Jyotsna Mohan, Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM)
Intervention from the floor, Regional Realities
Excellencies & Colleagues,
We are halfway towards the 2030 Agenda, but it is increasingly apparent that we are decades behind
in achieving the goals. The Asia Pacific region will not achieve the SDGs before 2065 at the current rate
of progress. Moreover, the region is confronted by the worsening triple planetary crisis, rising
cost-of-living, increasing militarism, imperialism, and patriarchal authoritarian governance.
Countries in the region also face disasters with many of them on top of the Climate Risk Indexes,
posing serious existential threats.
On Goal 6, 1.9 billion persons still lack access to safe drinking water, and 1.3 billion people are without
sanitation services. Under SDG 7, transition to clean fuels and technologies remains a challenge.
On Goal 9, incoherent industrial, trade and financial policies are major barriers for sustainable
industrialisation. Under SDG 11, poorly planned urban development and increased climate risks have
amplified the challenges for the most marginalized.
Besides lack of progress on the SDGs, Asia and the Pacific faces a decline in human rights protection
with a consistent rise in authoritarian regimes. The right to freedom of expression and assembly, rights
of women and girls, human rights and environmental defenders, minorities, media, and civil society
activists continue to be violated with impunity. Meaningful CSOs engagement space is shrinking while
democratic dissent is persecuted, but hardly any of the VNRs mentions that.
Fractured multilateralism, unequal power relations, neoliberal framework, monopolized aid and trade
rules, and corporate capture testify the structural flaws in our global governance. Unless the
transformation narrative addresses these systemic barriers, upholds Development Justice, and
ensures policy coherence, billions around the world will be le behind and so will be the SDGs.
Thank you for your attention.