Major Group: Women
Esteemed participants,
I am Sehnaz Kiymaz from Turkey, speaking on behalf of the Women’s Major Group.
The HLPF exists to bring into being the Agenda 2030 through the SDGs, and we are all aware of the urgency of this agenda for the World. Achieving gender equality, the realization of all women’s and girls’ human rights and empowerment are essential and cross-cutting to the achievement all of the SDGs and to actualizing a transformative agenda, rather than replicating business as usual. As the Women’s Major Group we call on a recognition of three cross-cutting elements, the universal human rights framework, gender equality, and the justice and sustainability criteria that need to be at the core of all actions to transform ‘business as usual’ into transformation and sustainable development.
This year’s HLPF is critical for setting the stage for our next 15 years with the SDGs. The theme of this year’s HLPF is the critical commitment to “leave no one behind.” We have listened to and witnessed some best practices in this HLPF aimed at a significant redistribution of wealth, resources and power, such as human rights framed national level mechanisms, climate justice linkage structures and processes, special circumstances focus to address particular contextual priorities, gender budgeting and progressive taxation practices, analysis on gender resource gaps, and meaningful civil society participation in the delegations of some member states, to name only a few. However, we must see this firmly reflected in official Forum documents, quickly build on these best practices, bring more political will and scale up resources and accountability and participation models as we move forward .
Securing the Means of Implementation is at the heart of Agenda 2030, including achieving women’s and girls’ human rights. There is yet an alarming absence of focus on MOI and associated systemic issues throughout the HLPF process including on inequality of wealth and resources between states, nor global concentration of wealth. There is no reference to fiscal policies here or elsewhere, the target to improve regulation and monitoring of global financial market.
We must tackle systemic barriers and challenge the current development paradigm which contributes to deepening and magnifying social, economic and ecological exploitation, inequalities and exclusion. The HLPF and regional follow-up processes should address the key barriers to achieving sustainable development annually. Member states should include systemic barriers in their country reports, which includes: (1) Environment, climate, oceans, land and resource distribution, (2)Development, aid, debt, trade and investment agreements, (3) militarism, conflict and peacebuilding, (4) accountability of corporate powers and (5) inequalities, patriarchy and fundamentalism. If the SDGs are to be a game changer, these obstacles need to be addressed together, openly, and MOI to be clarified and enforced.
Global, regional and national partnerships established towards the implementation of the SDGs must ensure an open, transparent, non hierarchal cooperation with civil society and social movements in all their diversity regardless of age, ethnicity, abilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, legal status, etc. These partnerships should be entrenched in the United Nation’s fundamental commitment to peace through decolonization. It will be crucial to provide women's, indigenous women, LGBTI+, and feminist groups and civil society organisations, including grassroots groups and women human rights defenders, with adequate financing and training to support their role as rights holders, holders of knowledge and expertise, agents of change and evaluators of progress, not just mere recipients in the development and implementation of policies and programs. This will require communication of the Agenda in a manner that will make it meaningful and useful for all people.
In this regard, we welcome the proposal of bringing together experts for a working group to assess the SDG implementation, announced by the President of the General Assembly. An equal and diverse participation of women, including young women and those most marginalized, to this expert working group will be essential for ensuring reaching all SDGs by 2030. The working group, on the other hand, ensure that its work relies on principles of international human rights commitments, transparency and accountability.
We acknowledge and appreciate the ownership of the Agenda exemplified by the 22 countries reporting to HLPF 2016. In order to ensure that this review process is human rights based, accurate, transparent, measurable, and continuous the WMG recommends that national and regional review processes should be undertaken regularly, 3 or 4 times before 2030 and commend the inclusion of diverse local and national CSOs at all levels. Formal mechanisms must be established to consider reports, including shadow reports, by women’s groups and other civil society constituencies, and establish spaces for dialogues between countries that are reporting and major groups and all rights holders through official events to ensure greater accountability. As civil society, social movements and non-state actors, we present our willingness to assist states to develop accountability processes for inclusion of individuals and communities that have historically been "left behind." We willingly share our knowledge and skills in measuring progress on the SDGs.
