Last year was a momentous year for the United Nations as the Organization supported Member States in their implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, our collective roadmap to a safer, fairer and more sustainable planet. While events in 2016 tested the United Nations and its partners, the year also proved that international collaboration lives on. The Paris Agreement was signed by a record number of Member States and entered into force less than one year after its signing. The same enthusiasm spurred Member States and civil society to adopt the Agenda 2030 and its call for global solidarity.
Civil society is a key contributor to the partnerships that are building the road to 2030 and International Geneva is a global hub for capacity-building, knowledge dissemination, advocacy and policy development for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Now, 2016 Annual Report of the United Nations Office at Geneva, entitled “United SDGs”, has been published.
According to this report, in 2016, over 9,500 people worked for the United Nations system in Geneva in the fields of health, labor, human rights, humanitarian assistance, intellectual property, disarmament and more. Diversity is one of the defining features of the United Nations and 1,570 UNOG staff, of 111 nationalities and from a wide range of professional backgrounds, provided essential support to the international community.
Also, UNOG provided services for 11,800 meetings, nearly 16% of which took place outside Geneva. On average, 47 meetings were held per working day. A wide range of administrative and common support services were provided to more than 30 UN entities in Geneva and Bonn and to 126 field offices in 90 countries.
Out of the 38 high-level briefings for the international community, according to the report, 15 were specifically about development and/or the Sustainable Development Goals, and speakers at most briefings touched on the Sustainable Development Goals in one way or another.
Also, on page 32 of the Annual Report you will find an article on Goal 17 – Working with civil society on the Sustainable Development Goals.
You can download the interactive pdf version of the report here.