Major Groups and other civil society stakeholders’ compilation of contributions to the Chair’s summary report on the Monitoring and Accountability of the Post 2015 Development Agenda The Regional Dimension UNECE, 15-‐16 September 2014, Geneva Introduction Representatives1 of diverse civil society organisations and Major Groups contributed as speakers and panellists to the Ministerial Consultation on Monitoring and Accountability of the Post 2015 Development Agenda at UNECE on 15-‐16 September 2014 in Geneva. This document is a compilation of the input from the perspectives of the different constituencies and thematic groups participating in the meeting, starting with a number of the “9 major groups”2 and followed by groups representing other stakeholders such as people with disability, marginalized groups, development and human rights organisations3. General Recommendations Civil Society and Major Groups welcome the reference to the importance of public participation in chairs summary on the Ministerial Consultation of the Monitoring and Accountability mechanisms of the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda in the UNECE region. The SDG post2015 process will need to strengthen the rights and role of civil society in the UNECE region, and ensure full public participation, access to information and access to justice in all areas related to the implementation of and accountability mechanisms pertaining to the Sustainable Development Goals. We recommend that for the UNECE region, and other regions if they decide so, guidelines are developed for member states on ensuring diverse and strong public participation from local to national level. Accountability from Local to Global We recommend that a global accountability mechanism first and foremost strengthens accountability of governments towards citizens, including women, children and vulnerable people. It should also strengthen accountability to global citizens, ensuring that all nations are fulfilling their responsibilities to address global sustainable development issues that span geographical boundaries. We believe that participatory monitoring and social accountability mechanisms are crucial for making the voices of the most marginalized heard, increasing public awareness of development goals and by doing so generating collective action and bottom up demands in terms of fighting inequality, filling the gaps and challenges towards fulfilment of rights and improving governance. We recommend a bold, transparent, inclusive and participatory accountability mechanism, enabling a continuum of accountability from citizens, including women, children and youth and marginalized groups, in the local communities through to global institutions, is critical. This must enable accountability for both, outcomes (what) and the process of attaining these outcomes (how). We also recommend that the post-‐2015 global accountability mechanism works in 1
See list of participants below The 9 Major Groups are recognized stakeholders in the UN Sustainable Development Goal process, and are listed here in order of Agenda21 3 The recommendations presented are those of the groups who authored each of the sections, and not per se a consensus from all groups presented at the meeting 2
synergy with existing human rights mechanisms to ensure alignment with international (and regional) human rights mechanisms such as the Universal Periodic Review within the UN Human Rights Council, the UN treaty bodies, (CRC, CEDAW etc.). Recommendations from the Women’s Major Group The Women´s Major Group calls for the inclusion of a strong human rights perspective using existing human rights instruments and accountability mechanisms as crucial for a sustainable development. Recognizing that human rights are a prerequisite for gender equality, which is in itself essential to achieve sustainable development, the rights of women and girls rights must be protected, respected and fulfilled, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women should therefore be used as a robust accountability mechanism since the proposed targets in the Open Working Group report correspond closely to Articles in the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women. We strongly urge the use of independent experts, as in the Treaty Bodies and other monitoring mechanisms, to monitor progress and evaluate data. Independent experts, for example are also used to monitor women and children’s health for the Secretary-‐General’s “Every Woman, Every Child” initiative through the Independent Expert Review Group (iERG), which is a recent initiative. We also recommend that other monitoring initiatives that involve civil society expertise and experience be considered such as the recently formed Working Group on Performance, Monitoring and Accountability of the Family Planning 2020 Initiative, which could be integrated into monitoring partnerships on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Ensure the human rights based approach is included with regard to monitoring of human trafficking and includes strong partnership with civil society. Three dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals: Civil society organizations are concerned that the ECE mandate is focused particularly on economic issues. This could lead to inadequate attention being paid to the social dimension, which is also an equally important part of the post-‐ 2015 development agenda and sustainable development goals. Civil society organizations therefore recommend that new partnerships be forged with other regional bodies such as the Council of Europe and the World Health Organization European Region to ensure that issues such as health, education, employment and gender equality are fully addressed and monitored. Recommendations of NGO Major group (EEB) on accountability on Regional level: Post2015 Sustainable Development Agenda: Framework is voluntary which is a difficult foundation for real accountability We have to do two things: give them legal weight: like putting Sustainable Development as core value in the constitution, like Belgium did. Make Sustainable Development crucial for achieving well being. And we have to use as much as possible the social control and political pressure, by monitoring them, watch dogging and peer reviews. Important is to institutionalise Sustainable Development in the governmental structures, without responsible bodies is the government, nobody will feel ownership of the process and implementation. Not only one institution, but with involvement of all ministries/departments/DGs/Administrations. DG Agriculture for instance on European level is directly involved in SDG process and implementation, not only Environmental or Developmental.
