BIC Calls on UN to Reclaim Spirit of Sustainable Development Agenda

The Baha’i International Community (BIC) has contributed a statement in the lead-up to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the United Nations.

The HLPF provides a platform for Member States, UN officials and civil society to review and follow up on progress made on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The theme of this year’s forum, which takes place from 9-18 July, is “Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality.”

The BIC statement, titled Unity in Action: Reclaiming the Spirit of the Sustainable Development Agenda, outlines a number of principles to consider as related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

“The international community has achieved commendable consensus around the form of the Sustainable Development Goals as articulated in their various targets and indicators,” the statement reads. “Yet translating those aspirations into lived reality will require a tremendous expansion of Agenda 2030’s “spirit of strengthened global solidarity.” Crucial in this regard will be ensuring that recognition of the interconnected nature of humanity is a prerequisite in both policy-making and action.

“Agenda 2030 provides useful guidance on how this can be achieved. Calling for ‘collaborative partnership’ among all stakeholders, it commits signatories to ‘intercultural understanding, tolerance, mutual respect and an ethic of global citizenship and shared responsibility.’ Yet such ideals must transcend rhetoric and find greater expression in the working processes of global affairs if meaningful change is to be achieved.”

A delegation of Baha’is from Australia, Canada, Ghana, India, and the United States will attend the forum to share insights from the activities of the worldwide Baha’i community as related to the Sustainable Development Goals under review.

In the lead up to the HLPF, the BIC hosted a series of breakfast dialogues alongside Member States, UN officials and civil society in order to discuss progress made on the Goals. 

The BIC will also host three separate side events during the HLPF. They include:

• Illuminating the World: Education for Individual and Collective Flourishing: A roundtable discussion on education for rising generations, co-sponsored by the UN Major Group on Children and Youth; Thursday 11 July, 1:15pm – 2:45pm.

• Peace as Potential: Fostering the Enabling Conditions of Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies; Thursday, 11 July, 3:30pm-5:00pm. 

• Building Local Ownership in Global Processes: Lessons Learned From Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction: A participatory discussion with the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori; Friday, 12 July, 1:15pm-2:45pm

All of these events will take place at the Baha’i International Community, 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120, New York, NY.