Sustainable Development & Human Rights - Archive

The latest report of the British NGO Christian Aid “Taxing Men and Women: why gender is crucial for a fair tax system” deals with the different effects of tax systems in men and women as well as possibilities how prudent fiscal and tax policy can contribute to gender equality. Whereas a lot of literature exists on the consideration of gender aspects on the spending side of national budgets, this report marks a first step to analyze state revenues with regard [...]

The negotiations of the Open Working Group (OWG) on a draft of goals and targets for the Post-2015 Agenda has reached its final phase at the 12th Session on 16-20 June in New York. Discussions were raised with respect to an inquality goal, which was included as a stand alone goal in the zero draft after the last session of OWG. However, an unofficial release of a new set of goals by the Co-Chairs on 16 June merges poverty reduction [...]

Aldo Caliari, Director of the Rethinking Bretton Woods Project, argues in an article published by the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) that financial and monetary reform should be a fundamental part of post-2015 development agenda. Taking this into consideration, the new agenda was a political opportunity to avoid following the imperfect path of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to include necessary means of implementation. On top of that, Caliari presents thoughts on key areas like financial regulations and [...]

One day after NGO representatives were escorted out of the 12th Session of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by security staff, the global women’s network Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) together with other partners from Major Groups and Stakeholders wrote an Open Letter to the OWG Co-chairs and all Member States. The broad alliance of civil society organizations (CSO) critically stated that closing the session to them without providing a clear [...]

The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) asks whether the post-2015 development proposal will meet a Human Rights Litmus Test. The test, established by Post-2015 Human Rights Caucus, a global coalition of different organizations and co-convened by CESR, is a tool that evaluates current proposals of the Open Working Group according to existing human rights norms, standards and commitments by means of eight key questions. Following this, the ‘roadmap for embedding human rights’ sets out detailed criteria linked to [...]

In a common declaration, many different Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), including NGOs from the global South and North alike, express their growing dissatisfaction with the current direction of the negotiations since the Warsaw Climate Conference in November last year. They demand serious actions by the member states of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was underlined by a protest during the climate negotiation in Bonn last week. Here, they call for increasing public support for climate action [...]

Discussions about a successful follow-up framework for the Millennium Development Goals that is shaped by country conditions influence the current international development agenda. In this context the demand for a “data revolution” is increasing in policy circles. A new “Post-2015 data test”, established by The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), The North-South Institute (NSI) and Southern Voice, contributes to this effort, while enhancing accessibility of information for governments, decision-makers and citizens. Using this information may help to track development progress [...]

The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) published a policy paper that deals with the correlation between human development and environmental change within Earth system boundaries. It indicates that the post-2015 process offers an opportunity to incorporate both dimensions in an integrative strategy for sustainable development. In doing so, WBGU refers to the so-called planetary guard rails, which have to be taken into account in the SDGs, to limit global environmental change and at the same time find a [...]

As the Millennium Development Goals come to a close and kick off a post-2015 debate, the role of corporations and their interests in development sector change significantly, Lora Verheecke underlines in a recently published article. While the UN supports new partnerships with the private sector and aid flows to the private sector are increasing, this has impacts on the multilateral systems and states. According to Verheecke, it is time to constrain corporations’ influence setting the development agenda and to remind [...]

UN Women launches a new Private Sector Leadership Advisory Council. The council, which is expected to offer advice to accelerate women's economic empowerment, end violence against women and help to close the funding gap for UN Women, is comprised of ten corporate executives from companies ranging from Tupperware to Chanel to Anglo American. The council is supposed to provide the foundation for further "Golden Triangle" partnerships, as they are being called, between corporations, governments and civil society. The council will [...]

The European Commission (EC) published an action plan which includes proposals to further private sector engagement in developing countries. The EC’s policy paper is an attempt to redraw European development cooperation to encourage policy change. By looking closer to the policy paper, Eurodad states that the EC misses to tackle the fact that main European impacts on private sector in developing countries are driven by European policies in other areas like trade, agriculture or tax. In doing so, the EC [...]

The Open Working Group (OWG) established a draft 'chapeau' for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in its 11th session in New York. The text consists of two pages which will accompany the framework of the goals and is sent to all Member States. Already beforehand, developing countries stressed that the narrative have to reflect inter alia an inclusion of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR). Many key developing countries recognize the reference to CBDR in the chapeau. Nevertheless [...]

