www.ituc-csi.org

The Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda

TUDCN General meetingCSA/TUCA

Sao Paulo, Brazil19 March 2014

www.ituc-csi.org

Summary

• What the MDGs tell us for a Post 2015 Sustainable Development Framework

• The many processes of the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda

• The Open Working Group on SDGs and what it is doing

• What comes next?

www.ituc-csi.org

From MDGs…

• The greatest triumph of the MDGs was to mobilize broad support for a global development agenda

• While there was progress on many of the MDGs has been made in certain areas the global promise will in almost all certainty go unfulfilled by 2015

• Three major criticisms of the MDGs are (1) it was developed by a small group of experts and was not member state driven (2) it is too aid focused/donor driven and (3) it completely overlooked the issue of inequality

www.ituc-csi.org

…to the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Framework

• The UN intergovernmental process will begin in September 2014 to agree the successor framework to the MDGs which are set expire in 2015

• Pretty clear that some of the shortcomings of the MDGs will be addressed, especially around UN ownership

• The Post 2015 SDGs will go beyond aid and will address three pillars of Sustainable Development: Economic, Social, Environmental

www.ituc-csi.org

Proliferation of Process• The number of officially mandated processes aiming to influence

the Post 2015 agenda is astounding• Started with High Level Panel of Eminent Persons, UN SDSN

(Jeffrey Sachs), UN Global Compact, Committee on Sustainable Development Financing, SIDS, HLPF, Special Initiatives of the PGA Regional Activities and agencies within the UN System convening their own internal process, e.g. UNDP, UNEP, UNRISD—not to mention all of the CSO mobilizations around the process

• Reality is despite all of these initiatives the UN General Assembly will agree the Post 2015 SD Framework

• To date, most important process is the Open Working Group…

www.ituc-csi.org

The Open Working Group for Sustainable Development Goals

• Rio +20 Conference on SD mandated a follow up process to come up with SDGs which would be integrated in to the Post 2015 Framework

• OWG is officially 30 Member State Seats; but shared by up to three member states: “troikas”

• Two stage deliberations began in March of 2013 and will conclude with report to UNGA in September 2014

• 1st stage (March 2013-February 2014) 8 thematic sessions to table different issues: Employment, Decent Work and Social Protection

• 2nd Stage (March 2014-September 2014) “negotiations” on set of SDG recommendations

www.ituc-csi.org

Current state of play• Following thematic debates across different areas

during first stage of OWG the co-chairs (Hungary and Kenya) extrapolated a set of “focus areas” or clear priorities

• There are currently 19 Focus areas will serve as the foundation from which the SDG recommendations will be prioritized

• Following OWG in early March we can expect a consolidation of Focus Areas as early as 19 March

www.ituc-csi.org

About the focus areas

• What’s there? (though not without criticism)– Employment and Decent work– Education– Gender Equality– Promoting equality

• What’s missing?– No recognition of structural flaws of current development

model– Human rights based approach– Social Protection Floors – Links between employment and environment

www.ituc-csi.org

About the focus areas cont..

• What should be added/strengthened in the focus areas:– Decent work be articulated and understood in all its dimension and priorities

be organized under the four strategic pillars• References to fundamental principles and rights at work, labor market institutions, respect for

internationally agreed standards• Improve links between employment and the environmental pillar

– Social Protection needs to be dramatically ramped up in the focus areas with a concrete and explicit commitment to the creation and implementation social protection floors

– Promoting equality must recognize the importance of labor market institutions to address and redress inequality

• Explicit about minimum living wages, collective bargaining and social protection floors– Free quality education must be included, to address the issue of tuition fees

and other indirect costs excluding marginalized groups– Gender Equality must address also the imbalances in power, wealth and

resources

www.ituc-csi.org

What happens after the OWG?• The OWG concludes its deliberations in July 2014

and delivers its recommendations to the UNGA in September 2014

• Two general sentiments about what happens with OWG recommendation– It will be the main input into the Post 2015 SDG

framework and a good indication of what to anticipate

– The General Assembly will mostly ignore the recommendations of the OWG and begin negotiating from a blank slate

www.ituc-csi.org

The Final Leg

• All inputs from the last two years will have been put to the UN Secretary General and presented to the UN GA in September 2014

• The UNGA will agree on a way of working to produce a Post 2015 Sustainable Development Framework by September 2015

www.ituc-csi.org

If you want to contribute

JOIN the Post 2015 email list Speak to Lora or myself