Thank you,
I am Sehnaz Kiymaz from Turkey, speaking on behalf of the Women’s Major Group.
The HLPF exists to bring into being the Agenda 2030 through the SDGs, and we are all aware of the urgency of this agenda for the World. Achieving gender equality, the realization of all women’s and girls’ human rights and empowerment are essential and cross-cutting to the achievement all of the SDGs and to actualizing a transformative agenda, rather than replicating business as usual. As the Women’s Major Group we call on a recognition of three cross-cutting elements, the universal human rights framework, gender equality, and the justice and sustainability criteria that need to be at the core of all actions to transform ‘business as usual’ into transformation and sustainable development.
This year’s HLPF is critical for setting the stage for our next 15 years with the SDGs. The theme of this year’s HLPF is the critical commitment to “leave no one behind.” We have listened to and witnessed some best practices in this HLPF aimed at a significant redistribution of wealth, resources and power, such as human rights framed national level mechanisms, climate justice linkage structures and processes, special circumstances focus to address particular contextual priorities, gender budgeting and progressive taxation practices, analysis on gender resource gaps, and meaningful civil society participation in the delegations of some member states, to name only a few. However, we must see this firmly reflected in official Forum documents, quickly build on these best practices, bring more political will and scale up resources and accountability and participation models as we move forward .
Securing the Means of Implementation is at the heart of Agenda 2030, including achieving women’s and girls’ human rights. There is yet an alarming absence of focus on MOI and associated systemic issues throughout the HLPF process including on inequality of wealth and resources between states, nor global concentration of wealth. There is no reference to fiscal policies here or elsewhere, the target to improve regulation and monitoring of global financial market.
We must tackle systemic barriers and challenge the current development paradigm which contributes to deepening and magnifying social, economic and ecological exploitation, inequalities and exclusion. The HLPF and regional follow-up processes should address the key barriers to achieving sustainable development annually. Member states should include systemic barriers in their country reports, which includes: (1) Environment, climate, oceans, land and resource distribution, (2)Development, aid, debt, trade and investment agreements, (3) militarism, conflict and peacebuilding, (4) accountability of corporate powers and (5) inequalities, patriarchy and fundamentalism. If the SDGs are to be a game changer, these obstacles need to be addressed together, openly, and MOI to be clarified and enforced.
Global, regional and national partnerships established towards the implementation of the SDGs must ensure an open, transparent, non hierarchal cooperation with civil society and social movements in all their diversity regardless of age, ethnicity, abilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, legal status, etc. These partnerships should be entrenched in the United Nation’s fundamental commitment to peace through decolonization. It will be crucial to provide women's, indigenous women, LGBTI+, and feminist groups and civil society organisations, including grassroots groups and women human rights defenders, with adequate financing and training to support their role as rights holders, holders of knowledge and expertise, agents of change and evaluators of progress, not just mere recipients in the development and implementation of policies and programs. This will require communication of the Agenda in a manner that will make it meaningful and useful for all people.
In this regard, we welcome the proposal of bringing together experts for a working group to assess the SDG implementation, announced by the President of the General Assembly. An equal and diverse participation of women, including young women and those most marginalized, to this expert working group will be essential for ensuring reaching all SDGs by 2030. The working group, on the other hand, ensure that its work relies on principles of international human rights commitments, transparency and accountability.
We acknowledge and appreciate the ownership of the Agenda exemplified by the 22 countries reporting to HLPF 2016. In order to ensure that this review process is human rights based, accurate, transparent, measurable, and continuous the WMG recommends that national and regional review processes should be undertaken regularly, 3 or 4 times before 2030 and commend the inclusion of diverse local and national CSOs at all levels. Formal mechanisms must be established to consider reports, including shadow reports, by women’s groups and other civil society constituencies, and establish spaces for dialogues between countries that are reporting and major groups and all rights holders through official events to ensure greater accountability. As civil society, social movements and non-state actors, we present our willingness to assist states to develop accountability processes for inclusion of individuals and communities that have historically been "left behind." We willingly share our knowledge and skills in measuring progress on the SDGs.
Thank you,