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Intergovernmental Negotiations on the
Post-2015 Development Agenda
Sixth Session
New York, 22 June 2015
Statement by Switzerland
Distinguished Co-Facilitators,
We would like to thank you for the timely preparation of the Zero Draft of the Post-2015 Outcome Document. It constitutes a very good basis for our deliberations in the final three weeks of negotiation. My delegation would like to make some general remarks to the different elements of the Zero Draft.
As Colombia and AOSIS, we also believe that we should have another look at the title of the agenda. In our view, it should reflect the aspect of sustainable development and for example state: “Transforming our world for sustainable development”.
We welcome the work you have done in drafting the declaration which contains many good elements. In particular, we fully support the strong call for action to change our world at the end of the declaration, and therefore suggest moving this part to the beginning.
We believe that the preamble and declaration should focus on the general principles and overarching and transversal aspects that truly define this new and transforming agenda. In this regard, we welcome the 5 “P”s, which is an attractive way to communicate the Agenda.
We note that both the preamble and the declaration contain selective lists or references to the SDGs. Although we welcome a streamlining of topics, we wonder, as others have stated, about the added value of such an approach as it could be read as a prioritization and launch another lengthy discussion on which topics to reflect. We would therefore be interested to hear views of other delegations in this regard.
With regard to the content of the declaration, we see the need to improve the language in six areas:
1) The declaration should reflect the environmental dimension more prominently. In this context, we suggest to complement the protection of the planet (in paragraph 3 and 6) with a reference to the sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems.
2) As Mexico or the Arab group also stated, the declaration should not only reflect negative aspects but also the transformative force of migration for inclusive growth and sustainable development. The declaration could for example recognize the contributions migrants make to inclusive growth and sustainable development in countries of origin, transit and destination, and highlight the importance of efforts to enable orderly, safe, and regular migration and mobility, while protecting all rights of all migrants.
3) As the EU and others, we would also like strengthen the gender equality aspect, which is of transversal importance for the achievement of the SDGs. We suggest improving the mainstreaming of gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment in various parts of the declaration, including in the introduction and the challenges our world is facing today.
4) We advocate for an explicit reference to policy coherence. Policy coherence at all levels will be of overarching importance for the successful implementation of the SDGs and should be anchored in the declaration, for example in paragraph 30.
5) We welcome strong references to human rights and rule of law. Sustainable Development will not be possible without full respect for human rights.
6) We support the references to science as important enabler for sustainable development. We consider it important to have a broad approach on science, which includes social sciences and humanities as well as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches.
Regarding the chapter on SDGs and targets, we welcome the reaffirmation of the mandate for the Inter Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators to develop a global indicator framework by March 2016. This should be the first version that will be developed and improved over the years in different bodies under the umbrella of the UN Statistical Commission. We understand an indicator framework as being composed of two things: i) a conceptual framework based on common principles and ii) a list of indicators.
With regard to the chapter on Means of implementation and the global partnership, we see this intrinsically linked to the current negotiations on Financing for Development. As suggested by the Co-Facilitators, we also understand the content of this chapter as a placeholder until the conclusion of the Addis Ababa Outcome.
Finally, regarding follow-up and review, the Zero Draft contains several important elements of a new monitoring, accountability and review framework. We particularly welcome the references to the national, regional and global level, including global thematic and country
reviews, the central role of the HLPF and the alignment of the HLPF with existing mechanisms. We call for strong language on ensuring that the UN system will be ready and able to support countries in implementing the agenda. We believe that the chapter should be more ambitious and we will provide concrete ideas on Wednesday.
Distinguished Co-Facilitators
My delegation is looking forward to discuss the different sections of the Zero Draft in more detail throughout this week. We stay committed to an ambitious Outcome Document and will constructively engage in the discussions throughout this week. I would like to reaffirm our full support for your leadership.
Thank you!
