Statement, 6 October 2015
South Centre at the WIPO 2015 Assemblies
The South Centre calls on WIPO Member States to guide the work of the organization towards shaping a more inclusive and balanced international intellectual property system.
Sustainable Development
Investment Policy Brief 4, August 2015
International Investment Agreements and Africa’s Structural Transformation: A Perspective from South Africa
The brief describes the widening debate on the implications of international investment agreements (IIAs) for sustainable development. This debate is particularly relevant in Africa as the continent’s new economic development programme to effect structural transformation and achieve sustainable development may well be constrained by the terms and conditions imposed by IIAs. (more…)
Policy Brief 19, July 2015
Financing for Development Conference 2015: A View from the South
On 19 July 2014 the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations agreed on a draft of a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, taking the first steps toward a renewed development agenda for after 2015. The effort to agree on the SDGs was the follow up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), whose end-date is 2015. Aside from the 17 specific goals, the draft SDGs included 169 associated targets. (more…)
Policy Brief 18, May 2015
The Nagoya Protocol: Main Characteristics, Challenges and Opportunities
The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity entered into force in October 2014. Its provisions clearly reflect the need for countries to set up access and benefit sharing rules and procedures for the Protocol’s implementation at the national level. (more…)
Side Event, 1 December 2014
South Centre-TWN Side Event at the UN Climate Conference in Lima: Perspectives on the 2015 Paris deal: Options on the road from Lima to Paris
Speakers from developing countries will give insights on the critical markers from Lima to Paris in order to secure an equitable and just climate agreement at the South Centre-TWN side event in Lima, Peru.
Statement, 3-5 November 2014
South Centre Statement at 2nd UN Conference on LLDCs
The attached is a Statement by the South Centre at Second UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries. (more…)
SouthViews No. 107, 18 July 2014
SDGs: Economic Issues at National and Global Levels
The economic pillar of sustainable development is crucial, yet relatively neglected. It should get its proper place in the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper deals with economic issues at national level (as Sustainable Development Goals) and at international level (as part of the new Global Partnership for Development). It is part of the South Centre’s contribution to the United Nations process of establishing Sustainable Development Goals.
SouthViews No. 106, 17 July 2014
SDGs: Technology and Finance—The Means of Implementation
The following is a statement by Executive Director of the South Centre, Martin Khor, to the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals held at the United Nations in New York on 9 December 2013. (more…)
Research Paper 51, July 2014
Obstacles to Development in the Global Economic System
I. Obstacles to Development Arising from the International System
As the international community wades into the political discussions regarding the alternatives to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) after 2015 and the design of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as mandated by the Rio+20 conference, it is timely to consider the question of whether development is a matter mostly of individual effort on the part of nation-states or whether there are elements in the international economic system that could serve as significant obstacles to national development efforts. (more…)
Perspectives on Post-2015 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development, January 2014
Post-2015 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals: Perspectives of the South Centre
- Post-2015 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development
The United Nations’ Post-2015 Development Agenda should not simply extend MDGs, or reformulate the goals, but focus instead on global systemic reforms to remove main impediments to development and secure an accommodating international environment for sustainable development. (more…)
Climate Policy Brief 12, November 2013
Integrating a Gender Perspective in Climate Change, Development Policy and the UNFCCC
This policy brief discusses the opportunities, challenges and constraints for integrating a gender perspective into global climate change policy as well as the current effort of gender mainstreaming in the UNFCCC. The brief is a companion piece to a previous note that explored the nature, content and implications of the Gender Decision made at COP 18, Doha, 2012. (more…)
SouthViews No. 72, 24 July 2013
G77 on Food and Agriculture: Subsidies of Rich Countries and Commodity Speculation Must Be Curbed
The G77 and China made a statement on SDGs and food security and sustainable agriculture as well as health, stressing the need for developed countries to cut rich countries’ agriculture subsidies and for curbing speculation in commodity markets that result in price volatility. Many developing countries that were self sufficient in or exporters of food now depend on imports. Below are excerpts of the statement presented by Ambassador Peter Thomson of Fiji, Chair of the G77 and China, on behalf of the Group, at the third session of the UN working group on SDGs, on 22 May 2013.