We the CSOs from South and South West Asia propose the statement as our collective will and aspirations coming out of our two days' intensive deliberations during the South Asia Peoples Forum on the SDGs (SAPF2020) held on 22-23November 2020. We hope that the official South Asia SDGs Forum being organized by the UN-ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office on 2-3 December will appropriately respond to the aspirations of the people and CSOs of South and South West Asia presented through this statement.

South Asia is home to 1/4th of the global population, 1/3rd of the world’s multidimensional poor population, half of the world’s stunted children and largest population of stunted children. Despite sustained economic growth during the last decade, the region's investment in critical services including health and education is lower than Sub-Saharan Africa. Decades of neoliberal economic policies have eroded states capacity to help people and invest in poverty reduction and sustainable development. Resources handed over to the corporates have pushed populations to the margin, which has resulted in over 2/3rd of population being in informal employment without any social security support and appropriate access to health, education, nutritious food, water and sanitation. At the present rate, the region is unlikely to achieve any of the sustainable development goals.

Our region even before COVID-19 was in crisis, marked by growing inequality and uneven concentration of power, failing institutions, and a weakened multilateral system. The pandemic has further deepened these pre-existing inequalities and exposed gaps in our systems. Civic space continues to shrink, increased intolerance and inequality, increased violence against women, civil society organizations have been harassed and even forced to shut down, journalists have been targeted, crude colonial-era laws have been unleashed against government critics, new stringent laws have been invoked against any opposition or criticism online and offline, and brutal practices have endured in areas afflicted by conflict in our region. A growing economic crisis and political, social, and cultural dislocation is hurting hundreds of millions of people, especially those poorest who are already vulnerable or living in fragile and conflict-affected countries in South Asia.

COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown has hit the region hard, transforming a health crisis into a social and economic crisis of unprecedented scale, in addition to the environmental and climate crisis. Countries in the region have witnessed negative economic growth ranging from 8% to 25%. It is predicted that the economy might recover by 4.5% in 2021 but it would still be more than 6% lower than the pre pandemic days.

We are highly concerned about the fact that countries in the region have failed to take serious lessons which COVID-19 pandemic offers. They are continuing in the same ecologically destructive, socially divisive and economically unsustainable paradigm which favours only few and puts the economic, social and environmental burden on the large majority. The poorest, marginalized, women, indigenous populations and small farmers are hit the hardest. The unimaginable travails of labour on the move, which are labeled migrant even in their own countries, the most predominant section of the population, will remain the iconic image of South Asia for decades to come.

South Asia is also unfortunately at the receiving end of climate change despite having very low contribution in causing this crisis. Many of these are in the top 20 of the climate risk index and persistently battered by cyclones, floods, droughts and heatwaves. This year cyclone Amphan affected more than 15 million in the sub-region. Monsoon floods affected more than 50 million populations in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. More than half of the population in the region has been exposed to at least one extreme weather event. Even a 2 degrees rise in temperature will translate a 2 to 4 degrees rise in the temperature threatening large majority of the population due to warming, floods, droughts, heat waves, lack of access to water and rising sea levels, each of which is likely to intensify in the coming decades itself and not far into the future.

Combined impact of pandemic and climate change has been devastating in many senses. Cyclone Amphan itself required the evacuation of more than 7 million people in India and Bangladesh. Pakistan witnessed floods and locust attacks unprecedented in many decades. Poorest people and mostly daily wage earning informal labour, and small, marginal farmers and farm workers were affected the most. Farmers faced raising costs of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and could not take their produce to markets. Those who did hardly get any remunerative prices. Many governments further used the opportunity of pandemic to consolidate their powers, engage in militarized responses and terrorize sections of populations.

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world due to global climate change and increasing disaster worldwide due to its geographic and demographic condition. Almost every year frequent cyclones, storm, flood, tidal surge, water logging, salinity intrusion affects the country severely. Agriculture where 2/3 of the people employed are threatened because of the negative impact of climate change. Due to destruction, disaster, fragile ecosystems and other climatic consequences, people are migrating from their homeland and occupations and becoming unemployed.

More than 80 islands seek emergency water supplies during the dry season on average. Heavy dependency on food and oil fuel imports makes the population vulnerable to economic and natural disasters as now we experience due to COVID. Maldives rely 70% of its energy production on fossil fuel. The government aims to meet 70% of daytime peak energy demands by renewables but it seems to be an uphill task. In the long term, coral bleaching and other climate impacts on natural resources in addition to environmental degradation due to development projects with weak environmental monitoring will affect the tourism industry and damage the country's economy. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis was one of the biggest global health threats of the 21st century.

Despite a plethora of problems, governments have remained populist and more interested in geo-politics and power struggle without being able to address structural and systemic issues. Predominant crises of the day including climate stabilization, sustainable and inclusive growth and poverty eradication is not possible without an attack on rising inequality, restoring biodiversity, jobs and livelihoods, access to health, education and training, eradicating patriarchy, enhancing lack of peoples' access to democratic governance, means and choices, and genuine regional and international cooperation. We the people of South Asia want to remind ourselves and the world that sustainable development cannot be achieved without a stable, peaceful, prosperous and inclusive South Asia and unless each man, woman, worker, farmer achieve SDGs, SDGs cannot be achieved.

Call for Action

1. We call on the governments in the sub-region to urgently provide appropriate access to health services, education, social security with emphasis on the poorest populations, socially and historically discriminated populations including dalits, forest dependent populations, small and marginal farmers, daily wage earners, women, elderly, Persons with Disabilities, indigenous peoples, LGBTIQ, and refugees.
2. We call on the governments to be responsible to provide holistic, inclusive and comprehensive response and recovery processes, increasing funds for the public health system and social protection of the most vulnerable groups including informal sector workers. We call on the Governments to set up a Livelihood Recovery and Resilience Fund in their countries. Also, we request all the governments to make sure open, just, inclusive and gender responsive COVID-19 recovery, and to make sure participation of local communities and and human rights based approaches in economic and social recovery processes.
3. We call on the governments to take lessons from the pandemic and rethink the predominant economic paradigm based on overexploitation of nature and neo-liberal policies favoring only few.
4. We request all the governments to reverse dilution of environmental and labour standards and call on governments to enforce the ILO Recommendation 205.
5. We urge the countries and communities to respect the diversity and principles of coexistence and establish peace and security in the sub-region.
6. We urge the governments to immediately stop repressive policies which are targeted against particular sections of the society, political opponents, human rights, independent journalists, and environmental defenders.
7. We remind the governments of the tremendous work civil society organizations have done during the pandemic and appreciate them as equal partners in development and reverse policies that shrink their operating space and right of constructive criticism and democratic dissent.
8. We urge to establish close collaboration among government agencies, civil society organizations, communities and other partners to promote gender equality, prevent violence against women and girls, and increase access to quality response services for survivors, especially during emergencies. It is time for increased recognition of women's contributions in pre and during societal crisis. We have the opportunity to shape the "New Normal" post COVID-19 and build forward better and to make inclusive and just society
9. We also ask the governments to engage in genuine vulnerability mapping, improve early warning systems and adopt community based disaster risk reduction approaches to prevent loss and damages during the disasters, and put greater pressure on industrialized countries to comply with pre 2020 commitments and deliver emission cuts and support for adaptation including finance, technology and capacity.
10. We call on the Government to create spaces for the multi-stakeholder partnership and participation of the vulnerable communities in all decision-making institutions are important. It is urgent to fill the gaps in the implementation of legislations, budgets and programmes that are meant to support the vulnerable communities so that they can have an equal and level playing field to develop with other communities. Further, we urge the governments to track the intersectional challenges and needs of women, children, youth, elderly, people with disability, religious, linguistic, cultural minorities, and others within the vulnerable communities and ensure necessary budgets, programmes and participation.
11. We also implore the governments to improve intergovernmental coordination and encourage people to people contact in the sub-region. We urge all governments of South Asia to revive the SAARC, cut down defense budgets, establish an independent South Asia Human Rights Body and ensure access to justice and rule of law. We request SAARC to ensure subsistence participation of civil society organizations in the SAARC process.
12. We request UN and other specialized agencies to recalibrate SDGs and Climate targets so that there is an improved framework for action making up for the lost time on action on these aspirational goals and they do not become another casualty of COVID-19 pandemic.
13. We also request all the governments to coordinate and collaborate (prevent vaccine nationalism) so that treatment and vaccine is available to all in the region as per appropriately determined priority.
14. We urge governments to establish strong national statistical systems and avail fresh, reliable, open and accessible disaggregated data. Citizen's led the data system to urgently compensate for the official data gaps.
15. We call on the Governments and international development partners to make extra efforts and extra investment to achieve SDGs in the sub-region. More political commitment and localizations are critical to achieve SDGs. We urge the government to make public institutions more accountable, transparent, inclusive and effective and to follow pro-people strategies and align the recovery process with SDGs- framework.
16. We urge all the Government to address issues such as tax evasion, tax abuses, tax avoidance, illicit financial flows, debt crisis etc. Governments and international development partners should follow the human rights based approach for effective development cooperation. OECD countries should provide

17. 0.7 percent ODA to developing countries. Investment in nuclear weapons and arm production should be stopped and that money should be invested in least developed countries. Governments are requested to adapt progressive taxation system to invest in people, public services, poverty and address the issues of women, where they can fight together.