International Relations

Conclusion of Second Committee’s General Debate

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image18_866The Second Committee continued and concluded the general debate. The representative of Bulgaria focused on the lack of participation of young people in the decision-making process. Bulgaria called for an inclusive post-2015 development agenda based on human rights. Next the representative of Fiji stated that a robust implementation of the post 2015 development agenda would only be as meaningful for SIDS, if a cohesive financing development structure focusing on the special needs of SIDS is implemented.

The representative of Jordan stated that eradication of poverty should be the core of the post-2015 development agenda. The representative of Liberia stated that the Ebola pandemic in the Mano River Union Basin have tested the fragility of their post conflict economies and disrupted their agriculture and other revenue generation activities.

Next the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) highlighted that the ‘State of Food Insecurity’ (SOFI) report showed that approximately 805 million people were estimated to be chronically undernourished in 2012–14, down by 100 million over the decade: demonstrating that the hunger target of the Millennium Development Goal is within reach. FAO also stressed on the need to invest in adequate social protection mechanisms, including nutrition-sensitive safety net programmes, to promote sustainable and inclusive development.

Finally the representative of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies stressed the critical connection between reducing disaster risk and ensuring poverty eradication and humanitarian and development interventions.

Meeting Title: Second Committee: Sixth Meeting
Date: 9 October 2014
Location:  Conference room 2, United Nations HQ, New York.
Written by WIT Representative– Aslesha Kaur Dhillon

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s MDG Advocacy Group’s Breakfast Session

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un_newsFollowing the opening of the 69th UN General Assembly debate, the MDG advocacy group Co-Chaired by H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and H.E. Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway, spoke at a breakfast gathering to showcasing the successes of the eight MDGs to deliver a more healthier, equitable and more sustainable future, and launching the MDG Advocates’ Leaders Report.

H.E. Ban Ki Moon elucidated that he established the advocacy group 5 years ago to mobilize support from members states, civil society, academia, parliaments and private sector to develop new and ground-breaking ideas and ways to accelerate the MDG implementations. He called the MDG advocacy group superheroes fighting to end extreme poverty. He then advocated for the support of the 17 new SDGs. Further the Co-Chairs of the advocacy group both pointed out that we can all be advocates of the MDGs.

President Kagame elucidated that the amount of time left for the expiration of the MDGs should not matter and the MDGs are a “floor not a celling” because being on track does not mean problems are solved. Prime Minister Solberg spoke of the courage of Malala Yousafzai, one of the contributed of the report, who she said is currently at school using her right to be educated. Next she asked us all to do “everything we can to prevent and end conflict while making sure that the generation of people living through these conflicts have access to education and health”.

Professor Jeffery Sacks promoted organizing and funding as a crucial means to solving problems in the world. Two speakers responded to his challenge. Prime Minister Solberg pledging that Norway will help bring quality education to a million more children in conflict areas. In addition, H.H. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser elucidated that her foundation “Educated A Child” has supported 2.5 million children in 33 countries and their goal is to reach 10 million children by the 2015 – 2016 school year.

Meeting Title: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s MDG Advocacy Group’s Breakfast Session, Organized by the The MDG Advocacy Group & The Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM).
Date: September 25th, 2014
Location: Delegates Dining Room, United Nations HQ, New York
Speakers: Opening remarks by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Co-Chairs HE Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, and HE President Paul Kagame of Rwanda. Other Speakers HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, Christine (Stine) Bosse, CEO of TrygVesta Group, Chairman of Børnefonden / The Childrens’ Fund (Denmark), Ray Chambers, United Nations Special Envoy for Financing the Health Millennium Development Goals and For Malaria (United States), Dho Young-shim, Chairperson of the UN World Tourism Organization’s Sustainable Tourism for Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP) Foundation (Republic of Korea), Robert Edward Turner – III, Philanthropist, Chairman of the United Nations Foundation (United States), Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the MDGs (United States), Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, founder of the Grameen Bank (Bangladesh), Philippe Douste-Blazy , United Nations Special Advisor on innovative financing for development (France), with the participation of Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré, RBM Executive Director
Written By WIT Representative: Modou Cham
Edited by WIT Representative: Aslesha Dhillon 

Strengthening Accountability of the Post-2015 Framework Through Citizen Engagement

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volunteerThe current High Level Political Forum (HLPF) addresses the implementation of the sustainable development agenda. Volunteerism is a key component; it is an effective way to engage people in addressing development challenges in the post-2015 development agenda. Ms. Dennis started off by highlighting how volunteering bridges communication and understanding among people. She mentioned volunteering is a unique opportunity to increase networking, and learn advocacy skills, participation at regional and international conferences and knowledge development in the field of volunteering, which are also the four pillars of volunteerism. She quoted Martin Luther King – “The right time is always right to do what is right” and stressed that everyone has something to give, receive and contribute.

