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.
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David Donoghue, Chair of the Board of Conciliation Resources, discusses the relevance of the SDGs to the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security during the Security Day, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
Victoria González Román, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, addresses the Security Day event “The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals”, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
L-r: Clemens Koja, Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Marcel Pesko, Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, Lamberto Zannier, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, at the Security Day “The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals”, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
Denise Mazzolani, Deputy Head of the OSCE Secretariat Transnational Threats Department's Strategic Police Matters Unit, contributes to the discussion during the Security Day “The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals”, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
L-r: Alexander Verbeek, Founder of the Institute for Planetary Security, Esra Buttanri, Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, Nino Tandilashvili, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture of Georgia, during the Security Day on “The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals”, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
Permanent Representative of Norway to the OSCE Ambassador Steffen Kongstad comments during the Security Day “The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals”, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
L-r: Marcus Brand, Senior Advisor of United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine, Nilza de Sena, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Martin Nesirky, Director of UN Information Service, Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, Vuk Žugić, Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, during the Security Day on “The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals”, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
Nilza de Sena, Chair of the Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, discusses the OSCE’s Role in promoting the SDGs during the Security Day, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger makes concluding remarks at the Security Day event “The OSCE and the Sustainable Development Goals”, Vienna, 4 June 2019.
