Switzerland
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Intergovernmental Intergovernmental Intergovernmental Intergovernmental Negotiations Negotiations Negotiations on the
Post Post-2015 Development Development Development Development Agenda Agenda
Seventh Session
New York, 20 July 2015
General Statement and Declaration
Statement by Switzerland
Distinguished Co-facilitators,
We would like to thank you for this revised draft. The document reflects well the discussions we had in the previous six sessions and is a good basis for the final stage of our journey. We are confident that your guidance and leadership will allow us to finalize an ambitious and transformative final outcome by July 31st, for adoption by our Heads of State in September.
Switzerland has some general comments on the revised draft. Thank you also for giving me this opportunity to make detailed comments on the declaration at this early stage.
Co-Facilitators,
The title of our new agenda is of utmost importance. In our view, the title should spell out the overall objective of this agenda. We suggest rewording the title to describe what the agenda is really about. It could read: For people and planet: the 2030 Universal Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Amongst key overarching principles, we welcome the current language on gender equality and human rights. However, in certain places we still believe it can be stronger and we will make suggestions in this regard throughout these two weeks.
Concerning the Declaration:
2
We welcome the ambitious and inspiring language you propose, in particular the strong call to action. The Agenda provides a positive and inspiring answer to our many global challenges. We should use the Declaration to highlight those fundamental and transformative forces that will truly make the difference. This will allow us to have a short punchy declaration that will speak to both our ministers and our fellow citizens back home. In this spirit we would like to highlight the following 7 points:
- Firstly, we strongly welcome the preamble and the 5 “P”s as a short and powerful tool to communicate the agenda. At one page, the preamble is the perfect length to convey a simple but not simplistic vision.
- Secondly, Sustainable Development requires a balanced integration of the social, economic and environmental dimensions. Not only should sufficient weight be accorded to each of the three dimensions, but the focus must be on the interlinkages between those dimensions. A fundamental way to achieve this is to integrate the concept of planetary boundaries and in particular the need to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation. Throughout the text we need to apply a truly holistic and integrated approach. Let me illustrate this with the example of water: Having recognized that water is at the core of sustainable development in “The future we want”, the reference to water in the declaration should go beyond the mere reference to water supply, sanitation and hygiene and should include the notion of sustainable water management.
- Thirdly, in highlighting the key aspects of the new agenda, the emphasis should be on those transformative drivers of change. This is the case for the promotion of gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and the fulfillment of their human rights, which must be strongly reflected in the declaration, because it will directly affect the wellbeing and potential contribution of half the world population to sustainable development.
- Fourth, we would like to thank you for having taken into consideration the many calls made at our last session to review the language on migration. We support the current proposed language and suggest to add a reference to the positive contribution of migrants to sustainable development (as recognized most recently in the Addis Abeba outcome document).
- Fifth, we welcome that policy coherence has been integrated in the section on implementation. As a transformative driver of change that pushes governments to consider their policies in a truly holistic manner it deserves more attention.
3
- Sixth, to do justice to another truly transformative principle of this agenda - to “leave no one behind” - we need to address the suffering and the vulnerability of the women, men and children forcefully displaced from their homes in this agenda. Today more than 60 million people are displaced – a human tragedy we have not seen since the Second World War. We therefore welcome the references to refugees and displaced persons.
- Finally, concerning the two paragraphs on Follow-up and Review, we would welcome an explicit reference to the central role of the HLPF in the global framework. In addition to governments who have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review, the paragraphs should also recognize the important complementary role of other actors, including civil society, private sector, academia and the scientific community.
On SDGs and targets, we welcome the explicit reference to integrated nature of the SDGs and their universal applicability. At this point, we would simply like to caution that we take a very pragmatic and common-sense approach to modifications of targets so that we do not break the ambitious consensus found in the OWG.
On the Chapter on Means of Implementation and Global Partnership, we applaud you for keeping this section very short. We are pleased about the consensus reached last week in Addis Ababa which is the result of hard work and concessions on all sides. We feel that your proposal to integrate the whole document as an annex is a good option.
Finally, on Follow-up and review, I would like to stress three points
- First, we expect strong language to ensure that the UN Development system, which is a key actor in supporting countries in the implementation of the agenda, is ready in a coherent and integrated manner to support countries in implementing the SDGs. We will share with you our proposal to strengthen paragraphs 41 and 71 later this week.
- Second, we welcome the call to hold the next HLPF in 2019. We are happy to share our thoughts with other delegations on why we feel that resetting the cycle of the HLPF will substantially contribute to strengthen the implementation of the SDGs.
- Third, we call for further specificity on a few elements in this chapter, including a simple roadmap to prepare for the next sessions of the HLPF, elements on the GSDR and organisation of the thematic reviews by the HLPF. To those concerned about being too prescriptive, we understand the purpose of this chapter to define the cornerstones of a
4
follow-up and review framework, while keeping options open and providing Member States specific proposals that they may want to take up in the future.
We will be coming back with more specific comments later this week.
Thank you.
