Security Days: The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals
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With its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2030 Agenda adopted by world leaders in September 2015 officially came into force on 1 January 2016. The SDGs are grouped around five major pillars: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships, and are reviewed regularly by the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The 2019 HLPF will convene in July around the theme of “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality” and carry out an in depth review of Goals 4, 8, 10,13, 16 and 17.
Closely linked to the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions but also Goal 13 on climate change with its compounding effect on conflict, is the newer UN “Sustaining Peace” agenda. Two UN resolutions adopted in 2016 and the UNSG’s 2018 report “Peacebuilding and sustaining peace” call for better linkages between the UN’s three foundational pillars: peace and security, development, and human rights. This includes a stronger focus on prevention, in particular through an enhanced understanding of root causes of violent conflict and the need for inclusive approaches aimed at increasing resilience.
The OSCE has made a link between security and development since the Helsinki Final Act in 1975. Its comprehensive approach to security rests on the recognition that conflicts may arise not only from political and military threats but also from economic tensions, environmental degradation, and social insecurity, as well as deficiencies in relation to the rule of law and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, all relevant for the achievement of the SDGs. Since conflict prevention has been central to the OSCE’s work, the organization makes – across its three dimensions - a valuable contribution to the realization of Goal 16.
The Security Day on the “The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals” will focus on two main objectives: analysing
- the relevance of the SDGs to the OSCE and vice versa, and
- the role of the OSCE as a partner (in the spirit of Goal 17), that can contribute to sustainable peace, security and development.
Watch the recordings
Opening message from OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, H. E. Miroslav Lajčák
Morning sessions
Afternoon sessions