On national levels and locally: revival of the NSSD and local Agenda 21 kind of structure, including a good functioning and inclusive independent Councils for Sustainable Development, with pro-‐active and agenda setting participation possibilities. For Europe: SDGs are universal, so have to be implemented in Europe too. We, Europe, are not only donor (as we were in the MDG context), but part of the problem and the solution. Maintaining our lifestyles is clearly at the expense of the Global South. SDGs have to be based on human rights, but also recognise planetary boundaries. Which implies a contraction and convergence agenda, which has to be reflected in the regional and national target setting. Referring to the use of resources, we will be challenged to reduce the use of resources with 80% in 2050, to stay in our fair share. BTW: That is a little more than what the Resource Efficiency Flagship plans. EUSDS: under the dust – needs to be totally rewritten and adapted to the new context of the SDG agenda and the targets for Europe. And needs to be the overarching framework for all policies. Coherence check: has to be part of monitoring and accountability mechanisms. You cannot combine a full economic growth and free trade agenda as the actual EU President is now promoting, which is at the expense of environmental regulation, and with a commissioner with direct personal interests in the oil, agribusiness and concrete industry, with a sustainability agenda, where regulation on environmental issues has proven to be effective. This will heavily highjack the SDG agenda in the coming years in Europe. Indicators: have to be clear and transparent: a dashboard of indicators, with using disaggregated data, to check if everybody is making progress. So no general data. Governments have to enable also legal accountability by accepting laws, that make environmental damage a crime, and not consider it as a kind of collateral damage in sake of the so called development (like fracking, oil drilling in the Artic and deep sea etc). Important is to know what legally binding (or even voluntary) agreements already exists, incl. MEAs. No regression can be made. Existing UN bodies (FAO, Habitat, UNIDO, UNEP..) have to have leading role in implementation and monitoring; Which will also ask an effort from their side, to go beyond their own silo approach. It also improves hopefully also coherence at UN level. Recommendations from the Farmers’ Major Group Acknowledging that farmers of all kind (small, medium and large scale) are of critical relevance and extremely conscious of their role in the society and the critical added value they can contribute to a Post 2015 sustainable development: It is of outmost importance to have an effective inclusion of farmers in the monitoring and accountability for the Post 2015 on matters relating to agriculture. We acknowledge the importance of defining clear indicators that could facilitate the monitoring process of the goals and recommend that farmers be consulted for the indicators definition and in the monitoring phase. Farmers are ready to provide support for data collection and statistical purposes in support to governments and provide specific information on farming systems. We recognise the importance of using established mechanisms but look forward the creation of new and specific integrated ones where absent. Consultation mechanisms should strengthen involvement of all actors in the society: all stakeholders, Governments, private sector, academes and research institutes. Recommendations from The Indigenous Peoples Major Group
We would like to urge the member states and UN agencies not to repeat mistakes of the MDGs and include Indigenous Peoples in consultations and formulation of the goals, targets and indicators for SD, include IPs in national reports and establish mechanisms to generate disaggregated data on IPs in relation to SDGs implementation. We would like to stress the importance and a centrality of a human rights-‐based approach, which stands at the core of accountability. Specific to IPs the accountability mechanisms should be based on principles prescribed in ILO169, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as well as other international documents. We recommend building on a mechanism based on the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council which has allowed inclusion “summaries of stakeholders” based on information provided by different actors, including Indigenous Peoples. Reviews should also be open and transparent, and the UN system should ensure that civil society can meaningfully participate beyond providing written submissions. We call on States to define the indicators and measures to evaluate implementation of the commitments through an inclusive, transparent and participatory process with all relevant stakeholders, including IPs. We would like to reiterate our call to include the right to Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) in