#culture2015goal campaign update: pressure on UN debate as zero draft is about to be finalizedNEWS

Declaration on the Inclusion of Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals puts pressure on UN debate as zero draft is about to be finalized

 Based on the belief that culture is both a driver and enabler of sustainable development the campaign to include Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals continues through lobbying to United Nations working groups and through representation to key stakeholders in global and continental fora. Although there is some improvement in the mentioning of Culture in the latest draft of the Proposal of the Open Working Group there is a huge amount of advocacy required to properly acknowledge the role of Culture in the world we want.

References to Culture are noted in the Introduction (point 9), Proposed Goal 4 on Education (4.7), Proposed Goal 8 on Economic Growth (8.9), Proposed Goal 11 on sustainable cities (11.4) and Proposed Goal 12 on Sustainable Consumption and Production (12.b).  The draft document is available on http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html

Interested parties are urged to see www.culture2015goal.net and to raise your concerns with country representatives to the AU, UN or other channels of influence.

Endorsement from 120 countries reaches 1,800 signatories since May 1st, including more than 600 organizations

Earlier SDGs drafts included only one mention of culture

Debate is on this week at the UN to strengthen added reference to culture in the preamble, under education programs (Goal 4), reduced inequality (Goal 10), sustainable

cities (Goal 11), sustainable consumption and production (Goal 12) and inclusive societies (Goal 16)

Zero draft of SDGs will then be submitted for debate at the General Assembly in September

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will also submit his report on the implementation of the December 2013 resolution on culture and sustainable development

With input from national consultations scheduled in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ecuador, Serbia, Mali, Morocco and results of the e-consultations led by UNFPA, UNESCO and UNDP

What you can do:

Make representations to your country's permanent representative to the UN and to the persons in charge of defining your country's position (ministry of

Foreign Affairs or of International Cooperation)
 

Use the communications tools to ask organizations and individuals that have not yet endorsed the Declaration to do so
 

Circulate the most recent translation in Chinese to broaden the campaign's reach
 

Share the other available versions in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese andRussian 

Follow #culture2015goal on Twitter

See how culture is included in the zero draft of the UN Sustainable Development Goals post-2015