Sustainable Development & Human Rights - Archive

The world already looks very different to the place it was when UN member states adopted the SDGs in September 2015. How can we ensure that the international community remains committed to the pledges it made?

By Gabriele Köhler Honorary Associate, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Philip Mader Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Richard Jolly Honorary Professor and Research Associate, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Robin Luckham [...]

In cooperation with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office, Public Services International (PSI), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), and Rutgers’ Center for Women’s Global Leadership.

 

International leaders and civil society activists will soon convene again at the UN Headquarters in New York for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61), which will take place from March 13 to 24, 2017. This year, the Commission will address the issue of women’s economic empowerment in the changing [...]

International leaders and civil society activists will soon convene again at the UN Headquarters in New York for the 61st Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61), which will take place from March 13 to 24, 2017. This year, the Commission will address the issue of women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work, a subject of uttermost importance to tackle persistent gender inequalities. Today, most of the world’s poor are working, and the majority of those are women. This [...]

By Barbara Adams and Karen Judd

Almost 22 years have passed since the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, marking a turning point for women’s rights activists around the world. For many, the approved Declaration and Platform for Action represented a moment of vindication for the rights, living experiences, and human dignity of women everywhere. But the promises made in Beijing regarding the indivisibility of human rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls were [...]

We live in a time when hard fought gains in fundamental human rights – gains that until recently seemed irreversible – are facing new and powerful threats. In the face of resurgent xenophobic nationalism and anti-egalitarianism in various parts of the world, this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8 holds a significance greater than any in recent memory.

Having helped spearhead efforts to bring human rights to bear in tax policy, CESR is bringing a fiscal focus to [...]

Sustainable Development Goal 10 on reducing inequality will require profound changes to “business-as-usual” and close attention to human rights. A contribution to the openGlobalRights debate on economic inequality and human rights by Kate Donald, Director of CESR's Human Rights in Development program.

UN expert body takes new steps to prevent corporate tax abuses, but more is needed to ensure companies pay their fair share and stop depleting the resources needed to realize human rights.

The 48th session of the UN Statistical Commission takes place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 7-10 March 2017. Thus far, there are 36 reports for the Commission to consider, 85 side events, an exhibition planned to celebrate the 70 years of work of the Commission, with presentations from the UN World Data Forum.

News about the 48th Statistical Commission was presented at a recent briefing for CSOs by the UN DESA Statistics Division, including elements of [...]

By Sarah Dayringer

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are using United Nation’s processes to hold governments accountable for their commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including processes such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and the Climate Change agenda. The annual High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) is the main forum by which CSOs can hold governments and others accountable at the global level. It brings together global, regional [...]

By Sarah Dayringer

President of the General Assembly (PGA) Peter Thomson, announced the 2017 High-Level United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of SDG 14 at the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), saying “we must ensure we have a global plan for the successful implementation of SDG 14”.

The “Oceans Conference”, as the meeting is colloquially referred to, will be co-hosted by Fiji and Sweden 5-9 June 2017 in New [...]

This paper explores some of the links between tax- and gender justice at the global level by highlighting two central ways in which illicit financial flows and gender injustice are connected. First, through the effects of tax evasion and avoidance and secondly, through the role of financial secrecy jurisdictions and global networks of facilitators which enable illicit financial flows which result from trafficking in women. The paper argues that confronting and dismantling the global enablers and secrecy jurisdictions will be [...]

By Sarah Dayringer

The Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) was established by the UN Statistical Commission in 2015 to develop an indicator framework for the monitoring of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the global level, and to support implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 27 Group members met for their 4th meeting in November 2016 to:

• finalise the initial tier system for the SDG global indicators [...]

The 2030 Agenda identifies extreme poverty and social inequalities as the greatest global challenges for sustainable development. It also highlights the need to implement measures at the local level, thereby sending countries down to work on their social policies, development plans and their respective implementing strategies. One symptom of poverty and inequalities is the fact that the majority of low income people are left behind and resort living in informal settlements. Therefore, among others, measures in the area of adequate [...]

