Thursday, July 11, 2024 | 8:30–10:00 a.m. (ET) | UNHQ Secretariat, 27th Floor, SDG Room
Indicate your interest in attending here (Spaces Limited)
Most Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 targets are regressing or stagnating globally. As referenced in the 2023 Global Progress Report on SDG16, many countries are falling short of their human rights obligations; violence and conflict are pervasive across regions; equal access to justice remains elusive; social contracts have been eroded and remain under pressure; and inequalities, exclusion and discrimination fuel division and polarization. Yet, amidst this sobering backdrop, there are bright spots—political choices and policy decisions made at national and local levels to advance SDG16 and its interlinkages across the SDGs, with tangible impact on people’s lives. Following last year’s SDG Summit and in advance of the Summit of the Future, this year’s HLPF, with SDG16 under in-depth review, provides a critical opportunity to share and apply concrete lessons learned among Member States and others in advancing more peaceful, just and inclusive societies, including through VNRs.
On the sidelines of the 2024 High-level Political Forum (HLPF), this Lab will unpack the VNR as an important tool to support action on SDG16. Organized by the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, UNDP, and OHCHR, and in partnership with IDLO and International IDEA, this VNR Lab will examine how countries and partners have used the VNR process (pre-and post-HLPF) to advance SDG16 at national and sub-national levels; to reinforce/scale its interlinkages across the SDGs, and to highlight its role in strengthening resilience for future crises.
Format
Interactive exchange among member states, civil society, UN representatives, and International Organizations.
Guiding Questions
- How is SDG16 and its interlinkages (goal and accelerator of the SDGs) captured in your VNR and how is this reflected in your national development plans and budgets?
- Can you speak to how you have been able to use the processes shaping and informing the VNR, e.g., multistakeholder engagement, intragovernmental coordination, human rights-based approach to data, or leveraging complementary processes (e.g., reporting under International Human Rights Mechanisms), to support follow-up and implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SDG16 in particular? Please provide concrete examples.
- Do you have observations, experience, or examples to share of data partnerships that leverage existing data to help drive protection for civic space actors?
- How have you used SDG16-related data in the VNR to communicate progress, or challenges, with domestic constituencies?
- What have you learned from previous VNR processes (challenges and successes) in terms of its utility and how can/have such learnings supported iterative implementation going forward?
