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  2. High-Level Political Forum 2021
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  4. SDGs In Focus: SDGs 3, 10, 16, 17 and Interlinkages Among Those Goals and With Other SDGs

SDGs in focus: SDGs 3, 10, 16, 17 and interlinkages among those goals and with other SDGs

The continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic risks increasing inequality both within and among countries along many dimensions. Income inequalities within countries have widened, with lower income households bearing a disproportionate burden of the pandemic in terms of lost jobs or greater exposure to the virus. Across countries, differences in recovery trajectories – due to unequal fiscal resources and also unequal access to COVID-19 vaccinations – threaten to further widen gaps in per capita incomes between developed and most developing economies.

Forms of inequality that pre-date COVID-19, including unequal care burdens at home and the digital divide, now stand to set women, school aged children and rural communities back decades. Even past progress in many areas of health and well-being including in maternal mortality and childhood vaccinations stand to be reversed. All of these heighten social tensions and polarization and weaken social cohesion. At the same time, in many cases, institutions intended to promote more peaceful, just and inclusive societies have fallen short, including during COVID-19 related lockdowns, increasing risks of unrest, conflict and violence. The stresses being experienced could also however motivate new partnerships and initiatives to reduce inequalities, advance well-being and promote justice and inclusive, effective and accountable institutions. This session will explore the situation and interlinkages among SDGs 3, 10, 16 and 17 and identify ways forward toward more peaceful, equal and inclusive societies.

Proposed guiding questions:

  • What is the situation regarding SDGs 3, 10, 16 and their relation with SDG 17?
  • What has the pandemic revealed about how deep-seated inequalities determine lifetime opportunities and outcomes including in good health and well-being?
  • Has the pandemic introduced new forms of inequality within and across countries that now also need to be addressed?
  • How can countries make effective and enduring changes towards more equitable, inclusive and just societies?
  • What are the opportunities to be realized (and pitfalls to be avoided) in the immediate and medium terms towards these ends? How can international cooperation support?

Chair:

  • H.E. Mr. Collen Vixen Kelapile (Botswana), Vice President of ECOSOC

Highlights:

  • Presentation of the report of the Secretary-General on progress towards the SDGs - Goals 3, 10, 16 and 17 Ms. Haoyi Chen, Coordinator, Intersecretariat Working Group on Household Surveys, Statistics Division of UNDESA

Interactive panel discussion

Moderator:

  • Ms. Jan Beagle, Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO)

Panellists/Resource persons:

  • Ms. Armida Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of ESCAP
  • Ms. Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International
  • Ms. Sarah Cliffe, Director, NYU Center on International Cooperation
  • Ms. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Associate Scientific Director, Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research (CAPRISA), and Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University
  • Mr. James K Boyce, Senior Fellow at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Lead discussants:

  • H.E. Ms. Marina Sereni, Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy
  • Ms. Najat Maalla M'jid, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children
  • Dr. Nata Menabde, Executive Director, WHO Office at the United Nations
  • Ms. Valentina Bodrug-Lungu, Associate Professor, Moldova State University (Women's Major Group and ECE Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism)

Respondents:

  • H.E. Mr. Francisco André, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Portugal
  • H.E. Mr. Mohamed Fathi Ahmed Edrees, Chair of Peace Building Commission, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN
  • Mr. Jorge Bermudez, Comptroller General of Chile
  • Ms. Irma Pineda Santiago, Member of Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Mexico
  • Ms. Margit Kraker, Secretary-General of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI)