Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 267 - July 29, 2016

Issue 267 - July 29, 2016
Social Watch reports
Spotlight report on the 2030 Agenda
 
   
 

Implementing the 2030 Agenda: Will Belgium step up its efforts?

   
 
Palace of the Nation, seat of the 
Belgian Federal Parliament in 
Brussels.(Photo: Belgian government)

In September 2015, Belgium declared that the 2030 Agenda will give a new élan for Belgian global engagement, calling for human rights, LGBT rights, women's rights, decent work and the power of digitalization, concluding that Belgium was ready to implement the agenda. However, by referring mainly to international cooperation, it was not clear if Belgium accepted the challenge to also change its national policy in order to reach the 2030 Agenda. A national strategy framework is to be established by September 2016 involving all levels of government, under the auspices of the Inter-Ministerial Conference for Sustainable Development, which is best suited to ensure a coherent strategy among the three regions and the federal government. Nevertheless, midway into the first year of implementation, the policy actions needed remain distant. Belgian civil society organizations demand and urgent and clear response to the challenges of this ambitious universal 2030 Agenda, and to commit to develop an integrated, overarching strategy covering internal and external affairs. Read more

 

   
   
 

Honduras: Can commitment to the 2030 Agenda restore Human Rights?

   
 
March against violence and femicide.
(Photo: CEM-H)

Honduras has committed itself to implementing the 2030 Agenda and this commitment is essential to overcoming the pervasive violence in the country. Honduras has the highest level of economic inequality in Latin America and is listed as the most violent of all countries that are not in a war situation. Women's lives are particularly at risk, which means that achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls by 2030, as mandated by SDG 5, will be a major challenge. More than 18,000 women and girls reported suffering sexual violence between 2010 and 2015, but in less than 6 percent of the cases have perpetrators been condemned. Implementing the SDGs requires political and the reallocation of resources currently devoted to re-militarization, it is clear that human rights are not the priority. Only if social organizations, with the support of the international community, encourage compliance may the situation of the Honduran people improve. Read more

 

   
   
 
Social Watch publishes country reports 2016

Social Watch coalitions around the world are contributing their assessments and reports to the global Social Watch report 2016, under the overall theme Goals for 2030... and obstacles to getting there. The Social Watch network thus joins the current global discussions around a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and on a new development framework and the need for civil society monitoring.

The Social Watch national platforms are independent coalitions of civil society organizations struggling for social and gender justice in their own countries. The Social Watch network has been publishing since 1996 yearly reports on how governments implement their international commitments to eradicate poverty and achieve equality between women and men.

   
   
 

Due to UNCTAD's decidedly pro-South and uncompromising development-focused mission, its quadrennial conferences have traditionally been North–South showdowns. Coming a few months after the adoption of the ambitious and universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 associated goals, the theme of the XIV Quadrennial Conference of UNCTAD (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) was “From Decisions to Actions.” There was, therefore, reason to expect that this time members would bridge their differences for the sake of reinforcing mandates of the organization critical to the Agenda's implementation. But that was not the case. Read more

 
   
   
 

In the implementation phase of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is important to learn from the mistakes of the past and to truly advance a holistic framework. From DAWN's perspective, using an interlinkages and rights-based approach to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) might be useful to assess and promote positive synergies. This article offers ideas for achieving this by looking at the example of how tackling illicit financial flows could help the fight against women's trafficking. Read more

 
   

 

 
SOCIAL WATCH IS AN INTERNATIONAL NGO WATCHDOG NETWORK MONITORING POVERTY ERADICATION AND GENDER EQUALITY
Social Watch >>
Social Watch E-Newsletter
For comments, sugestions, collaborations contact us at:
socwatch@socialwatch.org
To stop receiving this newsletter send a message with the subject "unsubscribe" to: 
socwatch@socialwatch.org