Ms. Sen introduced her own organization, VSO International in the United Kingdom, which aims at promoting volunteering as a powerful way to tackle poverty and inequality. She described volunteerism is a bridge between the development outcomes. “We see volunteers as complementing but not substituting the work force”, she said. Accountability and effectiveness are the catalysts of citizenship and participation in decision making. She then explained how volunteering helps increasing social capital within a community that brings about social inclusion.

Mr. David stressed that sustainable development is about people. He related to his own personal experience as the MDG coordinator in Haiti. He explained that peoples engagement is the key to trigger long-term changes of mind-sets and life choices in all countries. He encourages partnership with civil society in order to integrate civic engagement at local level in the SDG framework. This would also be able to strengthen the overall accountability through multi-stakeholder partnership at national level. Ms. Quintero concluded by outlining the magic recipe of volunteering. She briefly discussed the critical role of volunteers and how volunteering fosters concrete actions to address the social, environmental and economic challenges ahead.

Meeting Title: Volunteer Action Counts for sustainable development: How to strengthen accountability of the post-2015 framework through citizen engagement
Speakers: Ms. Simona Costanzo Sow, Manager, Post-2015 project UN Volunteers; Ms. Kathi Dennis, Executive Director, International Association for Volunteer Efforts (IAVE); Ms. Anjali Sen, International Board Member, VSO International (UK); Mr. Jonasson David, National UN Volunteer (Haiti); Ms. Maria Francisca Cepeda Quintero, Officer Colombia Presidential Programme (Colombia)
Location: Conference Room 7, United Nations HQ, New York
Date: 3 July 2014
Written By WIT representative: Samantha Kong
Edited by WIT Representatives: Aslesha Dhillon

Bringing Young People To The Forefront Of SDG Monitoring

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download (1)Plan International convened a panel to seek best practices on consultation method involving young people, so that the future monitoring process of the sustainable development goals can include effective participation of young people.

The Chair opened by asking young advocates if they know of any institutions of consultation in which young people’s view can be collected. One institution discussed is the UN Young Delegate programme, in which member states nominate young people of their country to speak in the Third Committee of the General Assembly. While there is enthusiasm surrounding this proposal, there are concerns as to whether the programme can reach out to the most marginalized children in a country. Further, there are also questions as to whether the Youth Delegates can reach out to their constituencies during their tenure in New York, which is core to their task of representing young people in their country.

Further consultation mechanisms, such as universal periodic review mechanism used by the UN Human Rights Council are advocated as possible means to involve young people in monitoring the progress of the SDGs. The mechanism’s provision for civil society to write shadow reports in response to member states’ submission allow young people to pinpoint lapses in the country’s progress and areas for improvement. The role of national Youth Advisory Board, a mechanism mentioned and strengthened in the Colombo Declaration of Youth, is also highlighted as a possible means of monitoring and consultation.

Attention is also paid as to whether the outcome of the monitoring process can be fed back to the decision-makers, as there are worries as to consultation of youth being reduced to a mere public relations exercise. Concerns about the decision-makers’ capacity to engage with young people were also raised, as some young delegates mentioned their experience of being patronized when making suggestions.

Meeting Title: Youth participation in monitoring to ensure accountability for the post-2015 development framework
Speakers: Representative from Plan International, Representative from Overseas Development Institute, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth and Youth Delegates
Location: Conference Room 7, North Lawn Building, United Nations Headquarters
Date: 2 July 2014
Written by WIT Representative: Harrison Chung
Edited by WIT Representative: Aslesha Dhillon

Breaking the Silo Approach in implementing the SDGs

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downloadOne overarching characteristic of sustainable development is its three-pillared nature, which encompasses economic, environmental and social sustainability. To ensure that the sustainable development goals (SDGs) truly integrate the three pillars, Ambassador Sajdik convened an interactive dialogue on breaking the “silos mentality” to sustainable development .

Mr. Netshitenzhe spoke on the administrative reforms required to break the silo-approach to development, which included bringing together all government actors in the planning process, aligning the planning cycle of different government agencies, and maintain a hierarchical discipline to ensure that subsidiary agencies see to it the developmental plan initiated by the centre of government. He also highlighted the role of involving the science and private sector in implementing sustainable development. Ambassador Drobnjak echoed this point, stressing that the bottom-up consultation process will provide synergy to the solutions.