Check against delivery
Intergovernmental Intergovernmental Intergovernmental Intergovernmental Negotiations Negotiations Negotiations on the
Post Post-2015 Development Development Development Development Agenda Agenda
Seventh Session
New York, 20 July 2015
General Statement and Declaration
Statement by Switzerland
Distinguished Co-facilitators,
We would like to thank you for this revised draft. The document reflects well the discussions we had in the previous six sessions and is a good basis for the final stage of our journey. We are confident that your guidance and leadership will allow us to finalize an ambitious and transformative final outcome by July 31st, for adoption by our Heads of State in September.
Switzerland has some general comments on the revised draft. Thank you also for giving me this opportunity to make detailed comments on the declaration at this early stage.
Co-Facilitators,
The title of our new agenda is of utmost importance. In our view, the title should spell out the overall objective of this agenda. We suggest rewording the title to describe what the agenda is really about. It could read: For people and planet: the 2030 Universal Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Amongst key overarching principles, we welcome the current language on gender equality and human rights. However, in certain places we still believe it can be stronger and we will make suggestions in this regard throughout these two weeks.
Concerning the Declaration:
2
We welcome the ambitious and inspiring language you propose, in particular the strong call to action. The Agenda provides a positive and inspiring answer to our many global challenges. We should use the Declaration to highlight those fundamental and transformative forces that will truly make the difference. This will allow us to have a short punchy declaration that will speak to both our ministers and our fellow citizens back home. In this spirit we would like to highlight the following 7 points:
- Firstly, we strongly welcome the preamble and the 5 “P”s as a short and powerful tool to communicate the agenda. At one page, the preamble is the perfect length to convey a simple but not simplistic vision.
- Secondly, Sustainable Development requires a balanced integration of the social, economic and environmental dimensions. Not only should sufficient weight be accorded to each of the three dimensions, but the focus must be on the interlinkages between those dimensions. A fundamental way to achieve this is to integrate the concept of planetary boundaries and in particular the need to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation. Throughout the text we need to apply a truly holistic and integrated approach. Let me illustrate this with the example of water: Having recognized that water is at the core of sustainable development in “The future we want”, the reference to water in the declaration should go beyond the mere reference to water supply, sanitation and hygiene and should include the notion of sustainable water management.
- Thirdly, in highlighting the key aspects of the new agenda, the emphasis should be on those transformative drivers of change. This is the case for the promotion of gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and the fulfillment of their human rights, which must be strongly reflected in the declaration, because it will directly affect the wellbeing and potential contribution of half the world population to sustainable development.
- Fourth, we would like to thank you for having taken into consideration the many calls made at our last session to review the language on migration. We support the current proposed language and suggest to add a reference to the positive contribution of migrants to sustainable development (as recognized most recently in the Addis Abeba outcome document).
- Fifth, we welcome that policy coherence has been integrated in the section on implementation. As a transformative driver of change that pushes governments to consider their policies in a truly holistic manner it deserves more attention.
3
- Sixth, to do justice to another truly transformative principle of this agenda - to “leave no one behind” - we need to address the suffering and the vulnerability of the women, men and children forcefully displaced from their homes in this agenda. Today more than 60 million people are displaced – a human tragedy we have not seen since the Second World War. We therefore welcome the references to refugees and displaced persons.
- Finally, concerning the two paragraphs on Follow-up and Review, we would welcome an explicit reference to the central role of the HLPF in the global framework. In addition to governments who have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review, the paragraphs should also recognize the important complementary role of other actors, including civil society, private sector, academia and the scientific community.
On SDGs and targets, we welcome the explicit reference to integrated nature of the SDGs and their universal applicability. At this point, we would simply like to caution that we take a very pragmatic and common-sense approach to modifications of targets so that we do not break the ambitious consensus found in the OWG.
On the Chapter on Means of Implementation and Global Partnership, we applaud you for keeping this section very short. We are pleased about the consensus reached last week in Addis Ababa which is the result of hard work and concessions on all sides. We feel that your proposal to integrate the whole document as an annex is a good option.
Finally, on Follow-up and review, I would like to stress three points
- First, we expect strong language to ensure that the UN Development system, which is a key actor in supporting countries in the implementation of the agenda, is ready in a coherent and integrated manner to support countries in implementing the SDGs. We will share with you our proposal to strengthen paragraphs 41 and 71 later this week.
- Second, we welcome the call to hold the next HLPF in 2019. We are happy to share our thoughts with other delegations on why we feel that resetting the cycle of the HLPF will substantially contribute to strengthen the implementation of the SDGs.
- Third, we call for further specificity on a few elements in this chapter, including a simple roadmap to prepare for the next sessions of the HLPF, elements on the GSDR and organisation of the thematic reviews by the HLPF. To those concerned about being too prescriptive, we understand the purpose of this chapter to define the cornerstones of a
4
follow-up and review framework, while keeping options open and providing Member States specific proposals that they may want to take up in the future.
We will be coming back with more specific comments later this week.
Thank you.
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