Major Group: Women
Statement at the morning meeting of the President of ECOSOC with representatives of major groups and other stakeholders of the 2nd Meeting of the High Level Political Forum
2nd July, 2014
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am Pooja Badarinath, from CREA in New Delhi, India and am also representing the women’s major group. I thank you for the opportunity to provide expertise of Major Groups and Other Stakeholders.
Paragraph 85 of the Rio+20 Outcome Document (para. 85) affirms twelve important functions, including for the HLPF to be a platform for regular dialogue; to follow up and review the implementation of commitments contained in the outcomes of major UN conferences and summits as well as their respective means of implementations among other functions.
The HLPF should be the venue to discuss and decide on the follow-up, review and implementation of the outcomes and commitments of both the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Post-2015 development agenda. As is now widely accepted, implementation and accountability of outcomes and commitments in the UN is a major weakness. The HLPF is thus an important platform to share lessons and mobilise the required resources, time and mechanisms to make implementation and accountability truly effective.
One of the most fundamental aspect of this form of review and accountability would be to establish and encourage a peer review mechanisms at regional level and global levels located in the HLPF with enhanced participation opportunities for civil society. The Universal Periodic Review in the Human Rights Council has been useful for women’s rights groups to advocate for furthering women’s rights issues and monitor the commitments made by States at the review processes both domestically and internationally on a range of issues. Such a peer review mechanism in the HLPF to monitor the implementation of the implementation and outcomes of SDGs and Post 2015 development agenda must necessarily look at those receiving and providing resources. States should periodically report on commitments as well as results.
There has to be accountability and monitoring requirement for corporations and international financial institutions especially in the light of findings that corporations have more outflows than inflows in developing countries or that loans rather than grants increasingly make up multilateral investments in development. Strong and transparent governance and accountability through establishment of robust national, regional and global regulation and accountability mechanisms, with full participation of civil society at all levels.
The women’s major group welcomes the resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council establishing an open ended inter-governmental working group towards a legally binding human rights instruments on transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
The HLPF should strengthen and expand the indicators for monitoring and accountability taking into account the work that’s been done by States for alternate indicators.
Civil society experts from Major Groups and other Stakeholders including women, youth, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized communities- should be involved in any panel of experts, working group or equivalent bodies set up to support the work of the HLPF including but not limited to review and accountability processes. The Committee on World Food Security High Level Panel of Experts is one model of how to involve civil society both in the preparatory process of a panel of experts (through a Steering Committee) and in its work.
This kind of robust review processes can be possible if there is full participation of the civil society including access to access to information, access to all meetings, speaking rights, the right to submit documents, the right to provide expertise, and the inclusion of Major Groups and stakeholders’ contributions in official documents and to agenda-shaping. The HLPF needs to develop as an institution, including a Bureau and a well-resourced Secretariat that is equipped to handle and develop integrated sustainable development policies for the next 20 years.
2nd July, 2014
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am Pooja Badarinath, from CREA in New Delhi, India and am also representing the women’s major group. I thank you for the opportunity to provide expertise of Major Groups and Other Stakeholders.
Paragraph 85 of the Rio+20 Outcome Document (para. 85) affirms twelve important functions, including for the HLPF to be a platform for regular dialogue; to follow up and review the implementation of commitments contained in the outcomes of major UN conferences and summits as well as their respective means of implementations among other functions.
The HLPF should be the venue to discuss and decide on the follow-up, review and implementation of the outcomes and commitments of both the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Post-2015 development agenda. As is now widely accepted, implementation and accountability of outcomes and commitments in the UN is a major weakness. The HLPF is thus an important platform to share lessons and mobilise the required resources, time and mechanisms to make implementation and accountability truly effective.
One of the most fundamental aspect of this form of review and accountability would be to establish and encourage a peer review mechanisms at regional level and global levels located in the HLPF with enhanced participation opportunities for civil society. The Universal Periodic Review in the Human Rights Council has been useful for women’s rights groups to advocate for furthering women’s rights issues and monitor the commitments made by States at the review processes both domestically and internationally on a range of issues. Such a peer review mechanism in the HLPF to monitor the implementation of the implementation and outcomes of SDGs and Post 2015 development agenda must necessarily look at those receiving and providing resources. States should periodically report on commitments as well as results.
There has to be accountability and monitoring requirement for corporations and international financial institutions especially in the light of findings that corporations have more outflows than inflows in developing countries or that loans rather than grants increasingly make up multilateral investments in development. Strong and transparent governance and accountability through establishment of robust national, regional and global regulation and accountability mechanisms, with full participation of civil society at all levels.
The women’s major group welcomes the resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council establishing an open ended inter-governmental working group towards a legally binding human rights instruments on transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
The HLPF should strengthen and expand the indicators for monitoring and accountability taking into account the work that’s been done by States for alternate indicators.
Civil society experts from Major Groups and other Stakeholders including women, youth, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized communities- should be involved in any panel of experts, working group or equivalent bodies set up to support the work of the HLPF including but not limited to review and accountability processes. The Committee on World Food Security High Level Panel of Experts is one model of how to involve civil society both in the preparatory process of a panel of experts (through a Steering Committee) and in its work.
This kind of robust review processes can be possible if there is full participation of the civil society including access to access to information, access to all meetings, speaking rights, the right to submit documents, the right to provide expertise, and the inclusion of Major Groups and stakeholders’ contributions in official documents and to agenda-shaping. The HLPF needs to develop as an institution, including a Bureau and a well-resourced Secretariat that is equipped to handle and develop integrated sustainable development policies for the next 20 years.