The Sustainable Development Goals: Turning Words into Action
We,
parliamentarians from 133 countries and 23 international and regional
parliamentary organizations, gathered in Hanoi, Viet Nam, reviewed the
emerging sustainable development goals and considered our role in
attaining them.
This is our declaration.
Despite global advances in technology, health, knowledge, and material
wealth, longstanding economic and social disparities are increasing, to
the detriment of the whole planet, with progress continuing to elude
many the world over.
This situation – exacerbated by the urgent threat of climate change and
growing waves of social unrest, political instability and conflict
within or between countries – is coming to a head. As we saw with the
Millennium Development Goals, international commitments can only be met
with strong political will, leadership and national ownership. As
parliamentarians, we have a moral obligation to act.
The adoption of the new post-2015 development agenda and its sustainable
development goals in September 2015 will afford a unique opportunity to
meet global challenges, using a universal, integrated approach that
will apply to all countries and link poverty eradication to sustainable
development.
Vision
At this critical moment, we, the parliamentarians of the world, reaffirm our vision of a people-centred sustainable development based on the realization of all human rights, to eradicate poverty in all its forms, and eliminate inequalities, thus empowering all individuals to exercise their full potential. This requires conditions of peace and security, in full observance of the Charter of the United Nations and international law.
Poverty eradication and sustainable development are a shared commitment
for us all, and we should all strive towards a better and more equitable
distribution of resources. Our current production and consumption
patterns are clearly unsustainable, and all countries –both developed and
developing – need to work together, based on the principle of
common but differentiated responsibilities. That is the only way we can
advance towards a common model of inclusive and sustainable growth.
A people-centred approach requires environmental justice: the planet
and all its ecosystems must be treated as common assets for the whole
of humanity to enjoy now and in the future. Human well-being must be the
driver of all policies for sustainable development and progress
measured in terms that go well beyond gross domestic product. People
are more than taxpayers and consumers; they are citizens endowed with
rights and responsibilities towards each other. We must invest in them –
their health, nutrition, education and skills – as our most important
resource.
All government institutions must be representative and accessible to
all. Cultural differences should be respected and home-grown approaches
to sustainable development employed. All people, regardless of gender,
race, culture, religion and health status, must be empowered to work
cooperatively for peace and the common good.
Commitment
Acknowledging that the sustainable development goals will be the result
of a delicate compromise, we look forward to this transformational
framework that will inspire policy-making in all countries.
We are pleased that our efforts to advocate for the inclusion of goals
on healthy lives and well-being, gender equality and women’s
empowerment, reducing inequalities within and between countries, and on governance, have borne fruit. We appreciate the broadened focus
on health, which will provide an opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic
while tackling emerging challenges such as non-communicable diseases.
We welcome the new goal calling for urgent action against climate
change, and we appreciate the broad-based goal on the means of
implementation – finance, trade, technology, capacity building and
systemic reforms – that must be mobilized in support of the new
framework. This goal should inject new energy into the current global
partnership for development.
We commit to doing our utmost to strengthen national ownership of the
goals, particularly by making them known to our constituents. People
must understand how the goals are relevant to their lives. As
representatives of the people, we are responsible for ensuring that
each and every voice is heard in the political process without
discrimination and irrespective of social status.
We commit to translating the goals into enforceable domestic laws and
regulations, including through the critical budget process. Each
country must do its part to ensure that all the goals are met.
Action
As parliamentarians, we must support efforts to reach the new goals in ways that respect each country’s national specificities. Our responsibility is clear: to hold governments accountable for the goals they have subscribed to, and to make sure that enabling laws are passed and budgets adopted.
Our first order of business must be to examine our institutions and decision-making processes to ensure that they are fit for purpose.
As representatives of the people, our concern is to defend the public
interest and pursue the common good above all else. We must prevent
individual interests from exercising excessive influence in our
deliberations. We must focus on building consensus around practical
solutions.
We will seek to overcome the silo mentality within our own parliaments
and national administrations to reflect the intersectoral nature of the
goals. To this end, we will do our utmost to institutionalize the
goals in every parliament, with sufficient time for discussion and
monitoring. Parliamentary committees and processes must pursue all
goals coherently.
We will help build national ownership of the goals by seeing to it that
each of our countries has a sustainable development plan, crafted in
an inclusive and participatory manner, including through public hearings
with civil society, and in line with the international human rights
framework.
We pledge to make laws and budgetary provisions in line with the
national sustainable development plan, clearly identifying the goals
and targets that apply and means of funding. Governments should report
annually to parliaments on the implementation of the national plan.
Parliaments should garner regular feedback from their constituents to
help assess progress on the ground, where it matters most.
We further pledge to measure progress not only in terms of national
averages, but most importantly by looking at how the most vulnerable
and disadvantaged in our societies have fared. No one should be left
behind. Strong national capacities for data collection and
disaggregation, including by gender, age, minority group and health
status, will be crucial.
Recognizing our role in mobilizing the means to attain the goals,
including through funding from private and public sources, at both the
national and international levels, we will support the implementation of
all international commitments. In particular, we will work to increase
domestic resources, including by combating illicit financial flows. We
will improve the quality and quantity of aid, set out an orderly
sovereign debt restructuring mechanism, strengthen the environment for
private-sector investments, including through public-private
partnerships, and reform the global financial, monetary and trade
regime in ways that directly support sustainable development.
Lastly, we pledge to support accountability for meeting the goals at
the global level. We will seek to join our national delegations to
meetings of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, where global
progress reports will be discussed. We will contribute to the national
reviews submitted to the United Nations High-level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development. Wherever feasible, we will seek to engage with
United Nations field operations in our countries to share information
and explore all avenues for cooperation to advance our national plans.
We ask that the central messages of this Declaration and of its
predecessor, the Quito Communiqué, be reflected in the outcome of the
Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament later this year, which
will in turn provide input to the United Nations Summit in September.
We urge governments to conduct negotiations keeping in mind the real
needs and expectations of citizens and addressing the critical linkages
between sustainable development, democratic governance and human
rights. The Post-2015 United Nations Declaration should commit to
building strong public institutions, including parliaments, with the
ability and capacity to ensure accountability for results. We encourage
the drafters of the Declaration to acknowledge the critical role and
responsibility of parliaments – and of the IPU as their world
organization − in implementing and monitoring progress on the new development agenda.
Moreover, we stress that convergence between the outcomes of this
year’s negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda, financing for
development, climate change and disaster risk reduction is essential for effective implementation at the national level.
We are profoundly grateful to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, our world
organization, for raising our awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals and for making our voices heard at the United Nations. We will
continue to look to the IPU for support in our efforts to attain the sustainable development
goals.
Together, we will succeed.
