Post 2015 Development Framework
Issued on April 16, 2015 at 01:08 PM
Our letter to the Irish Times on Decent Work and the Sustainable Development Goals (23 September 2015)The Global Goals were adopted at the Sustainable Development Summit 25 - 27 September 2015 in New York and Trade Union reaction here: "High ambition, poor implementation"In 2015 the Millennium Development Goals will expire and the UN has launched a process of elaborating the post-2015 development framework that will replace the MDGs. The new framework will be a set of sustainable development goals to be agreed in September 2015. The SDGs were first formally referenced at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 (Rio+20). The outcome document of this conference set out that an open working group be established to develop a proposal for a set of SDGs for consideration and appropriate action by the UN General Assembly. In September 2014, the Open Working Group submitted its proposal on the SDGs to the UN General Assembly. In December 2014 the proposal of the Open Working Group was determined by the UN General Assembly to serve as the main basis for integrating SDGs into the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, while recognising that other inputs will also be considered. The Open Working Group proposal constitutes 17 goals and 169 targets. The goals cover a broad range of areas, including ending poverty and hunger, promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, reducing inequalities and combatting climate change.
Importantly from our perspective, they include, in Goal 8, a specific reference to Decent Work. Trade Unions across the globe have been campaigning for such a reference for a number of years now, coordinated by the ITUC.Following the work of our own Global Solidarity Committee, then Minister Joe Costello agreed that a stand alone goal on decent work was an essential element of any post 2015 development framework.Ireland is playing a key role in this process, following the appointment of our UN Ambassador as co-facilitator (with Kenya) for the final intergovernmental negotiations.A crucial difference with the new proposed sustainable development goals is that they are meant to apply to all countries. “Sustainable Development” is not something that only “developing” countries should do, but that each UN member state should work towards.A draft resolution has now been submitted by the President of the General Assembly for agreement later this month (September 2015)One of the key questions is how the goals be financed.Public funding will remain important for the achievement of the Goals, and there is also much discussion about financing from the private sector. The FfD agenda is an important reference point for discussions on development finance, and serves as a unique space where governments, in particular from the South, are able to debate important issues like trade and foreign direct investment as well as systemic issues like the international financial architecture and financial regulation. These are the global economic issues that were absent in the origin and overall framework of the Millennium Development Goals and remain piecemeal in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework. In July this year, a major conference on financing for sustainable development was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was hoped that concrete agreements on financing the new set of goals would be established at this conference. You can read the trade union position on Financing for Development here and the reaction to the outcome hereIn relation to climate change, Congress has written to relevant Government Ministers regarding the UN Framework Convention and the COP 21 talks in Paris at the end of the year. The ITUC has launched its Frontline Briefing hereMeanwhile, Teacher's Unions are among the membership of the Irish Coalition for Global Campaign for Education who are organising a national conference (24 April) on Sustainable Development Goals in Education. Moira Leydon, ASTI, said that the international community must learn from the lessons of the last 15 years. Despite the ambitious global targets in the 2000 Millennium Development Goals, progress towards achieving education for all has been unacceptably slow. 121 million children – 12% of the global population of this age group – do not attend primary or secondary school. “The root cause of this slow progress has been the failure of the international community to invest in education. International donor aid for education has dropped by 9.5% between 2010 and 2012 while total aid declined by 1.3% over the same period. The case for investment in education is absolutely clear cut: education takes millions out of poverty; each extra year of a mother’s schooling reduces infant mortality by 5-10% while a child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past age 5. Investing in girls’ education could boost the agricultural output of Sub-Saharan Africa by 25%”. 
Congress also participated in the ITUC organised Advocacy Seminar on the POST 2015 FRAMEWORK ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS, FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT AND MEANS OF IMPLEMENATION, 11-13 May 2015, Cornell Worker Institute, New York, New York. About 40 trade unionists from around the world gathered to agree trade union messages for the processes and to advocate with UN Ambassadors from around the world. Report here- UN Sustainable Development Knoweldge Platform here
- Business Accountability FOR Development here
- Trade union inputs on the EC Communication “A Global Partnership for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development after 2015”, COM(2015)44 final here
- The Private sector and its role in development here
- Dochas: Everything you wanted to know about the “Sustainable Development Goals” but were afraid to ask here
- FES published paper on "Goals for the Rich" here
- An urgent need for clarity on FFD and SDGs, by Barry Herman here
- EU Council Conclusions May, including Paragraph 14: "Full and productive employment and decent work, including implementation of labour standards guided by, amongst others, ILO conventions and recommendations, are key to addressing inequality and social exclusion. There should be adequate social protection floors and inclusive and equitable development measures should be integrated in relevant socio-economic policies. The right of social partners to freely negotiate and conclude collective agreements is essential. Social dialogue is crucial to strengthen democracy and to enhance transparency. In addition, to combat inequalities national legislation, policies and practices should be inclusive and ensure access to affordable, adequate and quality services and goods without discrimination."
- Trocaire briefing paper: States must remain the Primary Duty Bearers in Financing for Development
- Universality and Differentiation in the Post-2015 Development Agenda - here
- Trade Union reaction to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda here and TUC on outcome of FFD3 in Addis Ababa - here
- Civil Society Letter to an Taoiseach regarding an Irish Action Plan on implementing the SDGs - here
