Brazil
Post-2015 Development Agenda
Stocktaking Session, 19-21 January, 2015
Statement by Brazil
We associate ourselves with the statement delivered by the distinguished PR
of South Africa on behalf of G77 and China and add the following
comments in our national capacity.
We have come a long way in fulfilling a central mandate stemming from
Rio+20 Conference and from the Special Event on the MDGs held in 2013.
We have decided to renew our collective efforts towards poverty eradication
by achieving sustainable development in all its dimensions on the basis of a
new agenda that is global in nature and universally applicable to all
countries.
We think that our achievements so far were made possible because we had
an open, transparent and inclusive process involving all stakeholders. As we
launch the intergovernmental negotiating process, we need to keep it that
way in order to get the results we need by next September to ensure the
future we want over the coming years.
In that regard, we would like to call upon UN DESA and UN NonGovernmental
Liaison Service (NGLS) to continue making all possible
efforts to support representative voices from different stakeholders,
particularly from the Global South, since those may have limited capacity
and opportunity to participate. We count on civil society and other
stakeholders to support and facilitate the participation of new and diverse
voices, whenever they have opportunity to contribute to the process.
As we contemplate the work ahead, the question arises of what the post 2015
Agenda will look like. We think we have pretty much figured out that part
already. The agenda should be structured around four elements:
- First, a declaration, where the international community would express a
wide-ranging vision for a new development agenda anchored in its
universality and transformative nature.
- Second, a set of goals and targets containing the actions that we need to
undertake in order to translate that vision into reality.
- Third, Means of Implementation of the new agenda, which, of course must
encompass not only finance but also technology and capacity building. The
MoIs need to be commensurate with the level of ambition that we have set
ourselves in the SDGs.
- Fourth, a mechanism for follow-up and review of progress and
implementation of our collective commitments.
As the co-facilitator said this morning, and we agree, we are definitely not
starting from scratch. In some of these areas, particularly SDGs, we have
already made huge progress. Now we need to flesh out the elements of the
agenda that will require most of our dedication going forward.
SG Synthesis Report
The Secretary-General Synthesis Report brings some useful inputs to our
attention at the outset of the intergovernmental negotiations. In his report, the
SG proposes the adoption of six elements with a view to capturing the
essence of the new agenda as expressed in the SDGs.
In our view, the six elements do not add clarity to the existing framework of
goals and targets. They do not reflect the breadth and depth of SDGs and
could not serve as references for rearranging the 17 goals – even if such a
rearrangement were needed. They pose an extra layer of concepts whose
relationship to the SDGs or to the very concept of sustainable development is
not clear. We also fail to see how they can reflect the integration of the three
dimensions of sustainable development and the cross-cutting approach to
issues such as environmental sustainability, gender and means of
implementation. They bring back a silo approach that we spent the last 2
years trying to get rid of.
SDGs
We need to remain faithful to the transformative consensus achieved in
Rio+20 Conference and reflected in the SDGs. The 17 goals and 169 targets
are underpinned by political legitimacy and technical cohesion. They also
reflect the universal nature of the new development agenda, on the basis of
the principle of CBDR.
We should observe our commitment to treat the SDGs as the main basis for
the Post-2015 Development Agenda by adopting upfront the framework of 17
goals and related targets.
The focus from now on, as mentioned by the delegation of India and several
others, should be on how to integrate this framework into the post-2015
agenda without reopening negotiations on substantive issues or artificial
ones, such as the number of goals.
We wish to sound a strong note of caution on the question of the so-called
technical proofing of the SDGs. The possibility of a technical assessment, or
"proofing", should have its criteria clearly agreed to by Member States
beforehand. We could not accept any exercise that would lower the level of
ambition or reduce the thematic scope of the existing framework of goals.
The elaboration of indicators demands technical expertise that should rely on
national statistical agencies. The Statistical Commission is already doing
some work which, in our view, is relevant as an input to be submitted to the
consideration of Member States in the context of the intergovernmental
negotiations. We need to examine the work being developed in the Statistical
Commission, exchange views on their proposals and provide guidance and
recommendations, as appropriate.
We will come back with specific comments on the other issues during the
remainder of our stocktaking session.
Political Declaration
A political declaration will allow Heads of State and Government to address
the global challenges of our time, enshrining their aspirations for global
development beyond 2015.
The Post-2015 political declaration should approach the needs and challenges
of the present, providing a shared vision for the future of the Organization
and its development agenda. No artificial thematic limits should be imposed
to the scope of the declaration at the risk of compromising the level of
ambition of the new agenda.
The new sustainable development agenda has already set in motion a
paradigm shift within the UN Development Pillar; a shift that should resonate
to the other areas of the Organization, making it more reponsive to the
changing global realities.
A reduced number of core principles could be mentioned in the political
declaration, allowing for Heads of State and government to convey a short
but powerful vision at the adoption of the Agenda. Principles that should be
considered include: Equality, Sustainability, Universality (but also
Differentiation as expressed in the principle of CBDR), and more democratic
and representative governance through enhanced multilateral cooperation
should be among those to be considered.
Here, as elsewhere, we are not starting from scratch. The preamble to the
SDG proposal, for example, contains some useful inputs for our
consideration.
Means of Implementation
The 17 goals and 169 targets we have jointly prepared and adopted at the
OWG and at the level of the GA will be the basis of the Post 2015
Development Agenda that we need to mobilize financing for, at the national,
regional and international levels.
Trying to capture the 17 goals in all their breath and complexity and making
them fit into six supposedly more marketable (or communicable) broadlydefined
areas, as proposed in SG's synthesis report, is a course of action we
do not support.
With respect to resources, shrinking the 17 goals into 6 "elements" seems to
replicate the rationale some Member States have been trying to apply to the
UN regular budget, that is: to supposedly do more with less. In the end we
have less and we do less, and the rationale works as a smokescreen for
reneging on commitments.
To make our groundbreaking Post-2015 Development Agenda
implementable we need to ensure the means of implementation for the full
set of goals and targets. In other words, to do more we need more. Resources
should be mobilized not on the basis of a shrunken version of our agenda,
but rather for each and every specific goal and target we have painstakingly
agreed as a balanced outcome of the OWG. This is why we have a stand
alone goal on MoI alongside goal-specific MoI targets.
In Addis, we will need to update the Monterrey and Doha frameworks for
FFD in light of our agreement on the SDGs.
We should start by reaffirming ODA and other internationally agreed
commitments. ODA should continue to flow to countries most in need and
help leverage development in the broadest sense.
We will also need to discuss systemic issues in the fields of trade, financial
architecture and capacity building, making the international environment
more supportive of sustainable development and safeguarding policy space
for the overarching goals of poverty eradication, combating inequality and
promoting inclusive sustainable development where it is most needed.
We should mobilize public financial resources internationally, engage the
IFIs in support of our common agenda, as well as agree on policy options
more favorable to our goals and targets.
Private resources will be key and private partners need to work with us; not
against us. Therefore, implementing partnerships with the private sector
needs to be conditioned upon their commitment to engage with the Post-
2015 Development Agenda in the most transparent and accountable manner.
We need to acknowledge that technology will be indispensable. It is both a
means and a driver of transformation relevant to practically all goals and
targets, including for achieving more sustainable patterns of consumption and
production.
We note with appreciation that the SG's synthesis report contains useful
recommendations on the matter, particularly as regards the establishment of a
technology facilitation mechanism for clean and environmentally sound
technologies, alongside other ideas that would allow us to move from rhetoric
to actions.
A technology bank for LDCs, improved system-wide coordination at the UN
on technology facilitation, an online glogal platform for on technology for
sustainable development are ideas that we should seriously consider.
Intellectual property regimes should be consistent with and contribute to the
SDGs; not the other way around.
Follow up and review
Follow up and review should be considered in light of resolution 67/290,
which established the HLPF as the institutional platform for the governance
of the post-2015 Development Agenda. Annual Ministerial Reviews will start
in 2016.
UN Regional Commissions already have a mandate to hold regional meetings
in preparation for the HLPF. We should enhance their capacity to play this
role.
We should also carefully consider the nature and role of the Global
Sustainable Development Report in this process. The first edition of the
report is expected to be available for the next session of the High Level
Political Forum.
Accountability and monitoring should take place primarily at the national
level. Additional resourses should be directed to the strengthening of national
institutions of developing countries to that effect, including their capacity to
collect data and produce statistical analysis.
Thank you.
Stocktaking Session, 19-21 January, 2015
Statement by Brazil
We associate ourselves with the statement delivered by the distinguished PR
of South Africa on behalf of G77 and China and add the following
comments in our national capacity.
We have come a long way in fulfilling a central mandate stemming from
Rio+20 Conference and from the Special Event on the MDGs held in 2013.
We have decided to renew our collective efforts towards poverty eradication
by achieving sustainable development in all its dimensions on the basis of a
new agenda that is global in nature and universally applicable to all
countries.
We think that our achievements so far were made possible because we had
an open, transparent and inclusive process involving all stakeholders. As we
launch the intergovernmental negotiating process, we need to keep it that
way in order to get the results we need by next September to ensure the
future we want over the coming years.
In that regard, we would like to call upon UN DESA and UN NonGovernmental
Liaison Service (NGLS) to continue making all possible
efforts to support representative voices from different stakeholders,
particularly from the Global South, since those may have limited capacity
and opportunity to participate. We count on civil society and other
stakeholders to support and facilitate the participation of new and diverse
voices, whenever they have opportunity to contribute to the process.
As we contemplate the work ahead, the question arises of what the post 2015
Agenda will look like. We think we have pretty much figured out that part
already. The agenda should be structured around four elements:
- First, a declaration, where the international community would express a
wide-ranging vision for a new development agenda anchored in its
universality and transformative nature.
- Second, a set of goals and targets containing the actions that we need to
undertake in order to translate that vision into reality.
- Third, Means of Implementation of the new agenda, which, of course must
encompass not only finance but also technology and capacity building. The
MoIs need to be commensurate with the level of ambition that we have set
ourselves in the SDGs.
- Fourth, a mechanism for follow-up and review of progress and
implementation of our collective commitments.
As the co-facilitator said this morning, and we agree, we are definitely not
starting from scratch. In some of these areas, particularly SDGs, we have
already made huge progress. Now we need to flesh out the elements of the
agenda that will require most of our dedication going forward.
SG Synthesis Report
The Secretary-General Synthesis Report brings some useful inputs to our
attention at the outset of the intergovernmental negotiations. In his report, the
SG proposes the adoption of six elements with a view to capturing the
essence of the new agenda as expressed in the SDGs.
In our view, the six elements do not add clarity to the existing framework of
goals and targets. They do not reflect the breadth and depth of SDGs and
could not serve as references for rearranging the 17 goals – even if such a
rearrangement were needed. They pose an extra layer of concepts whose
relationship to the SDGs or to the very concept of sustainable development is
not clear. We also fail to see how they can reflect the integration of the three
dimensions of sustainable development and the cross-cutting approach to
issues such as environmental sustainability, gender and means of
implementation. They bring back a silo approach that we spent the last 2
years trying to get rid of.
SDGs
We need to remain faithful to the transformative consensus achieved in
Rio+20 Conference and reflected in the SDGs. The 17 goals and 169 targets
are underpinned by political legitimacy and technical cohesion. They also
reflect the universal nature of the new development agenda, on the basis of
the principle of CBDR.
We should observe our commitment to treat the SDGs as the main basis for
the Post-2015 Development Agenda by adopting upfront the framework of 17
goals and related targets.
The focus from now on, as mentioned by the delegation of India and several
others, should be on how to integrate this framework into the post-2015
agenda without reopening negotiations on substantive issues or artificial
ones, such as the number of goals.
We wish to sound a strong note of caution on the question of the so-called
technical proofing of the SDGs. The possibility of a technical assessment, or
"proofing", should have its criteria clearly agreed to by Member States
beforehand. We could not accept any exercise that would lower the level of
ambition or reduce the thematic scope of the existing framework of goals.
The elaboration of indicators demands technical expertise that should rely on
national statistical agencies. The Statistical Commission is already doing
some work which, in our view, is relevant as an input to be submitted to the
consideration of Member States in the context of the intergovernmental
negotiations. We need to examine the work being developed in the Statistical
Commission, exchange views on their proposals and provide guidance and
recommendations, as appropriate.
We will come back with specific comments on the other issues during the
remainder of our stocktaking session.
Political Declaration
A political declaration will allow Heads of State and Government to address
the global challenges of our time, enshrining their aspirations for global
development beyond 2015.
