UN General Assembly 2023: What is stalling the progress of Sustainable Development Goals | Explained

Leaders of 193 United Nations member states have started landing in New York to attend the 78th General Assembly of the global organisation. The UN is convening amid the second year of war in Ukraine and post-pandemic recovery of global economy affected by that conflict, as well as deteriorating discourse of women's rights in Afghanistan and Iran, and China's expansionist belligerence with India and in the South China Sea. 

UNGA has its plates full with several other issues. In Africa, two recent coups in Gabon and Niger, and natural calamities in Libya and Morocco, have given rise to new security challenges for the impoverished region -- most of which was previously colonised by France. In West Asia, the restoration of Iran-Saudi Arabia ties have emerged as a hope for stability, resulting in a semblance of cessation of civil war in Yemen where the Shia and Sunni powerhouses fought through their proxies since the 2010s.  

Also read | Iran, Saudi Arabia restore ties as China-brokered deal outfoxes West 

In the regions where democracies are fragile, authoritarian or quasi-authoritarian governments reign supreme, and are seen as impoverished zones of human distress, with the UN often sought after as the last mile hope for redressal.

In WION's extensive reportage on state of women's rights in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, women being denied education rights often call upon international community to not 'abandon' their cause. 

In short, the 78th UNGA is being anticipated with hope in the parts of the world combating conventional warfare, natural calamities and authoritarian rules. 

The 78th session, according to the United Nations, "marks a crucial milestone in the journey towards achieving the 2030 Agenda and the urgent need to put the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track".

The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of seventeen interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future". 

Agreed upon in 2015, They are: No poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice, and strong institutions, and partnerships for the goals.

The United Nations said in an official readout that the world leaders will gather in New York to engage in the annual high-level General Debate under the theme, “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.”

For the countries of Global South, the principal challenge in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals has been a non-reformed UN Security Council and facets of multilateral funding for development projects. 

Since its inception, only five countries are the permanent members of the UN Security Council. While the United States, United Kingdom and France are permanent UNSC members since 1945, erstwhile Soviet Union's spot was given to Russian Federation after the dissolution of USSR. In October 1971, the Republic of China (present-day Taiwan) was displaced from the membership of the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council by a vote of the UN General Assembly and got replaced by communist China (People's Republic of China).

The effect of a non-reformed UN Security Council looms large on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

"When Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development was adopted in September 2015, the UN reported that 60 million people across the world were impacted by violent conflicts that are unresolved on the agenda of the UN Security Council. In December 2022, that number had risen to 314 million," Ambassador Asoke Mukerji, Former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations told WION.

"The broader priority for reforming the UN Security Council is the linkage between peace, security, and development. This is committed by world leaders when they adopted Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development. Every ongoing unresolved conflict on the UN Security Council’s agenda has a very negative impact on implementing Agenda 2030 which is the only framework agreed to by all states to take the world forward by eradicating poverty and sustaining development," he added. 

WION reported last week how China's smokescreen, in the lieu of undocumented informal Inter Governmental Negotiations, have been stalling the reforms of the UN Security Council, actively, at least since 2016. 

Ambassador Mukerji added that China is acting in concert with the other four permanent members. "But the difference in the inter-governmental negotiations is that it is only China that has openly called for "consensus" on the reforms of the Security Council."

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