Third World Network (TWN) picks up on the debate over the performance of the private sector as contributor to the Post-2015 Agenda. Opinions over its role at UN level are dividing, according to TWN. Some in the international community recognize the private sector as crucial partners. In contrast, an increasing number of civil society organizations and networks worldwide express their substantive concerns over private sector financing for development. In line with this, Latin American countries like Brazil call attention to [...]

As the negotiation of the post-2015 development agenda further evolves from broad ideas to more and more specific targets, the question of how to sufficiently finance sustainable development becomes increasingly important. Prior to the 11th session of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals between May 5 and May 9 organizations Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) and Christian Aid published a policy briefing tackling exactly this issue. In order to ensure sufficient, equitable and accountable financing [...]

The International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion is a coalition of organizations and networks that support women’s right to safe, legal abortion, with members in 108 countries across the globe. Our aims are to promote universal access to safe, legal abortion as a women’s health and human rights issue, and to support women’s autonomy to make their own decisions whether and when to have children and have access to the means of acting on those decisions without risk [...]

Presentation by Social Watch coordinator Roberto Bissio at the Interactive Dialogue “Elements for a Monitoring and Accountability Framework for the Post-2015 Development Agenda” convened by the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Some four thousand years ago, King Hammurabi had the laws of his domains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers carved in stone and placed in front of his palace. The laws were written in the plain language of the people, not in the arcane idiom [...]

A broad alliance of civil society organizations published a joint statement critically assessing the inclusion of human rights in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda prior to the session of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals from May 5 to May 9. The CSOs applaud the universality of a working document of the OWG proposing fifteen focus areas and specific targets for possible SDGs, which reflect the current state of negotiations within the OWG. On the other hand [...]

The Worldwatch Institute is releasing the 2014 edition of its “State of the World” series. “Governing for Sustainability” examines how action—on climate, species loss, inequity, and other sustainability crises—is being driven by local, people’s, women’s, and grassroots movements around the world, often in opposition to the agendas pursued by governments and big corporations. The book’s contributors analyze a variety of trends and proposals, including regional and local climate initiatives, the rise of benefit corporations and worker-owned firms, the need for [...]

At the Special High-Level Meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), held in New York on April 14-15, 2014, governments disscussed about features of new development goals which will replace the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. Commitments to financing the new goals are expected to play an important role in those negotiations. In this regard, human rights organizations argue that human rights should inform commitments to finance the new development agenda.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes the third of three Working Group reports in which it warns that climate change will have catastrophic consequences. The international body of scientists and representatives of countries from all over the world assesses and analyses the current state, risks and (possible) consequences of climate change and establishes recommendations for mitigation policies on sub-national, national and global level. In this context the new assessment report, which constitutes the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report on [...]

Killings of people protecting the environment and rights to land increased sharply between 2002 and 2013 as competition for natural resources intensifies, a new report from Global Witness reveals. In the most comprehensive global analysis of the problem on record, the campaign group has found that at least 908 people are known to have died in this time. Disputes over industrial logging, mining and land rights the key drivers, and Latin America and Asia-Pacific particularly hard hit.

New report on "Financing for Development Post-2015: Improving the Contribution of Private Finance" commissioned by the European Parliament's Committee on Development and co-written by Eurodad, Development Finance International, A&J Communication Development Consultants and Development Initiatives finds that global public finance cannot be directly substituted by private finance, as it pays for public goods, is more predictable and counter-cyclical, and can be targeted at the poorest countries. Global private finance mainly goes to higher income countries and has difficultly targeting MSMEs [...]

In a new blog, the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) emphasizes that debates intensify around the role of public-private partnerships in the Post-2015 Agenda. CESR warns that many governments were pushing hard to include the private sector, however this may drown out global civil society’s demands for human rights at core of a sustainable development framework. Proponents of private-public partnership failed to recognize risks of privatizing post-2015, one reason why civil society was rallying to decrease the role [...]

Civil Society Organisations participating in an outreach event of the UN Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing on “Co-Creating New Partnerships for Financing Sustainable Development” in Helsinki issued a statement on what they perceive as key elements of the experts committee's work. The CSOs underline that there is “need to act now. […] To put the world on track for a sustainable future, all actors have to contribute to sustainable development. We need financing of good quality and [...]

On April 3-4, 2014 the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing holds a consultation on "Co-Creating New Partnerships for Financing Sustainable Development" in Helsinki, Finland. This committee was established by the outcome document of the Rio+20 conference, which called for committee of experts tasked with preparing a report "proposing options on an effective sustainable development financing strategy to facilitate the mobilization of resources and their effective use in achieving sustainable development objectives". In a statement for the occasion [...]