In the framework of the 61st UN Commission on the Status of Women, networks of the global taskforce have mobilized delegations of women mayors and councilors in New York to highlight the role of locally elected women in the achievement of the Paris Climate Agenda and the SDGs.
UCLG, Metropolis, REFELA and C40 have mobilized locally elected women from every continent to visit New York during the 61st UN Commission on the Status of Women
"We, the local and regional leaders gathered in United Cities and Local Governments and the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, have been here this week to make everybody aware that the Sustainable Development Goals – all of them – are at the core of our work." Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul and President of UCLG
Much political attention is focussed on the growing migration and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean and the Middle East , the Indian Ocean, the US-Mexican border and elsewhere. Short term coordinated international actions – not defamatory statements by politicians - need to be urgently agreed to deal with the acute human issues involved and support those struggling host countries, mainly in the developing world, which have taken bulk of the migration and refugee influx.
With the UN Conference to approve the Post-2015 Agenda on the horizon, June saw the inaugural meeting of the Interagency and Expert Group (IAEG-SDG) charged with drawing up proposals for indicators to measure progress towards the 17 goals and 169 targets of the Agenda across the world.
Local and regional governments support article 31 of revised draft and call for commitments to tackling the urban infrastructure investment deficit in the Financing for Development Outcome Document.