Amnesty International

ADJUSTED TEXT ON
FOLLOW-UP AND REVIEW AS OF 18 MAY 2016



Amnesty International comments
Suggested insertions in blue and underlined
Suggested deletions in strikethrough










The General Assembly,
PP1. Recalling its resolutions 66/288 of 27 July 2012, 67/290 of 9 July 2013, 68/1 of 20 September 2013,
PP2. Recalling also its resolution 69/313 of 27 July 2015 on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development,
PP3. Reaffirming its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
PP3bis. Further reaffirming that in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Member States committed to engage in systematic follow-up and review of the implementation of the Agenda and to promote accountability to its citizens in accordance with agreed guiding principles and asserted that the high-level political forum will have a central role in overseeing a network of follow-up and review processes at the global level, working coherently with the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and other relevant organs and forums, in accordance with existing mandates,

1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;
2. Decides that, for purposes of the thematic reviews of progress on the 2030 Agenda at the high-level political forum, the sequence of themes for each four-year cycle of the forum shall reflect the integrated, indivisible, interlinked nature of the sustainable development goals and three dimensions of sustainable development, including cross-cutting issues as well as new and emerging issues, and will serve as the lens through which to review all 17 goals;
3. Further decides that the high-level political forum under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, without prejudice to the integrated, indivisible, interlinked nature of the sustainable development goals, will discuss a set of goals and their interlinkages at each session representing the three dimensions of sustainable development, with a view to facilitating an in-depth review on progress of all goals over the course of a four-year cycle, with goal 17 discussed annually in a manner that does not duplicate discussions in the Financing for Development Forum;
4. Decides therefore that for the remainder of the current cycle of the high-level political forum under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council the themes shall be:
 2017
Theme: Ensuring food security on a safe planet by 2030

 2018
Theme: Making cities sustainable and building productive capacities

 2019
Theme: Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness]

4. bis. Decides further that for the remainder of the current cycle of the high-level political forum under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council the sets of goals to be reviewed in depth shall be:
 2017
Sustainable Development Goals: 1, 2, 6, 13, 14, 15 and 17
 2018
Sustainable Development Goals: 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 17
 2019
Sustainable Development Goals: 3, 4, 5, 10, 16 and 17
5. Decides further that the Economic and Social Council should align its annual themes with the corresponding annual themes of the high-level political forum on sustainable development under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council to foster coherence;
6. Takes note of the preparations for the voluntary national reviews for the high-level political forum under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council in 2016 and encourages that experience gained from this and future sessions should be taken into consideration so as to ensure that the reviews make use of innovative arrangements for the preparation of subsequent sessions, bearing in mind that their aim is to facilitate the sharing of experiences including successes, challenges and lessons learnt, and encourages Member States to involve non-state actors, including civil society and the private sector, in the national voluntary reviews;
7. Requests the President of the Economic and Social Council to encourage voluntary national reviews from all developed and developing countries, including countries in special situations;
8. Encourage Member States to consider carrying out at least three voluntary national reviews, one every five years, at the High-Level Political Forum between now and 2030.
9. Requests the Secretary-General to update, as appropriate, the voluntary common reporting guidelines as provided for in the annex to the report of the Secretary-General , and to make them available to Member States as a reference tool in the preparation for voluntary national reviews.
10. Encourages Member States to identify the most suitable regional or sub-regional forum or format, where appropriate, as a further means to contribute to the follow-up and review at the high-level political forum;
11. Also reaffirms that the meetings of the forum shall devote adequate time to the discussion of the sustainable development challenges facing all developing countries, including the most vulnerable countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries as well as recognize the challenges faced by African countries, middle income countries and countries in conflict and post-conflict situations;
11.bis Decides that the meetings of the forum will provide for effective linkages with the follow-up and review arrangements of all relevant United Nations conferences and processes including on least developed countries, small island developing states and landlocked developing countries;
12. Reiterate its decision in resolution 67/290 that the forum shall be open to the major groups, other relevant stakeholders and entities having received a standing invitation to participate as observers in the General Assembly in accordance with the modalities set out in the same resolution ; Encourages that in the organization of the meetings of the high-level political forum, building on resolution 67/290, innovative arrangements including web-based interfaces should be considered so as to support the effective, broad and balanced participation by region and by type of organization;
13. Takes note of the intergovernmental decision on the scope, frequency and methodology of the Global Sustainable Development Report and its relationship to the Sustainable Development Goal Progress Report.
14. Reiterates the call to major groups and other stakeholders to report on their contributions to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and encourages the private sector and civil society to inform the United Nations of their commitments to implement it as part of their contribution to follow-up and review;
15. Underscores that all inputs to the High-Level Political Forum, including those mentioned in paragraph 14, shall be made available and easily accessible in a user-friendly format utilizing and enhancing where necessary, existing web-based platforms with linkages as appropriate;
16. Encourages coherence of the General Assembly and its main committees, the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council, international human rights instruments and their monitoring bodies , and other intergovernmental bodies and forums with the work of the high-level political forum toward the follow-up and review of the implementation of the Agenda and encourages that the quadrennial comprehensive policy review takes into account the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and takes note of the ongoing work of the functional commissions, international human rights instruments and their monitoring bodies, and other intergovernmental bodies and forums on review of their working methods and agendas in order to ensure that they address the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development within their respective area of expertise and mandate, while avoiding duplications;
17. Requests in this regard the Secretary-General to review the organization of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs by reorganizing it so as to avoid duplication and ensure that the Department as a whole can effectively provide support to the high level political forum in a cohesive, coordinated and collaborative manner;
18. Invites the Economic and Social Council to consider scheduling its engagement with various intergovernmental bodies and international human rights monitoring bodies in order to support their contribution to the high-level political forum and decides to convene the biennial Development Cooperation Forum prior to the high-level political forum;
19. Decides to merge the three-day ministerial segment of the high-level political forum under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council with the high-level segment of the Council
20. Decides, bearing in mind the different roles of the high-level political forum when meeting under the auspices of the General Assembly and when meeting under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, that when meeting in the same year they shall be closely coordinated to avoid duplication, ensure coherence and provide for mutually reinforcing linkages; and decides further for these purposes that the high-level political forum shall only have one negotiated political declaration for that year;
21. Reaffirms its decision as provided in resolution 67/290 that the outcome of the high-level political forum under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council will result in a negotiated ministerial declaration for inclusion in the report of the Council to the General Assembly, except as otherwise provided, and invites the President of the Economic and Social Council to prepare a factual summary of the meeting;
22. Decides to review progress in implementing the present resolution and General Assembly resolution 67/290 on the format and organizational aspects of the high-level political forum on sustainable development at its seventy-fourth session, in order to benefit from lessons learned in the first cycle of the high-level political forum as well as from other processes under the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council related to the follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.