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1. This is the Executive Summary of the UN MGCY Sectoral Position Paper for the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) 20201. Visit the full paper at: www.unmgcy.org/HLPF2020-paper
2. Current progress towards sustainable development is unacceptable. The decade ahead could mark a crucial turning point in trajectory towards mobilising implementation of Agenda 2030.
3. Impacts of the global crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic point to protracted shocks of human rights injustices, transgression of planetary boundaries, concentration of power, profit-seeking economic systems, historically-accumulated inequalities, and systemic undermining of resilience. The pandemic calls upon people and governments to work in solidarity, uphold universal principles of dignity and human rights, deliver on commitments to Universal Health Coverage, and enact multilateral actions commensurate with the scale of the crisis;
4. Age limits and age-based discrimination persist to impose structural barriers against young people, while their participation in decision making is too often a tokenistic exercise rather than a genuine intergenerational effort based on principles of meaningful youth engagement
5. The UN, in its growing need for funding, is leaning towards the private sector without accountability mechanisms or rules based frameworks around public-private partnerships.
6. In order to align our global architecture to respond to known, emerging, and future risks, the UNMGCY emphasizes the following:
7. Countries must work together to tackle stigma, fear and misinformation. In line with UN's 75th Anniversary, commitments to global governance and multilateral efforts need to be upheld, strengthened, and galvanized to adequately anticipate and address current and future needs;
8. All people - regardless of their status - must be able to access high-quality services provided by strong social safety nets that are financed through the effective redistribution of wealth;
9. Failures in assessing, preventing, mitigating, and responding to risks through a whole-of-society approach need to be addressed before they become disasters.
10. In order to align our global architecture to meeting the 2030 Agenda and other sustainable development frameworks, the UNMGCY urgently calls for the following:
