The Shura Council State of Qatar

The IPU 140 Standing Committee on United Nations (UN) Affairs has discussed the role of national parliaments in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as part of the preparation for the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF 2019). 

HLPIF 2019 will address the theme, 'Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality'. Accordingly, Catherine Jordy, Director of the IPU Sustainable Development Programme, pointed out that there is a lot of work for all in this area, stressing that we have to admit the role of parliaments in achieving sustainable development goals. However, there is a long way ahead to attain the goals set in 2015, as hunger is increasing in some areas and climate change has speeded up beyond the anticipated. So, it is necessary to exert more efforts by both developing and developed countries on this respect.

She said that a questionnaire and survey were conducted in June 2018 on to what degree parliaments were able to put sustainable development goals. Forty-nine parliaments around the world took part at this study, which indicates whether parliaments have well-defined goals for sustainable development. From among the participants at the study, 64% said that the parliamentarian committees in their countries have not issued any report on the sustainable development goals. There are countries that have a consultative committee such as Germany, and others that have committees on sustainable development goals such as Malta.  Only 25% of the participants have national coordination mechanisms.

She pointed out that the IPU programme has helped a number of parliaments in the world to put mechanisms to achieve the sustainable development goals. She also stressed that these goals should be incorporated within the parliamentary work.