TWN
Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Sept14/02)
18 September 2014
Third World Network
UN
General Assembly adopted SDG outcome
New York, 18 September (Bhumika Muchhala) – On 10 September the United
Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) outcome in line with developing countries’ request that the
report of the Open Working Group OWG on SDGs shall be the main basis
for integrating sustainable development goals into the post-2015 development
agenda.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly recognizes that other inputs will
also be considered in the intergovernmental negotiation process at
the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly that was convened
on 16 September.
In the resolution A/RES/68/309 distributed on 12 September, and titled
“68/309. Report of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development
Goals established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 66/288,”
the origins of the SDGs are recalled, i.e. the outcome document of
the 2012 Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, entitled “The
future we want”, in which Heads of State and Government resolved to
establish an inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process on
sustainable development goals open to all stakeholders, with a view
to developing global sustainable development goals to be agreed by
the General Assembly.
In a letter to the President of the General Assembly, the Group of
77 urged that the General Assembly ensure three key things:
(1) To ensure that the report of the Open Working Group on Sustainable
Development Goals as contained in A/68/970 shall be the basis for
integrating SDGs into the Post-2015 Development Agenda;
(2) To assure that any further discussions on the integration
of SDGs into the Post-2015 Development Agenda is a part of intergovernmental
negotiations during the 69th session of the General Assembly, and
is based on the report of the OWG; and,
(3) To not re-open or re-negotiate the OWG outcome document,
and thereby to fully preserve the outcome of the OWG's transparent
and inclusive intergovernmental process.
Developing countries are particularly concerned that other processes
that are not open and subject to fair intergovernmental dialogue could
take precedence over that of the OWG outcome, which was the result
of challenging discussions among Member States starting in March 2013
and concluding in July 2014.
During the PGA stockholding session, developed country delegations
called for reducing the number of goals and targets, through a “streamlined”
approach. Countries like the United States were, unsurprisingly,
not in favour of the language in Goal 17 on means of implementation,
which includes structural issues such as international trade rules
and reforming the international financial system.
However, the political momentum was clearly not with the objecting
countries. The G77 group of developing countries was cohesive
and united in their view that the Open Working Group's outcome is
the basis for negotiation moving forward. The G77 chair
and some other key countries cautioned against placing the desire
for an easily communicable agenda ahead of the substantive and meaningful
work that needs to get done to achieve actual socio-economic development
and to reduce global/local inequalities.
The G77 specifically mentioned that the Open Working Group document
contains constructive guidance for the SDGs, and that all reservations
on the text must be compiled into and clearly referenced in an official
document.
The Arab Group expressed its long-standing concern on Goal 16 (peace/conflict/rule
of law), and requested that Goal 16 include targets on ending all
forms of colonial domination and foreign occupation, as well as strengthening
adherence to international law by all stakeholders and intensifying
international cooperation on countering terrorism, especially by addressing
its root causes.+
References:
The GA resolution on adoption of OWG-SDG outcome is here:
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/68/309
The full OWG-SDG outcome is here:
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/68/970
