Welcome to the United Nations
The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, undermining decades of development efforts. In 2020, over 100 million people were pushed back into poverty and hunger; an equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs were lost; and an additional 101 million children and youth fell below the minimum reading proficiency level, wiping out the education gains achieved over the last two decades. Violence against women and girls has intensified and child marriage is also expected to increase. The economic slowdown associated with COVID-19 has done little to slow the climate crisis. Instead it has reinforced and exacerbated existing inequalities and threatened the achievements of the SDGs.
At the same time, the pandemic led to scientific breakthroughs with the development of effective vaccines, demonstrating the power of science, innovation, and public-private partnerships. Yet, developing countries’ equitable access to vaccines remains a major challenge due to political, technical and logistical hurdles. This has elicited strong calls for COVID-19 vaccines to be a global public good. Vaccine equity remains a prerequisite for a sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 everywhere.
Countries are still struggling to find the appropriate response to the pandemic and its social and economic impacts. While important stimulus packages have been implemented, the measures taken so far have often fallen short of the response required to overcome the Impacts of the pandemic and move to a track to realize the SDGs. They have not boosted long-term investments in the SDGs, nor created new jobs or sufficiently supported transitions to carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability and supported the furthest behind.
Economic resilience with new fiscal and debt sustainability frameworks, societal resilience with universal social protection schemes and climate resilience with greater investments in sustainable development overall, including in sustainable infrastructure, are key building blocks of a resilient recovery. Such efforts need to be bolstered by international solidarity and universal access to the vaccine so that the world can move to the trajectory of sustainable development.
The HLPF reviews shall take into account the different impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across all Sustainable Development Goals, consider progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda in its entirety and address the interlinkages between Goals, to promote integrated actions cutting across economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. It will thus discuss actions that can create co-benefits, address synergies and trade-offs and meet multiple objectives in a coherent manner, leaving no one behind. The review shall also cover the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals with a 2020 timeline.
The pandemic has put a spotlight on the poor and most vulnerable, including women, older people, young people, children, low-wage earners, informal workers, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, people in situations of conflict, refugees and migrants. Countries need to enhance social protection and access to essential services for the poor and most vulnerable to ensure an inclusive recovery and that no one will be left behind.
Achieving the SDGs will depend on the collective response over the coming 18 months; whether the COVID-19 crisis serves as a much-needed wake-up call that spurs a decade of truly transformative action that delivers for people and planet is still to be seen. Countries in special situations, including LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS, as well as middle-income countries, would require a tailored approach that takes into account their needs and priorities. The 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs is still the best available blueprint for a sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and to profoundly improve the lives of all and transform our world for the better.
Proposed guiding questions:
- Where do we stand on the SDGs given the dramatic impacts of COVID-19?
- What can we learn from the different country experiences in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic?
- What mix of policies have been more effective in addressing COVID-19’s impacts while putting countries back on track to realize the SDGs?
- What are immediate actions that countries should consider addressing the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable?
- What should be done to ensure the availability of timely and reliable data and improve the resilience of the statistics offices/operations to make informed decisions for recovering from COVID-19 and achieving the SDGs?
Chair:
- H.E. Mr Munir Akram (Pakistan), President of Economic and Social Council
Presentation:
- Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, presentation of the report of the Secretary-General on the progress towards SDGs and measures to realize the SDGs at the time of COVID-19 pandemic
Followed by a townhall style meeting
(The speaking order in the meeting is thought of as to stimulate an interactive conversation rather than following protocol.)
Moderator:
- Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP
Lead Speakers:
- H.E. Ms. Sania Nishtar, Federal Minister and Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety to the Prime Minister of Pakistan
- H.E. Ms. Marsha Caddle, Minister of Economic Affairs and Investment of Barbados
- H.E. Ms. Claudine Uwera, Minister of State in charge of Economic Planning of Rwanda
- H.E. Mr. Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, United Kingdom
- H.E. Mr. Isaac Alfie, Director of the Office of Planning and Budget of Uruguay
- H.E. Ms. Birgitta Tazelaar, Deputy Vice-Minister for International Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Netherlands
- Ms. Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director of United Nations Children’s Fund
- Ms. Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
- Mr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Visiting Senior Fellow at Khazanah Research Institute, Visiting Fellow at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University, and Adjunct Professor at the International Islamic University in Malaysia
- Mr. Dominic Waughray, Managing Director, Centre for Global Public Goods, Member of Managing Board, World Economic Forum
- Ms. Sofía Sprechmann Sineiro, Secretary General of Care International
Followed by interventions of Member States
