April Negotiation Session on Post 2015, 23rd April 2015
Interactive Dialogue with Major Groups and other Stakeholders in the post-2015 negotiation
Merybell Reynoso, on behalf of the Major Group for Children and Youth
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the UN Major Group for Children and Youth.
Co-chairs, member states: It’s time to turn rhetoric into real policy and practice. Children and young people are not just a checked off stakeholder group, we offer real solutions. This joint meeting between FfD and Post-2015 presents a big opportunity to give coherence in strategies in both outcomes.
Needless to say that ambitious outcomes, and strong monitoring and accountability frameworks on MOI and FfD are indispensable for the realisation of a people driven agenda.
Global Partnerships. Partnerships should be assessed through a comprehensive mechanism that identifies the social, economic and ecological impact on sustainable development. It is also crucial in all partnerships made with businesses and the private sector that private gain must not be made at public expense. All voluntary commitments in this regard should be subject to an accountability mechanism in line with other mechanisms being implemented throughout the process.
Accountability and resources for data collection and analysis. Importance should be placed on resource allocation and investment in the statistical capacities of countries that enhances the ability of young people and children to engage at all levels in decision making, implementation, monitoring and accountability through legally mandated and funded mechanisms like the Major Group for Children and Youth.
Investment in new and reliable disaggregated data will be required to cover gaps in monitoring progress. The effects of sustainable development policies on children and young people need to be ‘seen’. Without investment in data disaggregation, children and young people remain at risk of being invisible, and the most vulnerable will continue to be left behind.
The costs of inaction – to health, lives, economic productivity and public budgets – far outweigh the costs of the investments required to fulfill gender equality. These investments have multiple high payoffs that will bolster poverty eradication and drive inclusive sustainable development. Governments should maximize the fiscal space for health spending, including for SRHR and remove financial barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services, as well as regulate private sector financing for the provision of sexual and reproductive health services.
Furthermore, any MoI and FfD framework will fail at Sustainable Development if it does not effectively integrate the three dimensions of sustainable development. In this regard, we need to regulate and facilitate macro economic environments, including central banks, and private corporation that effectively integrate the ecological risk and planetary boundaries into all metrics, specifically through ecological and progressive taxation.
We urge you all to incorporate these children and youth priorities. It is your turn now, give us the means to implement this agenda.
United Nations Major Group Children & Youth 