Publikationen

von Jens Martens

• Mit der Agenda 2030 treten die Staaten dafür ein, bis zum Jahr 2030 die sozial-ökologische Transformation von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft auf den Weg zu bringen. Dafür sind enorme politische und finanzielle Anstrengungen nötig.
• In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat jedoch die Kombination aus neoliberaler Ideologie, Lobbyismus, unternehmensfreundlicher Finanzpolitik sowie Steuervermeidung und -hinterziehung den öffentlichen Sektor und seine Fähigkeit geschwächt, lebenswichtige Güter und Dienstleistungen bereitzustellen. Andererseits wurden dadurch eine beispiellose Anhäufung von privatem Vermögen und eine zunehmende Marktkonzentration ermöglicht [...]

von Jens Martens

Am 7. und 8. Juli 2017 fand in Hamburg das Gipfeltreffen der G20, der Gruppe der 20 führenden Industrie- und Schwellenländer, statt. In der medialen Wahrnehmung war der Gipfel geprägt vom Auftritt des US-Präsidenten und den Konflikten in der Klima- und Handelspolitik. Andere Themen, darunter auch die Aktivitäten der G20 zur Umsetzung der Agenda 2030, traten demgegenüber in den Hintergrund. Das „Hamburg Update” zum im vergangene Jahr verabschiedeten G20-Aktionsplan zur Agenda 2030 wurde kaum beachtet.

Bundeskanzlerin Merkel [...]

New York, 19 July 2017: Despite soaring rhetoric, glossy reports and slick presentations, the fact remains that implementation on the ground is “stalled”, as highlighted in a series of civil society national reports as part of the global Spotlight Report initiative.

Increasingly, civil society is expressing concern that the SDGs are being used not as a roadmap for social, economic and environmental transformation, but as a vehicle to entrench inequitable power relations. In particular, as exhibited in many speeches at [...]

New York, 18 July 2017: During the Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) of 44 countries at the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, many civil society activists raised questions, criticizing government (in-)action as well as crippling framework conditions that slow down implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the national level.

Ziad Abdel Samad, Director of Arab NGO Network for Development, highlighted the situation in his region: “Foreign occupation, armed conflicts and wars are key challenges, even before talking about [...]

New York, 17 July 2017: On Monday, 17 July, the sponsors of the High-Level Panel report on Women’s Economic Empowerment are presenting a panel on “Accelerating women’s economic empowerment to achieve the 2030 Agenda”, head-lined by the Secretary-General. They will be joined by a diverse Member State ‘group of champions for women’s economic empowerment’. Given the knowledge and expertise of the High-Level Panel and the national level experience of the group of champions, they will have many examples [...]

New York City, 14 July 2017: With the first week of deliberations at the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development coming to a close this Friday at the UN in New York, civil society activists are criticizing a piecemeal approach to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Especially worrisome to activists is a growing gap between aspirational goals and a lack of proper and comprehensive means of implementation.

On many occasions – during side-events as well [...]

New York 13 July 2017: As the SDG 17 is under review today at the HLPF 2017, civil society groups express their concern for the inadequacy of the combined MoI/AAAA framework to match the ambition of the 2030 Agenda. The worrying slogan of ‘making the business case for sustainable development’, clearly exemplifies how private finance, rather than public policies and investments, is being portrayed as the fundamental key to SDG implementation, says the Spotlight Report, a comprehensive independent assessment released [...]

New York, 13 July 2017: Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), usually portrayed as a useful tool towards sustainable development, actually “involve disproportionate risks and costs for people and the public purse”, claims a global coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions in the Spotlight Report 2017 launched earlier this week.

New York, 12 July 2017: SDG2 ‘end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, articulates one of the highest aspirations of the 2030 Agenda. Failure to advance it will significantly affect the entire agenda, claims the Spotlight report, a comprehensive independent assessment released in New York on the opening day of the High Level Political Forum 2017.

New York, 12 July 2017: Corporate power threatens women´s human rights by promoting a race to the bottom in labour standards and avoiding taxes in the countries where profits are obtained, concludes the report Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017, in its analysis of the fifth Sustainable Development Goal which promises to achieve gender equality by 2030 and empower all women and girls.