Time to Deliver the 2030 Agenda: A Geneva Seminar on Galvanizing Global Action

Ambassador Zellweger,
Ambassador de Aguiar Patriota,
Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen:

It is a great pleasure to address this very timely seminar, as the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development gathers pace. I am impressed by how quickly Governments, International Organizations, NGOs and private sector companies have appropriated the SDG, changing their programmes, business plans and the manner in which they measure success. This seminar promises to help us to further build and strengthen partnerships across issues and amongst the rich variety of stakeholders in Geneva and beyond.

The seminar is also very welcome because it contribute to building bridges between New York and Geneva, as it draws on previous seminars and side-events that took place earlier this year in New York. I thank Brazil and Switzerland for supporting this exemplary initiative, and the Center on International Cooperation at New York University and the Graduate Institute here in Geneva for all your efforts in organizing these seminars.

Today you will focus on three topics that are high on our agenda here in International Geneva: jobs and inequality, health and peaceful societies. I was asked to raise some issues that may be useful to explore during the course of this gathering, so let me start with three topics and then offer some more general reflections from the Geneva perspective.

Inequality within and between countries is one of the major challenges of our time. It is also new to the development agenda. We now understand that it is a universal problem that needs to be tackled with creativity and imagination. We also understand that translating our efforts into new development models and partnerships is going to be a major challenge for all of us.

Reducing inequality will require organizations from different sectors to collaborate in entirely new ways.

International Geneva has unique expertise across the spectrum of Agenda 2030 which can and should be fully leveraged for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. A lot of us here in Geneva are working hard doing just that. For example, The UN Research Institute for Social Development has just launched a flagship report on innovations for transformative change, presenting quality research to support social policies that can tackle the root causes of inequalities. The ILO is actively engaged in ensuring decent employment opportunities worldwide.

Other Geneva-based actors such as the World Economic Forum or the World Business Council for Sustainable Development are also active partners.

The health sector, with Geneva as its hub, is a positive example of innovative partnerships with WHO, UNAIDS, GAVI and the Global Fund and scores of NGOs, that leverage each other’s programmes and impact.

Geneva is also a major hub in the implementation of Goal 16 on peaceful, just and inclusive societies. This town combines the attractiveness of a neutral and well-oiled mediation machinery for discrete peace talks with the large expertise of different actors in the peacebuilding domain. This city has a long tradition in the development of international law, particularly human rights and humanitarian law which are crucial for stable institutions at the national and international levels. The question how to best mainstream the human rights perspective across the 2030 Agenda is central here in Geneva and illustrates the inter-connected and holistic character of this agenda. Stable, inclusive and human-rights based institutions and approaches will drive progress not only on Goal 16, but across all SDGs.

Combining the know-how in institution-building of UN entities with that of other partners in the peacebuilding domain such as the Small Arms Survey, the Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Interpeace and many others here in Geneva will be essential. As the international community works hard to shift towards a more preventive approach, we continue bringing these different resources together through initiatives such as the Geneva Peace Week which is starting next Monday.

The focus on prevention will also require bridging the humanitarian – development divide. The dense network of operational development expertise and humanitarian agencies here in Geneva provides unparalleled possibilities to work on this issue in a more integrated manner.

Similarly, the question how to most effectively leverage the rapid technological advancements to facilitate collaboration across issues is one where Geneva has important answers to offer. For example, the International Telecommunications Union as well as many partner organizations working on internet governance are at the forefront of exploring these questions.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the most comprehensive and integrated roadmap for our future that the international community has ever agreed on. Its integrated and universal nature challenges us all, member States, International Organisations and the multitude of other stakeholders to work in a more horizontal, integrated and collaborative manner than we have ever done before.

To facilitate this process we are in the process of creating an SDG Lab. This small team, composed of staff provided by different Member States and NGOs, will facilitate the sharing of information and best practices, help everyone avoid overlap and repetition, map the multitude of initiatives and innovative projects in Geneva and elsewhere, and provide for constant and fluid conversations between the stakeholders in Geneva and other poles of SDG implementation across the Globe, including, in collaboration with UNDP, with UN country teams across the world. We are acutely aware of the need for harnessing, and help focus, the incredible enthusiasm and energy displayed here every day for the benefit of the greatest amount of actors.

One issue of particular interest to me is gender equality. We must ensure that the 2030 Agenda really benefits everyone and leaves no one behind. We have put strong emphasis on advancing gender equality through the International Gender Champions initiative, which brings together leadership from Permanent Missions, International Organizations, NGOs and companies. This successful network is just one of many concrete and effective initiatives that are already driving progress in integrating the gender dimension into SDG implementation.

Every single issue that the really rich ecosystem of actors here are working on is critical for the implementation of the SDGs. But it is clear that ensuring that all these actors work in a coherent manner is a major challenge, even when they are concentrated as they are here in Geneva.

The results of this seminar will, I hope, feed into our efforts. I am optimistic that despite the challenges ahead, we can achieve the change in working culture and deliver the SDGs by working hand in hand. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I wish you fruitful discussions to help us move in the right direction.

Thank you very much.