NEW YORK, Jul 12 (IPS) – Every year the international community gathers at UN headquarters in New York to take stock of progress on sustainable development. High Level Political Forum (HLPF) will be held from July 8 to 18. Representatives from 36 countries, according to the UN-HLPF websitewill present their performance against the commitments set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including their Voluntary National Assessments (VNRs).
This year’s HLPF comes together in a time of sobering circumstances, underscored by the findings of the recent UN Report on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2024The report highlights growing inequalities, an escalating climate crisis, accelerating biodiversity loss and disappointing progress towards gender equality. These challenges are exacerbated by conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and beyond, resulting in nearly 120 million people forcibly displaced worldwide. Alarmingly, only 17 percent of SDG targets are on track, with about half making minimal or moderate progress and more than a third showing stalled or regressive progress.
One of the SDGs being reviewed this year is SDG 16, which includes commitments on responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making, access to information and fundamental freedoms. These hard-won commitments recognise the importance of transparency, accountability and participation in achieving the SDGs. They were agreed only after sustained advocacy by civil society activists. For civil society, realising these commitments is crucial if the transformative promise of the SDGs is to be achieved, particularly because they enable civil society to work with governments to help achieve the goals.
A major reason for the uneven progress on the SDGs is the shrinking of civic space in many countries around the world. According to the CIVICUS monitor – a participatory research collaboration – only two percent of people worldwide live in open civic space conditions, where civil society is free to exist and act. Of the 36 countries that will present VNRs this year, only three – Austria, Palau and Samoa – have open civic space.
Civic space encompasses the right of people to organize, mobilize, and speak out to shape the political, social, and economic structures that affect their lives. Where civic space is not open, communities are significantly constrained and limited in their ability to pursue progress—the kind envisioned by the SDGs. Those who expose corruption, advocate for accountability, and defend the rights of excluded groups are attacked.
In many countries around the world, civil society organizations and activists are under threat. One way that states do this is by abusing anti-terrorism laws, cybersecurity laws, and health emergency laws against them. States such as Cambodia, Egypt, India, Israel, Russia, and Venezuela, among others, subject civil society organizations to a complex maze of regressive laws and practices to prevent them from raising funds from domestic and international sources. This undermines civil society’s ability to push for innovative policies, deliver services to those who need them most, and act as watchdogs over the use of public funds.
Meaningful civil society participation at all levels is crucial for achieving the SDGs. However, even within UN platforms such as the HLPF, there is still no formal way to integrate civil society voices into VNR processes, leading to the production of parallel ‘shadow reports’ on the margins of the forum. This current format undermines the potential for meaningful civil society engagement, leads to duplication of efforts, mismatches of data and hampers state accountability.
If the SDGs are to be achieved, it is paramount to create an enabling environment for civil society to flourish and participate meaningfully in decision-making and accountability processes, without fear of reprisals. That is why many civil society organisations have united under the Unmute Civil Society Initiative advocate for practical solutions to overcome the challenge of international participation. The UN should show leadership by creating more space for civil society in the HLPF.
Jesselina Rana is CIVICUS UN Advisor at UN Hub in New York City.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service