The Post-2015 political declaration should approach the needs and challenges
of the present, providing a shared vision for the future of the Organization
and its development agenda. No artificial thematic limits should be imposed
to the scope of the declaration at the risk of compromising the level of
ambition of the new agenda.
The new sustainable development agenda has already set in motion a
paradigm shift within the UN Development Pillar; a shift that should resonate
to the other areas of the Organization, making it more reponsive to the
changing global realities.
A reduced number of core principles could be mentioned in the political
declaration, allowing for Heads of State and government to convey a short
but powerful vision at the adoption of the Agenda. Principles that should be
considered include: Equality, Sustainability, Universality (but also
Differentiation as expressed in the principle of CBDR), and more democratic
and representative governance through enhanced multilateral cooperation
should be among those to be considered.
Here, as elsewhere, we are not starting from scratch. The preamble to the
SDG proposal, for example, contains some useful inputs for our
consideration.
Means of Implementation
The 17 goals and 169 targets we have jointly prepared and adopted at the
OWG and at the level of the GA will be the basis of the Post 2015
Development Agenda that we need to mobilize financing for, at the national,
regional and international levels.
Trying to capture the 17 goals in all their breath and complexity and making
them fit into six supposedly more marketable (or communicable) broadlydefined
areas, as proposed in SG's synthesis report, is a course of action we
do not support.
With respect to resources, shrinking the 17 goals into 6 "elements" seems to
replicate the rationale some Member States have been trying to apply to the
UN regular budget, that is: to supposedly do more with less. In the end we
have less and we do less, and the rationale works as a smokescreen for
reneging on commitments.
To make our groundbreaking Post-2015 Development Agenda
implementable we need to ensure the means of implementation for the full
set of goals and targets. In other words, to do more we need more. Resources
should be mobilized not on the basis of a shrunken version of our agenda,
but rather for each and every specific goal and target we have painstakingly
agreed as a balanced outcome of the OWG. This is why we have a stand
alone goal on MoI alongside goal-specific MoI targets.
In Addis, we will need to update the Monterrey and Doha frameworks for
FFD in light of our agreement on the SDGs.
We should start by reaffirming ODA and other internationally agreed
commitments. ODA should continue to flow to countries most in need and
help leverage development in the broadest sense.
We will also need to discuss systemic issues in the fields of trade, financial
architecture and capacity building, making the international environment
more supportive of sustainable development and safeguarding policy space
for the overarching goals of poverty eradication, combating inequality and
promoting inclusive sustainable development where it is most needed.
We should mobilize public financial resources internationally, engage the
IFIs in support of our common agenda, as well as agree on policy options
more favorable to our goals and targets.
Private resources will be key and private partners need to work with us; not
against us. Therefore, implementing partnerships with the private sector
needs to be conditioned upon their commitment to engage with the Post-
2015 Development Agenda in the most transparent and accountable manner.
We need to acknowledge that technology will be indispensable. It is both a
means and a driver of transformation relevant to practically all goals and
targets, including for achieving more sustainable patterns of consumption and
production.
We note with appreciation that the SG's synthesis report contains useful
recommendations on the matter, particularly as regards the establishment of a
technology facilitation mechanism for clean and environmentally sound
technologies, alongside other ideas that would allow us to move from rhetoric
to actions.
A technology bank for LDCs, improved system-wide coordination at the UN
on technology facilitation, an online glogal platform for on technology for
sustainable development are ideas that we should seriously consider.
Intellectual property regimes should be consistent with and contribute to the
SDGs; not the other way around.
Follow up and review
Follow up and review should be considered in light of resolution 67/290,
which established the HLPF as the institutional platform for the governance
of the post-2015 Development Agenda. Annual Ministerial Reviews will start
in 2016.
UN Regional Commissions already have a mandate to hold regional meetings
in preparation for the HLPF. We should enhance their capacity to play this
role.
We should also carefully consider the nature and role of the Global
Sustainable Development Report in this process. The first edition of the
report is expected to be available for the next session of the High Level
Political Forum.
Accountability and monitoring should take place primarily at the national
level. Additional resourses should be directed to the strengthening of national
institutions of developing countries to that effect, including their capacity to
collect data and produce statistical analysis.
Thank you.
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