all processes and decisions, in accordance with International obligations and instruments, such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and ILO Convention 169. One of our most important concerns that Indigenous Peoples have regarding the role of the private sector. Indigenous Peoples often find themselves on the forefront bearing the impacts of industrialization, land grabbing and etc. The need for a binding framework ensuring the accountability of transnational corporations ever becomes important as the private sector is positioning itself as the solution to several global challenges in the post-‐2015 development agenda while continuing to evade UN oversight and regulation such as the UNGP which at this point lack the teeth and require urgent reinforcement of its principles. Specific to European region, although the indigenous population is just a very small fraction of the general population, but as mentioned before being one the main contributors to climate change and industrialization through market demands that affect the most marginalized communities in other regions such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, Europe must take a special responsibility and spearhead efforts in increasing accountability globally. Recommendations from the Major Group for Children and Youth Ensure innovative and flexible approach (inter alia in terms of responsiveness and appropriateness) in monitoring, reporting and accountability, where focus would not only be exclusively on set goals and targets, but also on the process put in place to achieve them and the importance of structural and transformative changes, for example in legal and policy framework (for example reducing or removing institutional and systemic inequalities, addressing corruption, ensuring access to justice especially for women, children and youth and in environmental matters) Additional functions of the SDGs monitoring, reporting and accountability should be recognised such as:
Problem identification and problem-‐solving at all levels, pursuing administrative and other actions, activities (addressing the conflict of rights, theory of changes....) • Education, awareness-‐raising and mobilization • Legislative advocacy and policy formulation that among others include strategic litigation for sustainable development and SDGs Develop principles on how human rights standards apply to SDGs and how they could accelerate the achievement of the SDGs Promote the integration of 3 dimensions of sustainable development through the human rights instruments, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and promote the role of the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in the integration of the 3 dimensions of the sustainable development at the national level, as well as in protection and advancement of sustainable development, not overlooking the critical role of good governance. Continuously and in a strategic way build partnerships with the relevant sectors of society, particularly children and youth, at the regional level and support such practices at the national level. Furthermore, it is important to create and promote an enabling environment for meaningful and active participation of children and youth in the accountability and monitoring mechanisms at all levels focusing on the outcomes and quality of participation. In order to achieve this, the ECE should develop Guidelines for civil society participation at the regional, subregional, national and local level in the development, implementation, and monitoring of the SDGs. Establish civil society partnership facility at the ECE region. •
Recommendations from Persons with Disabilities (International Disability Alliance and ADD international) SDG and Human rights: There is a need and duty to link better Development goals monitoring with existing Human right monitoring mechanisms. We really value and contribute to the Universal Periodic Review process which is allow a good overview of the human rights situation in a country. It is a great political tool to promote human rights in the post 2015 agenda. We have also seen some its shortcoming as it doesn't allow for in depth review. Treaty bodies, which are legally binding accountability mechanisms address most of the targets of the possible SDGS and put emphasis marginalised or at risks groups such as women, children and youth or persons with disabilities. Those treaty bodies such as CESCR, CEDAW, CRC, CRPD are thorough review processes and cover most of the UN members states. With the on-‐going treaty body strengthening process, they could bring tremendous added value and information to the national, regional and global monitoring of the post 2015 framework. The need for disaggregated data: we saw with MDG monitoring how statistical invisibility of persons with disabilities lead to invisibility in program design resourcing implementation and monitoring and therefore further