Attend the UN High Level Political Forum 2020 (6-16 July Virtually)

Dear colleagues,

Just a few days to go! Here is the last weekly update of announcements relevant to the Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGoS) before the HLPF begins. I hope you all have a productive and successful HLPF. 

Use of the MGoS Mailing List

As the HLPF approaches it is inevitable that we will all be overwhelmed by emails. Unless it is absolutely necessary, please do not ‘Reply All’ to these emails. If you wish to thank a colleague for sharing information, please respond to them directly and do not copy the MGoS Coordination Mechanism.

HLPF Format  [update] 

The HLPF will be virtual, the new 2020 HLPF Programme is available for you download from the 'Latest' column of the HLPF 2020 website. Please note that the Programme section of the 2020 HLPF website contains links to a Letter from the President of ECOSOC and the Annotated 2020 HLPF Programme.

Funding

Due to the likely virtual format of the 2020 HLPF, there will not be funding allocated to support travel of MGoS representatives at the 2020 HLPF. 

Registration  [update] 

Representatives of ECOSOC accredited Organisations, Organisations on the CSD Roster and Organisations affiliated with the major groups and other stakeholders will not be required to register via Indico. The sessions of the HLPF will be broadcast via UN Web TV and CART services will be available.

Active participants (namely Lead Discussants, representatives providing contributions from the floor during thematic sessions and representatives asking questions following VNR presentations) will be nominated through the major groups and other stakeholders. This Information Note can be found on the HLPF website under the 'Registration' tab.

New Stakeholders Webpage

The new 'Stakeholders' page can viewed from the HLPF 2020 website via the blue 'Stakeholders' navigation bar. The 'Introduction' section contains contact details for each of the 18 major groups and other stakeholder constituencies. The page contains details on the 'Contributions' of the major groups and other stakeholders and 'How to Participate'.

Ministerial Declaration  [update] 

All documentation can be found in the Outcome section of the 2020 HLPF website. The last informal consultations on the Ministerial Declaration of the HLPF took place on Thursday, 2 July 2020. Here is the current revised draft of the Ministerial Declaration (29 June 2020). Further details to follow.

Lead Discussants - Thematic Sessions 

UN DESA will be requesting 13 Lead Discussants from the major groups and other stakeholders to participate in the official thematic sessions of the 2020 HLPF. Each of the major groups and other stakeholders held its own process to call for and select nominations. These nominations have been reviewed by the Steering Group of the major groups and other stakeholders coordination mechanism and the slate of nominations has been submitted for review. Thank you to all who put forward nominations and to those of you who helped to facilitate the process.

VNRs - Q&A [update] 

The usual practice of providing the major groups and other stakeholders  with an opportunity to ask a question following the VNR presentations will continue this year. The VNR Task Group of the MGoS coordination mechanism is requesting expressions of interest to draft questions and identify candidates as part of the VNR sessions. The nomination process to participate takes place through the major groups and other stakeholders, please contact your constituency for further details.

UN DESA in collaboration with the major groups and other stakeholders (MGoS) has hosted three webinars to introduce new representatives to the VNR process, in French, English and Spanish. The PowerPoint presentations are currently available on the Stakeholders page under 'Voluntary National Reviews - Interventions'. The video recordings should be available from Monday.

 

VNR Labs

Convened for the first time in 2018, the VNR Labs are an informal platform offering more time for Member States, MGoS and the UN system to share experiences on the VNR process.

 The 17 VNR Labs are now open for registration for Member States, the UN system and representatives of ECOSOC accredited organisations, organisations on the CSD Roster and organisations affiliated with the major groups and other stakeholders. Under each title you will find a short synopsis as well as the links to the concept note and the registration form.

 Most of the Labs will are scheduled for one hour either in the morning before the first HLPF sessions begin or at noon during the break (EST). Time and dates were carefully selected so as to not overlap with any of the formal meetings of the HLPF.

  Stakeholder Perspective - Official Thematic Session

The MGoS Official Session is listed in the 2020 HLPF Programme on Tuesday, 7 July 2020 from 5 - 6pm EDT (New York time). The title of the session is: Transformative pathways to realize the 2030 Agenda: a whole of society approach taking into account the impact of COVID19 (Stakeholder perspective). UN DESA will be working with the MGoS coordination mechanism Steering Group to organise the session. You will be able to view the session on UN Web TV or YouTube.

Written Contributions

 Executive Summaries

The deadline for the executive summaries of the MGoS Sectoral Position Papers has passed. The Discussion papers on the theme of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, submitted by major groups and other stakeholders is available here: E/HLPF/2020/2. Translated versions can be found at UNDoc.org

 Sectoral Position Papers

These reports have been posted as inputs on the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. Please search under '2020' and 'Major Groups and other Stakeholders'.

 Paragraph 89 Reports 

These reports have been posted as inputs on the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. Please search under '2020' and 'Major Groups and other Stakeholders'.

Side Events & Exhibitions  [update] 

All Side-events and Exhibitions will be held virtually. The tentative programme of Side Events is available to download from the HLPF 2020 website. The process of uploading the events to the HLPF programme has started however, not all events that have been accepted are currently on the website. Further information can be found under Other Events. Registration details are listed with each event.

Special Events  [update] 

Our DESA and partner have once again put together a stellar line-up of special events over the course of the next two weeks. Please click on the Flyer for further info as well as the Other Events section of the HLPF 2020 website. Registration details are listed with each event.

General Debate [final call]

The general debate of the 2020 High-level Political Forum/ High-level Segment of ECOSOC will be conducted through written statements from Ministers and other representatives of Member States, UN system organizations, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and other international and regional organizations, as well as the Major Groups and other stakeholders. These statements will be posted on the HLPF and ECOSOC websites and in e-deleGATE. The deadline to submit statements in collaboration with your major group and other stakeholder constituency will be Friday, 3 July 2020. Please contact your MGoS constituency for further details.

 Kind regards,

Gwilym Roberts-Harry Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs