The UN General Assembly has tentatively set September 21-23, 2015, for the adoption of the post-2015 Goals. This far-reaching process will establish overarching development priorities to guide UN agencies and member states for many years to come.
This past July, the Open Working Group (OWG) met at UN headquarters for a last session and adopted on July 19 the document Proposal of The Open Working Group for Sustainable Development Goals. One of the main activities for the next year will be negotiations to come up with a resolution for adoption. Many events will be held during the coming year such as the Climate Summit convened by the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon September 23, 2014.
RIPESS, the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy, of which CCEDNet is a member, published recommendations for the post-2015 SDG’s in July. The SSE Recommendations were distributed and presented at the UN, during the meeting of the OWG mentioned above. More information is available in a previous CCEDNet news post.
The UN Taskforce on SSE published a Position paper in July. The CCEDNet website also recently announced this paper.
On behalf of RIPESS, Daniel Tygel, published an opinion piece on the UN NGLS (Non-Governmental Liaison Service) website.
There is a focus amongst concerned organisations for work at the country level since the UN General Assembly is made up of country delegations. In Canada, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) acts as the lead agency for the worldwide civil society Beyond 2015 campaign. CCEDNet has joined the campaign recently. Over 1,000 organisations worldwide are members.
Recently, Beyond 2015 has published an analysis of the OWG document mentioned above. Beyond2015 Reaction to the Outcome Document of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals.
The weaknesses within some of the 18 proposed goals are important. Beyond 2015 is proposing amendments to improve the document. This will be extremely tough work since some countries are quite adamant not to set goals that will bring significant changes to the current global neoliberal economy. Reading the Beyond 2015 paper is necessary for people who want to understand the key debates for the next year.
In Canada, CCIC is supporting different activities and meetings, including exchanges with the Department of Foreign Affairs Trade and Development (DFATD) since SDGs for the Post-2015 period are under their responsibility.
Yvon Poirier is Chair of CCEDNet’s International Committee and Secretary of the Board. He has a long history of involvement in the labour and social movements in Québec and Canada and has been very active in the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy (RIPESS). He represents the CDÉC de Québec in CCEDNet.
