Italy, Spain and Turkey
SIXTH SESSION OF THE OPEN WORKING GROUP ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
NEW YORK, 9 – 13 DECEMBER 2013
General interactive exchange of views on “Human rights, the right to development, global governance”.
Excellencies,
Distinguished co‐Chairs,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have the honor speak on behalf of Italy and Turkey, with whom we are pleased to share the membership in this Open Working Group, and my own country Spain:
Throughout the process launched by the UNSG for a global consultation on the Post‐2015 Agenda, society and a wide range of stakeholders have strongly demanded a development agenda based on a human rights approach. Indeed, development issues are human rights issues, and human rights can help address human and sustainable development challenges. From a human rights vision, poverty eradication is a matter of justice and obligations
The Millennium Declaration stated the fundamental values of the XXI century: liberty, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibilities. All of them are equally important for the international community and at the core of Human Rights. Nevertheless, when the Millennium Development Goals were stated, many human rights dimensions were not considered. In this sense, the process for the configuration of the new post 2015 development agenda brings a great
opportunity to promote human rights in all their dimensions. In addition, if we are up to implementing a human rights‐based approach, sustainable development has to be considered the place for the anchoring and full realization of a whole category of human rigts, namely the economic, cultural and social rights, as well as the environmental conservation and protection . This approach also entails the implementation of the principle of non discrimination, which means focusing on the human rights of the most vulnerable groups.
It is also fundamental to be consistent with existing international agreements, including human rights and environmental treaties. And also consider the right to development in its whole sense, making clear it is not only about an economic growth per se, but rather about a reorientation of economic development through the lenses of human rights, pertaining to all persons as to make them truly participate in the development processes (focused on human well‐being). The new development agenda should also facilitate elimination of inequalities within and between countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me make a brief reference to some of the human rights and principles directly related to the SDGs; among others,
• The right to food:
• The right to health:
• Human right to education:
• The right to water and sanitation,
• Land tenure security and access rights to land and natural resources
• Democratic governance:
• Inequality and discrimination: the respect of human rights is fundamental to eliminate all forms of discrimination, and states must include guidelines to achieve equity. In this line, gender inequity and violence against girls and women must be eradicated as the worst face of the breach in human rights.
• The right for a decent job:
• The human rights protection systems and the respect and enforcement of effective regional and universal legal instruments.
In the exercise of the full implementation of human rights and the right for development, no person or nation can be left behind. Just as stated by the High Level Panel of the UNSG, we should ensure that no person is denied universal human rights, and that is why the future development agenda must truly be a universal Agenda.
Among all, children should be the main consideration of our discussions on human rights related SDGs. Investing in children’s rights to health, nutrition, and learning as well as eradication of any type of child labor is the utmost important element of our new development agenda. This will reduce the transmission of poverty and inequality from one generation to the next.
Dear participants,
In a globalised world, there are more processes beyond the remit of nations that directly affect the lives of their population, such as human rights, climate change, finance stability and food price volatility, peace and security and global health. Global issues, and their differential impacts at all levels, need to be acknowledged through international cooperation and a strengthened international institutional framework.
The international community must face the challenge of providing global public goods and managing global risks; and in order to achieve the SDGs a strong, responsive and effective global governance must be built with a multi‐dimensional approach recognizing the multiple interlinkages of the three dimensions: social, environmental and economical.
An effective multilateral system can assure transparency, accountability and coherence across global issues, and can help identify who is responsible for specific processes and outcomes of development by providing mechanisms of accountbility.
In this context, corporate social responsibility that engages business actors to operate within the respect of the second pillar of the UN Guidng Principles on Business and Human Rights plays a crucial role for the
achievement of an accountable, transparent more effective sustainable development. Governments and the private actors should closely partner together to ensure the full respect of all the pillars of the UN Guiing Principles which should be part of the Post‐2015 agenda.
Lessons learnt from the MDGs show that progress has been underpinned by democratic governance, civic empowerment and well‐capacitated institutions. Empowerment and significant participation of individuals and civil society in governance systems are essential, especially for developing countries. In this sense, instruments for an open participation of all stakeholders must be enhanced and strengthened at national and international leve (as an example, the Committee on World Food Security, as the foremost inclusive platform at the UN System).
When talking about global governance, some relevant processes and issues require special attention:
• Global economic governance, as global policies and actions that promote financial equity and stability and prevent volatility of prices are clearly of intrnational public good.
• A real commitment for sustainable development. In this sense, the establishment of the High Level Political Forum within the reformed ECOSOC, an important outcome of Rio+20, will enhance policy coherence. This forum must bring about political leadership and make the necessary recommendations to deal with the global challenges of ustainable development, and is meant to play a crucial role in the definition, follow up and implementation of the Agenda post‐2015.
• The unconditional need for high quality data at global level as an essential tool to achieve a fairer and more sustainable globlization.
As the role of the multilateral system is unquestionable, efforts are still needed to improve inter‐organizational coherence and coordination, and a more balanced representation of LDCs and MICs at the governance bodies.
It is necessary to set up effective decision making mechanisms in all international institutions that will ensure fair represenation of all countries. Additionally, differences in the conditions, responsibilities, needs and institutional capacities of countries should be taken into account in the decision making mechanisms.
In order to strengthen the UN system it is necessary to achieve a more representative, comprehensive and dynamic decision making structure. For this purpose country classifications can be adjusted according to various development criteria in addition to GDP concerns
There is no rational and acceptable classification of development and countries relate their expectations depending only on GDP At the same time, the results of UN Summits continue to be a goodwill documents with political content and it is difficult to take commitments fr concrete decisions under this structure. In order to ensure global sustainability on international level, monitoring and evaluation systems should be strengthened. In that regard, the High Level Political Forum will play an essential role to improve the accountability of global governance.
Last but not least, the achievement of strong global governance not only entails the constitution of reliable multilateral institutions, but also the full realization of a Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. When it comes to aid effectiveness, efforts must be done among all stakeholders to promote learning and accountability. The establishment of this Global Partnership will be relevant as part of the “how” of a post‐2015 global framework for development. In this sense, we support the next High Level Meeting of the post‐Busan partnership in Mexico next April, which offers an unparalleled opportunity to advance in the implementation of the development effectiveness agenda, and to explore good South‐South and triangular co‐operation, the role of private sector, and the role of effective development co‐operation in and with MICs.
In order to improve the accountability and monitoring of implementations, we need a policy action for expanding how we measure progress in sustainable development by creating a sustainable developmentindex or set of indicators. Establishing a periodic global
sustainable development outlook report that brings together information and assessments currently dispersed across institutionsand analyses them in an integrated way can also facilitate the process.
To sum up, the achievement of human development can only be accomplished through the full exercise of fundamental rights, and this can be achieved with strong and democratic global governance, as well as the implementation at national level of the internal engaged commitments, together with the national setting of instruments for the respect of Human Rights.
Thank you very much