Nachhaltige Entwicklung und Menschenrechte

Construction of a mega-steel plant in Odisha in Eastern India should be halted immediately, United Nations independent human rights experts have urged, citing serious human rights concerns. The project reportedly threatens to displace over 22,000 people in the Jagatsinghpur District, and disrupt the livelihoods of many thousands more in the surrounding area.

Although the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) welcomes the report and joins to the general call towards a life of dignity for all by the UN's Secretary General it mentions shortcomings and deficits in a newly announced comment. Amongst others ANND is concerned with the lack of interlinkages between development and trade on the one hand and Human Rights and trade on the other and calls to implement the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

UN-NGLS has launched a report on the post-2015 development agenda which entailes a four-month consultation with 120 regional civil society networks (and includes statements from GPF). Together the networks have come up with four objectives surrounding justice, human rights, the equal distribution of resources and accountability/transparency. The report adds a more critical perspective to the recommendations by the SG's High Level Panel, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Global Compact.

Asia Development Alliance (ADA) composed of development CSO/NGO platforms in Asia comment on the 2nd Regional Consultation on Post-2015 development agenda on UN level. In their newest statement ADA welcomes the way taken and formulates demands such as a need to give priority to least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing countries as well as fragile and conflict-affected countries in the Post-2015 development agenda.

The long awaited work of an experts committee on sustainable development financing, a key outcome of the Rio+20 United Nations conference, has finally started. The Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing held its first session on 28-30 August at the UN headquarters in New York. However, contrary to most multilateral discussions and intergovernmental processes in the UN, the session was closed to not only external stakeholders but also the Member States that are not part of the Committee [...]

Women's Major Group, representing 500 women's organizations form all around the world, today addressed UN Secretary-general Ban Ki Moon with regard to his report to the 68th General Assembly on the progress towards the MDGs and the UN's development agenda beyond 2015. In the letter, which is supported more than 50 civil society groups (including GPF), the coalition calls for a stronger recognition of women's rights in the debated post 2015 development agenda as well as for a meaningful approach [...]

The First session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean took place in Montevideo, 12-15 August 2013 with great attendance of women’s rights activists from the region. In this context AWID (Association in Women’s Rights in Development) identifies universal access to health, sexual and reproductive rights, and gender equality as key elements for the Post-2015 agenda on sustainable development.

The Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) has issued a statement regarding their perspective of the current developments in Egypt. ANND describes the efforts they have made in achieving public democracy, social justice and stability during the unrest being faced in the Arab community. The network stresses the importance of ending all violence from conflicting sides to provide a safe basis to encourage economic and political development in Egypt. They recognize that the media has been adding to the cause [...]

The European Commission’s recent accountability report and communication on financing for development highlights the importance of domestic resource mobilisation, tackling illicit financial flows and meeting aid promises. But it contains no substantive new commitments, ducks issues of wider systemic reform and adopts an alarmingly one-sided endorsement of stepping up the use of public money to leverage private finance. These are the conclusions of an article written by Jesse Griffiths, Øygunn Sundsbø Brynildsen, Jeroen Kwakkenbos, María José Romero and Bodo Ellmers [...]

In a report commissioned by UN DESA/DSD Major Groups Programme in response to the Rio+20 outcome document, Barbara Adams and Lou Pingeot (Policy Advisors at GPF but acting in their personal capacities) take stock of the reviews of the history of Major Groups' engagement with the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and highlight examples of best practices that were deemed successful and efficient and those that did not work. Furthermore, they identify lessons learned from the experience and concerns raised [...]