Identify and address ‘real needs’ to recover from COVID-19, UN rights expert urges

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in “a serious setback” for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an independent UN human rights expert said, urging a high-level meeting to “take a hard look” at implementation efforts to live up to the promise to leave no one behind.

“One of the main reasons implementation of the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] continues to lag behind is that policies and programmes fail to identify and address people’s real needs. If efforts to achieve the goals are not based on these needs, they cannot succeed”, he spelled out”, Saad Alfarargi, Special Rapporteur on the right to development, said at the second day of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

The UN rights expert maintained that those denied during past development efforts remain “marginalized, disempowered and excluded”, including many women, racial, religious, and ethnic minorities, and those impoverished and displaced.

“Unless we address the inequalities, exclusion and entrenched discrimination these communities face, durable and inclusive development for all will remain elusive”, he underscored.

The right to development entitles every human being and all peoples to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural, and political development.

To achieve sustainable results, development must be a holistic process involving everyone who has a stake – from States to international organizations and civil society, to marginalized populations.

Business, as usual, is not going to deliver results: “In recent decades, economic growth has been accompanied by increasing or persistently high levels of inequality within countries and a call for fundamental reconfiguration in economic policymaking”, Mr. Alfarargi noted.

Under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, the HLPF on sustainable development will run until 16 July. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, it aims to galvanize international solidarity in responding to economic shocks, relaunching growth, sharing economic benefits, and addressing financing challenges of developing countries.

Original source: UN News
Published on 08 July 2020