Major Groups response to Republic of Korea
Thank you, Mr/Ms. President. My name is Doun Moon and I speak on behalf of the Korean Civil Society Network on SDGs. We appreciate that the Korean government volunteered for the National Voluntary Review. We have serious concerns, however, that the national report is not sufficient for the vision of transformation and the principle of ‘leave no one behind’ in terms of its content and the civil society participation.
Our disagreements with some of the findings of the report are as follows:
First, the report hardly presents any specific plans or measures with a view to achieving the SDGs. The existing policies revisited as a framework for the SDGs were established prior to the adoption of the SDGs. Therefore their relevance to the SDGs is still in question. This mainly stems from the lack of cross-ministerial coordination mechanism at the high political level. The National Review was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Environment with low level of engagement from other government ministries. We pose a question to the government delegation: what are the main obstacles and challenges in adopting a whole-of-government approach? How can they be overcome?
Second, in regards to the civil society participation, the quality of consultations was far from satisfactory. The dialogue with civil society on the draft report was held in a very hasty manner, only a few days before the submission of the report, with a small number of CSOs. We are deeply disappointed to find that our feedback on the draft report was not substantially incorporated in the final report. We call on the government to recognize the value of civil society as partner for the implementation of the SDGs. We would like to ask to the Korean delegation: What kinds of policies and mechanisms the government is developing for ‘full and meaningful’ participation of CSOs and the marginalized. Thank you for your attention.
Our disagreements with some of the findings of the report are as follows:
First, the report hardly presents any specific plans or measures with a view to achieving the SDGs. The existing policies revisited as a framework for the SDGs were established prior to the adoption of the SDGs. Therefore their relevance to the SDGs is still in question. This mainly stems from the lack of cross-ministerial coordination mechanism at the high political level. The National Review was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Environment with low level of engagement from other government ministries. We pose a question to the government delegation: what are the main obstacles and challenges in adopting a whole-of-government approach? How can they be overcome?
Second, in regards to the civil society participation, the quality of consultations was far from satisfactory. The dialogue with civil society on the draft report was held in a very hasty manner, only a few days before the submission of the report, with a small number of CSOs. We are deeply disappointed to find that our feedback on the draft report was not substantially incorporated in the final report. We call on the government to recognize the value of civil society as partner for the implementation of the SDGs. We would like to ask to the Korean delegation: What kinds of policies and mechanisms the government is developing for ‘full and meaningful’ participation of CSOs and the marginalized. Thank you for your attention.