Today, the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) launches its most recent report on the status of SDG implementation in the region conducted by its seven (7) partners from China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Vietnam, and Pakistan during the height of the pandemic from 2020 to 2021. Their 18-month journey includes monitoring issues and situations of grassroots women in relation to the localisation, implementation and achievement of the SDGs in their contexts, and have published their Peoples’ Development Justice Reports.

In this critical time, the release of this report is very significant and timely as we face a crisis in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. According to the UNESCAP SDG Progress Report, the region is more likely to achieve the goals in 2065. The pandemic has exacerbated the already dire situations–widening inequalities, economic injustices, rising conflicts and fundamentalist and authoritarian regimes, and the worsening exploitation of our peoples and resources. It has also exposed the crisis in accessing quality public services such as health care and education, social protection, as well as gender equality and women human rights.

The report also offers a critical perspective on the 2030 Agenda. In the past years of the SDG process, the lack of emphasis on systemic issues, lack of financing, the lack of data and even the process itself being voluntary shows the dwindling or lack of commitments of the member states, particularly those from the Global North. In this context, we look at the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a tool for the peoples to hold governments accountable for these inactions.

The report is also being launched in time for the midpoint SDG Summit happening from 18-19 September 2023 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. At the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda, we demand concrete and genuine actions from our governments. We demand Development Justice.

Read the full Regional Report of the National Monitoring of SDGs and Development Justice 2020-2021 in Asia Pacific.

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