Tackling Inclusion and Equality Gaps for Rule of Law

Last two weeks (July 2019), UN Member States and other relevant stakeholders were deeply engaged in reviewing the state of implementation of the several key SDGs. In fact, the meeting of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development in 2019 convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, was held during 9-18 July; including the three-day ministerial meeting of the forum during 16-18 July 2019.

The theme of the year was "Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality". The set of goals to be reviewed in depth is the following:

? Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

? Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

? Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

? Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

? Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

? Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

47 countries (7 for the second time)  volunteered to present their national voluntary reviews to the HLPF. For more details. Obviously, given my governance and rule of law background, I was prioritizing discussions around Goal 16 (peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development), with a focus on Goal 10 (Inequality) and Goal 17 (Global Partnership). Many keynote speakers, moderators, discussants, resource persons, and member states present agreed that SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions represents both a goal in its own right and a profoundly cross-cutting issue across the SDGs as the “golden thread” of the 2030 Agenda, necessitating both localized impact and international collaboration and cooperation. Some dubbed SDG 16 as ‘the moral backbone of the SDG agenda’.          

A few reflections from the HLPF 2019

Many emphasized the importance of bringing more children, youth, and women, into the processes of policy and law making to reduce violence and promote nondiscriminatory laws along with building offices for victims of gender-based violence and child abuse, highlighting the work ongoing at the international level.

Representatives from member states also stressed the role of women and girls in peacebuilding and presented new initiatives within their home states. Women are among the most disproportionately affected by violence and as such, they need specific facilities to promote reconciliation and coexistence, putting women at the forefront for leading traditional dispute settlement, mediation, transitional justice mechanisms. Representatives from member states stressed the importance of security as a key enabler for both stability and development. For example, a few representatives from the Sahel region made their points very clear: Due to geo-political location, countries in the Sahel region facing a security crisis on three fronts: from Boko Haram, from ISIS and Al Qaeda, and by the unfolding Libyan crisis, emphasizing by the displacement of over 340,000 refugees, mostly women and children. Iraq’s representative also mentioned that terrorism, which affects all aspects of development through the destruction of infrastructure and creation of a crisis of displacement, inflicts unique psychological damage to women and children. As such, they have implemented a 2018-2022 National Development Plan to reduce all forms of violence to end torture, enhance the rule of law, strengthen judiciaries, and adopt destabilization programs of liberated areas to provide rehabilitation services for women, children and survivors of sexual violence. Belgium emphasized that minority and indigenous rights are increasingly being marginalized alongside those of women and children. The specific rule of law examples from different member states went on.

Where do we go from here?

My own, somewhat limited, takeaways from the HLPF sessions, side events, and, some of the VNRs are:

? Intra-collaboration among and across national state organs and institutions [executives, legislative bodies, judiciary) on the implementation of the ambitious SDGs is still not optimal.

? Member states and international actors have not yet fully figured out how to address the inclusion and inequality gaps including income inequality in governance and rule of law institutions;

? Globally, the existing rule of law work, particularly in conflict, post-conflict, and transition countries, tend to be supply driven. So, the bigger challenge is how do we transition from existing supply driven attitudes, institutions and process to demand driven institutions and processes with a view to forging a culture of responsiveness and services to people.

? Monitoring performance of the SDGs including Goal 16 (monitoring of progress and accountability for results) remains a critical challenge for member states and relevant UN entities.

? Much emphasis was placed on ‘disaggregated data’ with still uneven coverage and, ‘somewhat limited success’ across regions and countries.

? Greater domestic resource mobilization for gender-responsive Investment to address the critical resource gap for SDG implementation.

In preparation for the 2019 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), UN Women, UNODC, and the UNFCCC Secretariat brought together experts from governments, academia, and civil society for a meeting in Vienna from 27 to 28 February 2019 on the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a specific focus on three of the Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 10, Goal 13, and Goal 16.

Some of the key recommendations from the report of the meeting were also reinforced during the HLPF 2019:

? Strengthening good governance, inclusive rule of law, and access to justice is key for achieving SDGs;

? Removing structural barriers to women’s participation in decision-making and promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth and social development that achieves gender equality and empowers all women and girls;

? Investing in national statistical capacities to promote evidence-based policy-making, planning, and budgeting, and ensure better monitoring of progress and accountability for results; and

? Increasing financing for the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda through domestic resource mobilization policies and global action to address the systemic imbalances in domestic and international tax, trade, and investment arrangements.

It is, however, clear inclusion of all disadvantaged groups and marginalized communities in public policy, peace, security, and governance is still not happening despite the promises of the SDGs. It is a prerequisite for inclusive development as targeted inclusion creates social harmony and contributes to the fulfillment of human dignity and human rights.

Development is not sustainable if it is not fair and inclusive, and if equality does not result from economic growth. We will also not able to fully implement the SDGs, eliminate poverty, establish inclusive rule of law, or implement the UN human rights treaties if we do not adopt inclusive approach to national development and seriously tackle different threads of inequalities.