(CNSNews.com) – The U.N. General Assembly on Sunday agreed to a set of far-reaching “sustainable development goals” for the next 15 years, but some key points pushed by the Obama administration were not reflected in the final document.
Two years of negotiations produced an agenda of 17 goals ranging from ending poverty and hunger to gender equality to “urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” – all by the year 2030.
Alongside the UNGA annual session opening in New York next month, more than 150 leaders are expected to approve the outcome document.
Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement he applauded the “successful conclusion of negotiations on an ambitious, inclusive post-2015 development agenda.”
“The close of negotiations marks a pivotal moment of international consensus on a common vision for our planet’s future,” Kerry said. “This is a vision of a better world that provides opportunities for the most vulnerable, and puts our planet on a sustainable path.”
But while the 36-page document entitled “Transforming our World” includes much the administration supports, on several important issues which it raised during the negotiations, it was left disappointed:
‘Foreign occupation’
During talks in New York on June 22, the chief U.S. delegate, Tony Pipa, pressed for a reference to “foreign occupation” to be removed from the draft, arguing that it was an inappropriate venue and calling for it to be removed.
But the developing world majority held fast to a phrase which supporters of the Palestinian cause in particular seek to include in U.N. documents wherever possible.
A month later, Pipa once again raised the issue: “We note with concern that there has been no change to the reference to ‘foreign occupation,’” he said on July 21. “Our views on this point are well known, and this will not be acceptable.”
In the end, however, the outcome document text includes a commitment “to remove the obstacles to the full realization of the right of self-determination of peoples living under colonial and foreign occupation, which continue to adversely affect their economic and social development as well as their environment.”
‘The right to development’
During the negotiations, Pipa argued that the “Declaration on the Right to Development” should not be cited in the post-2015 agenda document in the same context as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Both appeared in a section called “shared principles.”
The “Declaration on the Right to Development” is a 1986 U.N. document popular in the developing world but championed in particular by activist nations like Cuba, Iran, China, Pakistan and Vietnam as part of a so-called new generation of human rights, along with the “right to peace” and the “international solidarity.”
The Dec. 1986 UNGA resolution adopting the declaration passed by 146-1, with the U.S. casting the sole “no” vote.
“The current reference to Right to Development does not belong alongside the Declaration on Human Rights,” Pipa said during the June negotiations.
A month later, the problem remained unresolved from the U.S. perspective.
“We do not believe it to be appropriate to single out the Declaration on the Right to Development as a ‘shared principle’ in paragraph 10,” Pipa said in July. “This paragraph should reflect universal principles and documents to which we all ascribe – aspects of development that relate to human rights – which are universal rights that are held and enjoyed by individuals, and which every individual may demand from his or her own government,” he said.
“The right to development lacks agreed international understanding, and is not consistent with these rights.”
Nonetheless, the outcome document states (now in paragraph 11) that the post-2015 agenda “is grounded also in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Millennium Declaration, the 2005 World Summit Outcome document, international human rights treaties and other instruments such as the Declaration on the Right to Development.”
‘Sexual orientation’
During negotiations, the U.S. and others called for a section on non-discrimination to include a specific reference to “sexual orientation.”
“We are concerned that the declaration’s treatment of non-discrimination does not go far enough,” Pipa said in June. “It notably omits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and this must be corrected.”
Although he raised the matter again in July, the outcome document calls for human rights and freedoms to be “enjoyed by all without discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, color, sex, age, language, religion, culture, migration status, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic situation, birth, disability or other status.”
‘Types of families’
In the July negotiations, Pipa noted on behalf of the U.S. that a reference to “families” had been added to the draft.
“We were surprised to see such an addition at this late stage, and can accept it only if it is explicitly inclusive of all types of families,” he said. During earlier discussions the European Union, Brazil and others also pressed for more diversity of family forms to be recognized while countries like Egypt objected.
The outcome document agreed to on Sunday does refer to “all families” but not to all “types” or “forms” of families.
“We recognize the role of the family as a contributor to sustainable development,” it states. “One measure of success of the Agenda will be its ability to strengthen and protect all families.”
‘The People's Agenda’
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are meant to take ahead the work begun with the millennium development goals (MDGs) – eight specific targets to cut poverty and disease by 2015, in line with a pledge first taken by U.N. member states in 2000.
“This is the People's Agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind,” U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday.
“It seeks to ensure peace and prosperity, and forge partnerships with people and planet at the core.”
The 17 SDGs are:
Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
In the document, an asterisk alongside Goal 13 (“Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”) points to a footnote that says:
“Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change.”