inequalities rather than bringing equity and inclusion. We therefore want to make sure that the post 2015 data revolution will not only build on what data that exist already but will push for further disaggregated data on disability along with other ground for marginalisation such as indigenous persons to break the vicious circle of invisibility. Any accountability mechanisms have to formally allow for parallel reporting and contribution from civil society as it is the case for UPR or treaty bodies. Moreover any such mechanisms have to ensure participation of marginalised groups such as persons with disabilities or indigenous people. Too often those processes don’t foster basic accessibility either physical or informational for those groups. Recommendations from Beyond2015
The post-‐2015 framework must be underpinned by a robust and comprehensive accountability framework, which goes beyond simply monitoring and reporting on progress made in achieving the goals and targets. Accountability should also take into consideration the process through which they are achieved. The accountability framework should therefore be composed of a range of appropriate mechanisms that are inclusive and transparent and connect local, national and global levels in order to form a continuum of accountability. The global accountability framework must be anchored in the local and national levels. It is crucial that all people are able to contribute to feeding back on the implementation of the future framework, with a particular focus on the poor and marginalised and on children and women. Only through hearing their voices can we be sure that their lives are truly improving. Furthermore, the very fact of consulting with all constituencies not only enhances the implementation of the framework but also raises awareness of its aims and empowers those who have to date been most marginalised. While states will be the primary duty-‐bearers for their commitments to the future SDGs, all actors – governments, civil society, private sector and others – must be held genuinely accountable to the extent to which they are implicated in the achievement of the SDGS. For this reason, it will be critical to clearly define the responsibilities of the various actors. The contribution of all actors to the global responsibility for realising this agenda must be assessed within the framework. Lastly, accountability cannot exist without an enabling environment of capacity-‐building, freedom of association, information and expression, transparency, independence and fairness, nor without broader mechanisms to ensure the effective participation and influence of all people in decision-‐ making processes. Next steps The Civil Society and Major Groups present at the meeting have met with the UNECE executive secretary and agreed on a process to propose an “engagement mechanism” for Civil Society & Major Groups at the UNECE for the further development, implementation and monitoring of the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, bringing together all sectors of civil society and ensure in particular a voice to those groups which often do not have a voice and space in policy making. Participants from Civil Society and Major Groups present at the meeting •
ADD international, Director of Policy and Influencing, mosharraf.hossain@add.org.uk
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Beyond2015 -‐ Graham Long: Williams lwilliams@beyond2015.org
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CARE International, Aisha Rahamatali, Advocacy Officer, rahamatali@careinternational.org
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Centre for Human Rights and Development Studies (CHRDS), Ivana Savić, Executive Director, ivana@chrds.org, office@chrds.org
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Commonwealth Medical Trust (Commat) -‐ Marianne Haslegrave, Director, mh@commat.org
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European Environmental Bureau (EEB) -‐ Leida Rijnhout -‐ Director Global Policies and Sustainability: leida.rijnhout@eeb.org
Campaign
International
Coordinator
Leo
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International disability alliance (acote@idasecretariat.org)
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Michelle Beckett, Independent International michelle.beckett@globalpovertyproject.com
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RFSU, Swedish IPPF MA, Karin Nilsson, Senior Policy Adviser: karin.nilsson@rfsu.se
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Save the children Denmark, Birgit Lundbak, bl@redbarnet.dk
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WECF International, Organising Partner for the Women’s Major Group, Sascha Gabizon, sascha.gabizon@wecf.eu
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World Farmers’ Organisation, WFO, Marco Marzano de Marinis and Luisa Volpe, luisa.volpe@wfo-‐oma.org
Development
Researcher,