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development that will be convened for the first time under its auspices, 7 – 9 July 2014.

Acting by consensus, ECOSOC decided that the theme would be “Achieving the Millennium Development Goals and charting the way for an ambitious post-2015 development agenda, including the sustainable development goals”.

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NGO participation in Commission on Population and Development

NGOs not in consultative status with ECOSOC (including all civil society, academia and private sector organizations) can also attend the Commission on Population and Development (CPD)!

The deadline for pre-registering is noon EST, 28 March 2014. The CPD Bureau will then review applications and notify NGOs about their approval on 2 April. For further information see: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/commission/ngo/faq.shtml

Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals: Documents released for Session 10

The documents have been released by the Co-Chairs for the 10^th session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG-10). They are

•  Letter from the Co-Chairs, 18 March 2014 
•  Revised Focus Areas Document
•  Annex Document of Interlinkages
•  Programme of Work

It can be seen from these documents that the OWG is now going to move quickly to the development goals and targets. These documents are therefore extremely important, as they not only indicate how the Co-Chairs see this process developing but also as to what should be included …and also what is missing.

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9th Session of the UN General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, 3-5 March 2014 No 4

Open Working Group… next steps

On the afternoon of 5 March, Co-Chair Kamau described the Co-Chairs’ ideas for the “way forward” for the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs proposed the following inputs, prepared by the Co-Chairs, to support discussions at the next session: 

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9th Session of the UN General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, 3-5 March 2014 No 3

Meeting with Major Groups and Other Stakeholders

(The following is based on the report of Earth Negotiations Bulletin) and only refers to those interventions that pertain to sexual and reproductive health and rights,health, population dynamics, gender equality and youth)

Major Groups presented their reactions on the focus areas document on the afternoon of Wednesday 5 March. The session was introduced by Sascha Gabizon, Women’s Major Group who expressed appreciation
for the opportunity to interact with delegates. Among comments made by the Major Groups were the following:

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9th Session of the UN General Assembly open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, 3-5 March 2014 No 2

Summary of Joint Meeting with the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Financing for Sustainable Development

(based on the report of Earth Negotiations Bulletin)

At the opening of the joint meeting with the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF, OWG Co-Chair Kőrösi referred to the similarities in the objectives of the work of the two groups of helping the UNGA shape the post-2015 development agenda. In addition the “global to-do list” to be compiled by the OWG will require a modus operandi and means of implementation. He asked whether every goal should have associated means of implementation, or in a separate goal, as in MDG 8 (global partnership for development).

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Summary of the 9th Session of the UN General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, 3-5 March 2014 No 1

The ninth session of the UN General Assembly Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) took place from 3-5 March 2014, at UN Headquarters in New York. Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya, and Csaba Kőrösi, Permanent Representative of Hungary, continued in their roles as Co-Chairs of the meeting, which brought together OWG members, other Member States, representatives from UN agencies, and Major Groups.

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General Assembly High Level event on the role of Women, Young People and Civil Society

DAY 2

The second morning of the President of the General Assembly’s Setting the Stage initiative, on the role of Women, Young People and Civil Society began with a panel discussion on “Closing the inequality gap: efforts for addressing inequalities and meeting new and emerging global challenges for the eradication of poverty through meaningful contributions of women, the young and civil society in the post-2015 development agenda.”

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General Assembly High Level event on the role of Women, Young People and Civil Society

DAY 1

The General Assembly High Level event, the second in the President of the General Assembly’s Setting the Stage initiative, on the role of Women, Young People and Civil Society was held on 6 and 7 March 2014.  

The programme on the first day comprised an opening session, followed by the general debate with contributions from regional and other groupings and Member States.

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