New EU Commission plan to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) overlooks the urgent need to address the negative impacts the private sector has on people and the planet. ECCJ, the European civil society coalition working on corporate accountability, believes the Commission’s plan does not reflect the responsibility of companies to respect human rights, throughout their operations and supply chains, and their primary obligation to do no harm by preventing and mitigating abuses.

Since 2005, the work on a draft declaration on the right to international solidarity has been progressing – the final draft to be presented in June 2017. In Foreign Voices 2|2016, the current Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity of the UN Human Rights Council, Virginia B. Dandan, explains the genesis of the draft declaration, its understanding of international solidarity, key issues for its final revision as well as a the path for the right to international solidarity [...]

More than a year after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an overarching EU strategy for implementing the 2030 Agenda is still missing. However, the integration of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the EU’s external activities seems to advance. With the inclusion of the SDGs in the EU’s Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy and with the ongoing Revision of the European Consensus on Development, the EU has set clear signals. Is the EU on [...]

Extreme economic inequality is one of the most urgent issues of our time, exacerbating poverty, hindering development, and undermining the full spectrum of human rights. The inclusion of a standalone goal on inequality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – Goal 10, which promises to reduce inequalities both within and between countries – has the potential to catalyze much-needed action to narrow the vast divide between the haves and the have-nots. However, SDG10 is also uniquely vulnerable to strategic [...]

by Shiney Varghese, Sr. Policy Analyst, IATP

On 21 September 2016 the newly convened High Level Panel on Water (HLPW), called for a fundamental shift in the way the world looks at water. Supported by the World Economic Forum and its water initiative, the HLPW was formed to help “build the political momentum” to deliver on the UN mandated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on “water and related targets” that the UN member [...]

This year’s Annual Meeting of the IMF and World Bank took place against the backdrop of continued sluggish growth in developed and developing countries alike. The impact of the commodity price crash weighs heavily on many developing countries and has caused a significant fall in global trade. While the IMF warns that both private and public debt levels remain dangerously high, that the anticipated deleveraging did not happen, the main response of the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) is new lending [...]

The World Economic and Social Survey 2016: Climate Change Resilience – An Opportunity for Reducing Inequalities will be released on 3 October. It advances our understanding of the climate and development nexus, particularly as it relates to challenges for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Heads of state and government leaders from around the globe have descended on the United Nations in New York for the 71st United Nations General Assembly. Their “general debate” on 20 September will focus on the theme: The Sustainable Development Goals: a universal push to transform our world.

To push forward with implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the incoming President of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson of Fiji, has created a special advisory group on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Independent [...]

In June 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Council took the historic decision to establish a working group “to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises.” This binding agreement should complement the existing UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which show serious shortcomings. Between 24 and 28 October 2016, the second session of the working group will take place in Geneva. Agains this [...]

The United Nations, like many institutions, is buffeted by the challenges of globalization, inequalities and an unsustainable growth pathway for the planet. It has not been shaped to deliver the demands of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its universal action plan, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Member States have the opportunity to close the institutional gaps in the UN development system, in the upcoming Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) negotiations beginning in October 2016.

By Aldo Caliari

Due to UNCTAD’s decidedly pro-South and uncompromising development-focused mission, its quadrennial conferences have traditionally been North –South showdowns. Coming a few months after the adoption of the ambitious and universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 associated goals, the theme of the XIV Quadrennial Conference of UNCTAD (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) was “From Decisions to Actions.” There was, therefore, reason to expect that this time members would bridge their differences for [...]

"People do not eat GDP: Even as the economies of EAC member states have been recording considerable growth rates, this growth has been accompanied by a growth in inequality in virtually all countries."

This is the one of the key observations of the State of East Africa Report 2016 published by the Society for International Development. GDP figures (with a regional annual average increase of 6% since 2011) tell the story of an economic expansion that has taken [...]