| Ahead of the Rio+20 Summit — experts call for new institutional framework for sustainability and a greater focus on human rights |
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Ahead of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) to be held in June this year, the European Parliament (EP) released a report addressing potential reform options and recommendations regarding the institutional framework for sustainable development. UN Human Rights experts have further called for a greater focus on human rights, if sustainable development is to benefit the poor. According to the EP report, entitled “Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development in the Context of the Upcoming Rio+20 Summit”, there are six main challenges that should be addressed during the conference. Participants should accordingly focus on integrating the three pillars of sustainable development — economic, social and environmental — in global, national and local policies and tackle the absence of sustainable development precepts in current operational principles of International Financial Institutions. The report further points to the lack of sufficient stakeholder involvement in the current governance system, the continuing poor implementation of sustainable consumption and production principles by many governments, and the incompatibility of current environmental policies with the governance regimes. The EP therefore calls for a strengthening of the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), the creation of an umbrella organisation for sustainable development, as well as the reform and streamlining of existing structures related to sustainable development. In order to strengthen accountability, participants should agree on common sustainable development indicators, a task that will however be faced with many challenges experts have warned in recent times. At the same time, in an open letter, UN Human Rights Experts have urged international leaders to agree on common human rights standards to be included in the sustainable development goals, to be agreed during the conference. “Human rights have guided 60-plus years of progress by providing a legal baseline for political actions. Human rights must now be the glue in Rio: they must bind countries to the commitments they make”, reads the letter. The letter was signed by 22 UN Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts or Chair-Rapporteurs of Working Groups, positions established by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations to “examine, monitor, advise and publicly report” on human rights problems through “activities undertaken by special procedures, including responding to individual complaints, conducting studies, providing advice on technical cooperation at the country level, and engaging in general promotional activities.” According to the experts, an international accountability mechanism similar to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review should be established, subjecting each country’s human rights record to a State-led peer review on the basis of information submitted by the country concerned, UN entities, civil society and other stakeholders. Read the letter here: OHCHR Read the report here: European Parliament - DG for Internal Policies (pdf) Sources:
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