Welcome to the United Nations
As the NGO Major Group noted in the introduction to the High Level Political Forum Position Paper from 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic intensifies the need for accelerated, united action. In 2021, this urgency is amplified by the overwhelming toll the pandemic has taken on global health, social and environmental security, and meaningful progress on Agenda 2030 and leaving no one behind.
Women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and marginalized groups are most affected by COVID-19. The rise of populism, isolationism, xenophobia, disregard for multilateral agreements, sanctions, exploitation of animals and the environment, and regressive stances on human rights present obstacles to sustainable development. Regional and national conflicts, proxy civil wars, accelerating climate crisis, and threats to biodiversity demonstrate this is a moment of extreme peril and opportunity.
In this document, we have identified structural barriers affecting Sustainable Development Goal progress. In addition to fighting COVID-19, we must challenge the underlying social, economic, environmental, and political factors that exacerbate the effects of the pandemic, including economic inequality, poverty, lack of democracy, gender-based violence and inequality, lack of access to WASH, and various forms of exploitation including human trafficking and environmental destruction. Economic growth without ethical social development is selfdefeating. We must invest in human rights and the empowerment of marginalized groups in vulnerable conditions.
The pandemic has highlighted inadequate and insecure public health and social protection systems. However, the COVAX initiative has shown how quickly we can take collective action for global good. This positive, yet rare, initiative is tempered by fragmented thinking and action. Least Developed Countries, those with significant rural populations, and Small Island Developing States face additional challenges. Natural disasters, scarcity of resources, lack of strategic financing, and high levels of national debt are particularly damaging elements of myriad intersecting challenges.
This document presents concerns and opportunities on specific Goals. The following are the overarching appeals we are highlighting:
For the links between human rights and sustainable development to be recognized as innate, and acted upon;
- For the global collection of disaggregated data to inform decision-making and national Action Plans based on concrete evidence;
- For the inclusion of civil society organizations in all levels of policy-making;
- For the voices of marginalized groups to be protected and amplified;
- For ending the war we have waged with nature, working towards harmony with nature, sustainable food systems, resilient water management, ensuring the wellbeing of humans, animals, and the environment, and reversing current existential environmental threats; and
- For Member States to prioritize those excluded and marginalized communities most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure that basic services and social protection systems are universal and equitable. This must include a commitment to preventing future pandemics.
Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in November 2020, “People who have been pushed behind, and rendered powerless, by generations of discrimination, have systematically unequal access to services and opportunities... They are placed at a structural disadvantage when it comes to any threat.”
The NGO Major Group stands in support of this statement and unites in calling for Member States to accelerate their actions to secure the 2030 Agenda and ensure that truly no one is left behind.