Ms. Hickey introduced the forum to the concept of Natural Capital Accounting, which is an exercise of quantifying the natural resources and analyzing ways to maximize the sustainability of the resources. She is followed by Ms. Ramma, who provided a case study of using Natural Capital Accounting to find out how to achieve optimal use of Mauritius’s water resources. Instead of continuing its sugar-cane planting economy, which uses 48% of Mauritius’s water resources but generate only 1.1% of its GDP, finding suggests that transition to production of ethanol from the sugar cane can lead to increase in GDP and improve import-reliant energy sector of the country.

In closing, Ms. Invanova added that science educators need to adapt to a interdisciplinary approach to educating future scientist, and move away from the sectorial, differentiated studies of individual topics. She believed interdisciplinary programmes involving education of science, international relations and financial literacy can equip our future generations with the skillsets to solve problems of their time.

Meeting Title: Moderated Dialogue “From silos to integrated policy making”
Speakers: His Excellency Martin Sajdik (Austria), President of the Economic and Social Council; Mr. David Nabarro, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Food Security and Nutrition, and Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement; Mr. Joel Khathutshelo Netshitenzhe, Executive Director, Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, and member of the National Planning Commission, South Africa; His Excellency Vladimir Drobnjak, Permanent Representative of Croatia to the United Nations, and Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council; Ms. Indoomatee Ramma, Chief, Resource Management Division, Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute, Mauritius; His Excellency Ferit Hoxha, Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations; Mr. Ousainou Ngum, Executive Director, Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) International, Nairobi; Ms. Maria Ivanova, Co-Director, Center for Governance and Sustainability, McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston, on behalf of the major group of scientific and technological community; Ms. Valerie Hickey, Sector Manager, Agriculture and Environment Services, World Bank
Location: Conference Room 1, United Nations Headquarters
Date: 2 July 2014
Written by WIT Representative: Harrison Chung
Edited by Wit Representative: Aslesha Dhillon

Best Practices and Challenges in Implementing a Moratorium on the Death Penalty

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abolitionThe Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Permanent Mission of Italy convened a meeting to discuss the best practices and challenges in abolishing the death penalty. Twenty-five years ago, only ¼ of UN member states did not practice the death penalty; today more than 4/5 UN member states have abolished it. However, there are many countries that still regularly use the death penalty, including the United States. H.E. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon began the meeting with a stringent call for all member states to abolish the death penalty. He stated that the death penalty disproportionately has an impact on people who are poor/disadvantaged because they often do not have access to appropriate legal counseling, and further stated that 14 countries permit the death penalty on children.

The Secretary General called on member states to ratify the 2nd optional protocol in the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (abolition of the death penalty), and called on member states to support a resolution in the General Assembly to place a moratorium on the death penalty. “The death penalty has no place in the 21st century, together we can finally end this cruel and inhumane practice around the world”, he concluded. Next, the Permanent Representative of Italy, H.E. Mr. Cardi, affirmed his country’s dedication to the worldwide abolition of the death penalty. He stated that capital punishment is degrading, and denies a person’s fundamental right to life. Following, Dr. Karman pointed out how some countries still use the death penalty as punishment when people speak out against their government, express their opinions, beliefs, thoughts, etc. She called on states to begin by eliminating the death penalty for these “crimes”, and to eventually abolish the death penalty as a whole.

Next, Mr. Garcetti, California’s former D.A., gave a statement on California’s challenges, and eventual success in instituting a de-facto moratorium on capital punishment. He also stated that there is no proof that capital punishment deters crime in the U.S. Furthermore, a study was done in the U.S. which found that it costs more to put a person to death than it does to imprison him/her for life, showing that the death penalty is not only a human rights violation, but an economic burden as well. Concluding the meeting, Dr. Paul Bhatti of Pakistan, and Mr. Maja of Zimbabwe, spoke about their countries’ experiences with the death penalty. Currently, Pakistan has the largest population (8,000) on death row; however, executions have been suspended since 2008. In Zimbabwe, no one has been executed since 2004, and the number of crimes punishable by death has significantly decreased in recent years.

Meeting Title: “Best Practices and challenges in implementing a moratorium on the death penalty”
Speakers: H.E. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; H.E. Sebastiano Cardi, Permanent Representative of Italy; Dr. Tawakkol Abdel-Salam Karman, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner; Dr. Paul Bhatti, Former Minister of National Harmony and Minority Affairs, Pakistan; Mr. Gil Garcetti, Former District Attorney for the state of California, United States of America; Mr. Innocent Maja, Attorney, Zimbabwe
Date: 2 July 2014
Location: Conference Room 1, United Nations HQ, New York
Written By WIT Representative: Marli Kasdan
Edited by WIT Representative: Aslesha Dhillon

Private Sector’s Current State of Play in the SDG Process

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masthead_resourcesDr Louise Kantrow opened the discussion by noting the paradigm transition from the MDGs to the SDGs, wherein the role of the private sector has grown. ICC coordinated the Global Business Alliance 2015, which brought together global and regional business organisations aimed at constructively engaging with the post 2015 process and the UN agencies. The key points from the private sector perspective are the following: effective governance, rule of law, and security are critical enablers to achieve the SDGs; poverty eradication involves economic growth and jobs creations; and therefore it is crucial to address the informal employment and low governance challenges arisen in many developing countries.

H.E. Jean-Francis Regis Zinsou recognised that the global environmental and social challenges should be addressed through mobilising private finance for SDGs, innovative and technologically advanced business models. There is a move in the approach of the private sector from maximising profits for shareholders to stakeholders and the planet should be considered a stakeholder. Ms Esin Mete, then addressed the importance of agriculture and rural development as primary drivers to address poverty reduction and food security.

Mr Vinicius Carvalho Pinheiro stated that 75 million young people are currently unemployed. It is imperative to not just address the quantity but the quality of jobs available. As economic growth does not automatically create jobs, the private sector is the core driver of jobs. He then addressed the critical need to create a safe environment for workers as every 15 seconds one worker is killed due to working accidents: making it a world epidemic.

Finally Ms Katharine Maloney underlined the fundamental beliefs of KPMG to explain their active participation in the consultations of the post 2015 agenda. First, they recognise the paradigm shift explained previously by Dr Louise Kantrow. Second profitability and developmental agenda are not mutually exclusive. Third, business and social values are inextricably linked. Fourth, the private sector can provide a lot more than money, for instance real ideas, innovation, technical know how and a lot more resources.

Meeting Title: Private Sector Briefing: Current State of Play in the SDG process
Speakers: Dr Louise Kantrow, ‎Permanent Representative to the United Nations at International Chamber of Commerce; H.E. Jean-Francis Regis Zinsou, Permanent Representative of Republic of Benin to the UN; Ms Esin Mete, Director General, IFA (International Fertilizer Industry Association); Mr Vinicius Carvalho Pinheiro, Deputy Director of the ILO Office for the United Nations; Ms Katharine Maloney, Director, Development and Exempt Organizations (DEO) Practice at KPMG LLP.
Date: 3 July 2014
Location: Conference Room 5, NLB, United Nations, New York.
Written by WIT Representative: Aslesha Kaur Dhillon

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in the Post-2015 Agenda

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unnamedAs part of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), a side event was convened to discuss how small food producers and family farms can support the achievement of sustainable development through sustainable agriculture and food systems. H.E. Mr. Grigsby opened the dialogue by highlighting how crucial a world free from poverty, hunger, and malnutrition is in the ambitious post 2015 development agenda. But this goal cannot be achieved without a shift to more productive and resilient food systems that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. If we can economically empower small farmers through access to knowledge, social production, and viable markets, they can serve as these sustainable food systems.

H.E. Mr. Aguiar Patriota continued the discussion by focusing on the impact of large scale farming in Brazil. While these commercialized farms provide Brazil with the wherewithal to become a powerful actor in the international community, they have a less desirable social and environmental impact. These farms lead to a decrease in jobs, resulting in sizable migration flows internally that compound the pre-existing problems of big cities in Brazil.

Ms. Brennen-Haylock commented on how investing in these small food producers can empower them to become critical agents of change for a future of food and nutrition security for all. Investments directed towards family farmers enhance their capacity to invest in their own productivity, as well as helping them address new market demands and environmental pressures. To close, Ms. Brennen-Haylock stressed the concerns of women in agriculture. If women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-30%. This would raise the total agricultural output in development countries by 2.5-4%, and thus reduce the number of hungry people in the world by a staggering 12-17% – a number that would go a long way in decreasing world hunger.

Meeting Title: Small food producers and family farmers as agents for change for sustainable agriculture and food systems in the post-2015 agenda
Speakers: Dr. Jes Weigelt, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies; Dr. Molly Anderson, College of the Atlantic’s Sustainable Food Systems Program; H.E. Mr. Sylvester M. Grigsby, Deputy Foreign Minister of Liberia; Ms. Sharon Brennen-Haylock, FAO; H.E. Ambassador Irene Susan Natividad, Ambassador from Philippines; H.E. Mr. Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota, Ambassador from Brazil; Mr. Jesse Laflamme, Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs; Ms. Adrienne Gardez, UN Global Compact
Location: United Nations HQ, Conference Room 6
Date: 1 July 2014
Written By WIT Representative: Zachary Halliday
Edited By WIT Representative: Aslesha Dhillon 

Ideas And Trends That Can Shape The Lives Of Present And Future Generations

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imagesA moderated dialogue took place at the 2nd meeting of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development to address the emerging challenges that will affect future generations. Making reference to Rio+20 ‘The Future We Want’ report, Mr. Mcbean affirmed the need to promote intergenerational solidarity for the achievement of sustainable development. He highlighted the negative impacts of climate change, particularly loss of biodiversity and frequent disasters, deteriorate the quality of life in a global and intergenerational scale. Taking into account uncertainty always exists, he demanded a sense of reality and adoption of better risk management.

Mr. Nakicenovic saw education as the critical tool for human capacity building. He urged for sustainability revolution to proceed at a greater speed and, by all means through SDGs, universal access of energy, sanitation and education beyond 2030 can be achieved to fully eliminate inequality across all scales in future generations. Mr. Daives introduced the Wales Bill to illustrate good governance and decision-making for the long term. He quoted “the Bill has the power to resolve intergenerational challenges beyond the term of one government and beyond the scope of government alone”. The mechanisms of the Bill includes the setting of national long-term development goals, the requirement of public settings to demonstrate how their policies can meet national long-term goals and establishment of an independent future generation commissioner with legal power to advocate for the long-term.

Mr. Szabo discussed the role of national institutions in safeguarding future generations. He highlighted both industrialized and developing countries suffering from important structure problem and national institutions can initiate public dialogue on the long-term wellbeing of society, help cultivate environmental literacy and help the national implementation of UN Policies in the safeguarding of the needs of future generation. Finally, he pointed out many institutions adopted the Budapest Memorandum to promote the spread of national institutions for future generations and to safeguard their interest in the SDGs target.

Meeting Title: Ideas and trends that can shape the lives of present and future generations
Speakers: Mr. Gordon McBean , President-elect, International Council for Science; Mr. Nebojsa Nakicenovic , Deputy Director of IIASA, Director of Global Energy Assessment, and professor of Vienna University of Technology; Mr. Peter Davies, Sustainable Futures Commissioner for Wales, UK; Mr. Marcel Szabó , Deputy-Commissioner for Fundamental Rights Responsible for the Protection of the Interest of Future Generations, Hungary; Ms. Catherine Pearce , World Future Council
Location: Trusteeship Council, UNHQ, New York
Date: 1 July 2014
Written by WIT representative: Tracy Lau
Edited by Wit Representative: Aslesha Dhillon

Strengthening the Science-Policy-Society Interface for Achieving Sustainable Development

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sdg2The economic, social and environmental challenges facing societies range from regional to global in scale. There is an urgent need for the international science community to develop the knowledge and strengthen the science-policy-science interface for achieving sustainable development. Therefore, it is crucial to shape effective responses and foster global justice, which would facilitate progress toward sustainable development goals. The global change research community plays a central role in understanding the functioning and human impacts of Earth System.

Mr. Mc Bean introduced Future Earth, an international scientific community, which serves as a global platform for international science collaboration. It aims at providing knowledge required for societies in the world to face risks posed by global environmental change and to seize opportunities in transition to global sustainability. The key objectives are to build and connect global knowledge to intensify the impact of research and find new ways to accelerate sustainable development. Mr. Nakicenovic pointed out that the global problems, including access to water; food and energy need to be resolved immediately. He emphasized vigorous investment is needed in human capacity and knowledge, in order to create a niche market for sustainable development systems. Ms. Abrahamse echoed Mr. Nakicenovic’s comments. She specifically talked about the importance of the easy access to information, which would empower and create solutions for solving the grand societal challenges.

Mr. Ullah introduced the bipolar linear system – “The pipeline approach” in understanding the concept between consultation and collaboration. He also highlighted it is essential to maintain the independence of science so as to contribute to problem solving and foster innovation, leadership and competitive advantage. Mr. Davies addressed the issues between good governance and sustainable development. He concluded by underlining the need for an overarching vision on poverty eradication, and the development of partnerships to sustain a strong science-policy interface.

Meeting Title: Strengthening the science-policy-society interface for achieving sustainable development
Speakers: Gordan Mc Bean, President-elect of the International Council for Science; Nebojsa Nakicenovic Nakicenovic, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis; Tanya Abrahamse, CEO of South African National Biodiversity Institute; Farooq Ullah, Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum; Peter Davies, Wales’ Commissioner for Sustainable Future
Location: ECOSOC, United Nations HQ, New York
Date: 1 July 2014
Written By WIT representative: Samantha Kong
Edited by Wit Representative: Aslesha Dhillon