President of the UNGA’s High-level Thematic Debate on Achieving the SDGs: Apply for Stakeholder Speaking Roles

On Thursday, 21 April 2016 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the President of the UN General Assembly H.E. Mogens Lykketoft will convene a High-level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to support prompt and inclusive implementation of the 2030 Agenda.  

The Thematic Debate will feature a panel discussion on "Action at all levels," which will focus on national responses to implementation of the 2030 Agenda. This panel will include three stakeholder representatives: one each from civil society, the private sector and academia.

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Apply to attend 3rd meeting of Interagency & Expert Group on SDG Indicators

We have received the following invitation from Susan Alzner, NGLS: 

Mexico City, 30 March-1 April 2016 

Dear Colleagues,

At the request of the UN DESA Statistics Division, UN-NGLS is facilitating an application process to identify representatives from civil society organizations, academia and the private sector to attend the Third Meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, taking place in Mexico City, Mexico from 30 March - 1 April 2016. Information about this meeting is available here. 

Representatives can either apply to be members of the Stakeholder Selection Committee or to attend the meeting...

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Next Steps on Global Follow-up and Review… General Assembly informal meeting

UN officials presented the advance report of the UN Secretary-General on the global follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ‘Critical Milestones Towards Coherent, Efficient and Inclusive Follow-Up and Review at the Global Level,'  to an informal meeting of the UN General Assembly. (See: Report of the Secretary-General on critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level)  

Government delegations provided preliminary reactions to the report and views on the way forward, with many describing the report as a “good basis” for further discussions on the follow-up and review framework...

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Upcoming briefings and meetings at UNHQ - webcast details

We are pleased to inform you that all three events will be web cast at webtv.un.org.

Please also note that the briefing by the President of the General Assembly to stakeholders on the high-level thematic debates to be convened during spring 2016 will be held on Tuesday, 9 February, at 1:15 p.m. in conference room 5 (not 1:30 p.m. as previously announced).

Upcoming briefings and meetings at UNHQ

We have received the following from Lotta Tähtinen, DESA:

You may be interested in the following upcoming briefings to be held at UNHQ in New York. Please note that a valid UN access badge is required to attend the meetings. Kind regards, Lotta...

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Zika Virus Declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern

The WHO Director General, Dr Margaret Chan, convened an Emergency Committee made up of 18 experts and advisers, under the International Health Regulations, “to gather advice on the severity of the health threat associated with the continuing spread of Zika virus disease in Latin America and the Caribbean” on 1 February.

In assessing the level of threat, the Committee “looked in particular at the strong association, in time and place, between infection with the Zika virus and a rise in detected cases of congenital malformations and neurological complications.”...

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Secretary-General Appoints High-Level Group for Every Woman Every Child

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the first members of the High-level Advisory Group for Every Woman Every Child (EWEC). They will help provide leadership for women's, children's and adolescents' health during the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Michelle Bachelet Jeria, President of Chile, and Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, are the co-chairs for the Group, with Tarja Halonen, former President of the Republic of Finland, and Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, former President of Tanzania, as alternate Co-Chairs...

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Videos of stakeholder speakers at UNHQ from post-2015, FfD, and more!

We have received the following from UN-NGLS:

Dear Colleagues,

As UN-NGLS  begins exciting work for 2016, we would like to extend our gratitude to all in civil society and the UN system for the extraordinary experiences working together last year during the processes and events for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Financing for Development Conference, World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, Sustainable Energy for All Forum, and more...

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General Assembly Briefing on Global Indicator Framework, 28 January 2016

President: Mr. Mogens Lykketoft in opening the briefing, referred to his letter of 14 January 2016 on the report of the Interagency and Expert Group (IAEG) on indicators to the Statistical Commission, which includes the list of indicators in Annex. They have been developed through an open and inclusive consultative list. Most of the indicators have been agreed, with the exception of those marked with an *, which need further work. The Group is still working on them and will be submitting its updated proposals in an addendum to the report for the report. Once the report of the IAEG has been agreed by the Statistical Commission, the indicator framework will go to ECOSOC and General Assembly for adoption

Member States were invited to register any further questions or concerns, so that they can be addressed before the Commission meets...

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Annex to Report of the Secretary-General on critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level

The annex to the Report of the Secretary-General on critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level sets out the components that could help countries to frame the preparations for their Voluntary National Reviews at the High-level Political Forum (HLPF), based on the expectation that each country will present a focused report and make brief presentations during the meeting of the HLPF. The main points are summarized below. For complete annex see Report of the Secretary-General on critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level.

1 Opening statement will be given by a “Head of State or Government, a Minister or other high-ranking Government official” and will highlight key messages and critical issues on the implementation of sustainable development...

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