The UN Secretary-General has issued a report on the 2019 theme of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), ‘Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.’ The report seeks to inform ECOSOC’s annual High-level Segment, which will take place from 16-19 July 2019 and serve as the culmination of the 2018-2019 cycle of ECOSOC meetings.
The report of the Secretary-General titled, ‘Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness and Equality’ (E/2019/65), outlines the importance of political participation for equality, inclusion and empowerment, noting the impacts on decision-making processes that determine the allocation and distribution of social, economic, political and cultural assets. Among other measures, the report calls for:
- adopting pro-equality public policies to advance the empowerment, inclusion and equality of all
- invigorating civic engagement efforts by institutionalizing relevant stakeholder involvement within all policy processes, building the capacity of civil society organizations, and strengthening civic education;
- ensuring that nationally owned data generation and analysis systems are capable of providing regular reports on progress made towards global and nationalized SDG indicators; and
- exploring open source platforms developed by the private sector and civil society organizations, as they can help improve efficiency in service delivery to reach the poorest and most disadvantaged children and communities.
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