Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017)

A/RES/70/218No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 24aImplementation of the 2nd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017), published in 2016.

What other versions does this mandate have?

10 versions · 2008–2016

2016A/RES/71/241Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017)LatestCompare with previous version
2016A/RES/70/218Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017)LatestCompare with previous version
2015A/RES/69/234Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017)Compare with previous version
2014A/RES/68/226Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017)Compare with previous version
2013A/RES/67/224Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017)Compare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 topics

Development Assistance Development Strategies International Decades Poverty Mitigation Programme Implementation Sustainable Development Unemployment

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2016.

2016A/71/181Implementation of the 2nd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017) report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

41 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008–2017), under the item entitled “Eradication of poverty and other development issues”;

Reaffirms that the objective of the Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008–2017) is to support, in an efficient and coordinated manner, the follow-up to the implementation of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals, as established by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals relating to the eradication of poverty and to coordinate international support to that end;

Also reaffirms that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, as well as an overarching objective of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, of which the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development is an integral part;

Further reaffirms that each country must take primary responsibility for its own economic and social development and that the role of national policies and development strategies for the achievement of sustainable development and poverty eradication cannot be overemphasized, and recognizes that increased effective national efforts should be complemented by concrete, effective and supportive international programmes, measures and policies aimed at expanding the development opportunities of developing countries, while taking into account national conditions and ensuring respect for national ownership strategies and sovereignty;

Emphasizes the need to accord the highest priority within the United Nations development agenda to the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions in order to ensure that gains are irreversible, while stressing the importance of addressing the causes and challenges of poverty through integrated, coordinated and coherent strategies at the national, intergovernmental and inter-agency levels, in accordance with the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields;

Reiterates the need to strengthen the leadership role of the United Nations in promoting international cooperation for development and its role at the regional level, in particular that of its regional commissions, as appropriate, which is critical for the eradication of poverty;

Emphasizes that the promotion of regional, subregional and interregional cooperation can have a catalytic impact on poverty eradication efforts and offers many benefits, including the exchange of best policies, experiences and technical expertise, the mobilization of resources and the expansion of economic opportunities and conditions favourable to job creation;

Calls upon the international community, including Member States, to continue to accord the highest priority to poverty eradication within the United Nations development agenda and to urgently take measures to address the root causes and challenges of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, hunger and all forms of malnutrition, in the light of their negative impact on sustainable development, through integrated, coordinated and coherent strategies at all levels, and calls upon donor countries in a position to do so to support the effective national efforts of developing countries in this regard through the provision of predictable financial resources on a bilateral and multilateral basis;

Stresses the importance of public-private partnerships in a wide range of areas, with the aim of eradicating poverty and promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all and social integration, as appropriate;

Acknowledges the complexity of the challenge of poverty eradication, and in this regard emphasizes that, in accelerating poverty eradication, the organizations of the United Nations development system must be driven by national priorities, with the development of national capacities in developing countries continuing to be a core area of focus, and operate in an integrated, coordinated and coherent manner, through development programmes and projects that address poverty eradication as their underlying objective, within their respective mandates, in order to ensure that gains are irreversible, making full use of the interlinked and mutually reinforcing pillars of the United Nations development system, and encourages the use of diverse strategies;

Recognizes the role of the specialized agencies and United Nations funds and programmes, including the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, in contributing to international advocacy for eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, through, inter alia, education and training;

Emphasizes that international public finance plays an important role in complementing the efforts of countries to mobilize public resources domestically, especially in the poorest and most vulnerable countries with limited domestic resources, and that an important use of international public finance, including ODA, is to catalyse additional resource mobilization from other public and private sources, and that ODA providers reaffirm their respective commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income for official development assistance (ODA/GNI) to developing countries and 0.15 per cent to 0.2 per cent of ODA/GNI to the least developed countries;

Welcomes the increase in the volume of ODA since the adoption of the Monterrey Consensus,9 expresses its concern that many countries still fall short of their ODA commitments, reiterates that the fulfilment of all ODA commitments remains crucial, welcomes those few countries that have met or surpassed their commitment to 0.7 per cent of ODA/GNI and the target of 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to the least developed countries, urges all other countries to step up efforts to increase their ODA and to make additional concrete efforts towards the ODA targets, welcomes the decision by the European Union reaffirming its collective commitment to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of ODA/GNI within the time frame of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and undertaking to meet collectively the target of 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to the least developed countries in the short term and to reach 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to the least developed countries within the time frame of the 2030 Agenda, and encourages ODA providers to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to the least developed countries;

Recognizes the importance of focusing the majority of concessional resources on those countries with the greatest needs and least ability to mobilize other resources, notes with great concern in this regard the decline in the share of ODA to the least developed countries, commits to reversing this decline, and welcomes those who are allocating at least 50 per cent of their ODA to the least developed countries;

Stresses the importance of mobilizing greater domestic support towards the fulfilment of ODA commitments, including through raising public awareness, and providing data on aid effectiveness and demonstrating tangible results, encourages partner countries to build on progress achieved in ensuring that ODA is used effectively to help to achieve development goals and targets, encourages the publication of forward-looking plans that increase the clarity, predictability and transparency of future development cooperation, in accordance with national budget allocation processes, and urges countries to track and report resource allocations for gender equality and the empowerment of women;

Notes that an important use of international public finance, including ODA, is to catalyse additional resource mobilization from other sources, public and private, also noting that it can support improved tax collection and help to strengthen domestic enabling environments and build essential public services and can also be used to unlock additional finance through blended or pooled financing and risk mitigation, notably for infrastructure and other investments that support private sector development;

Recalls the commitment to hold open, inclusive and transparent discussions on the modernization of the ODA measurement and on the proposed measure of “total official support for sustainable development”, and affirms that any such measure will not dilute the commitments already made;

Welcomes the increasing efforts to improve the quality of ODA and to increase its development impact, recognizes the Development Cooperation Forum of the Economic and Social Council, notes other initiatives, such as the high-level forums on aid effectiveness, which produced, inter alia, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the Accra Agenda for Action and the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, which make important contributions to the efforts of the countries that have made commitments to them, including through the adoption of the fundamental principles of national ownership, alignment, harmonization and managing for results, and bears in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all formula that will guarantee effective assistance and that the specific situation of each country needs to be fully considered;

Recognizes the urgent need to address poverty, hunger, malnutrition and food security, which will lead to rich payoffs across the Sustainable Development Goals, and encourages the international community to enhance international cooperation and devote resources to developing rural and urban areas and sustainable agriculture and fisheries and to supporting smallholder farmers, especially women farmers, herders and fishers in developing countries, particularly in the least developed countries;

Also recognizes that social and economic development depends on the sustainable management of the natural resources of the planet, and stresses the importance of conserving and sustainably using oceans and seas, freshwater resources, forests, mountains and drylands and protecting biodiversity, ecosystems and wildlife, as well as promoting sustainable tourism, tackling water scarcity and water pollution, strengthening cooperation on desertification, dust storms, degraded land and soil and drought, promoting resilience and disaster risk reduction, addressing decisively the threat posed by climate change and environmental degradation and implementing the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns;

Encourages all relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, to strengthen United Nations funding for the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions through voluntary contributions to existing poverty-related system-wide funds;

Recognizes that sustainable, inclusive, sustained and equitable economic growth is essential for eradicating poverty and hunger, in particular in developing countries, and stresses that national efforts in this regard should be complemented by an enabling international environment and by ensuring greater coherence among macroeconomic, trade and social policies at all levels;

Stresses the resolve to eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as living on less than 1.25 dollars a day, and the efforts to reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions, according to national definitions;

Recognizes that poverty is multidimensional, invites national Governments, supported by the international community, to consider developing complementary measurements that better reflect this multidimensionality, and emphasizes the importance of developing a common understanding among national Governments and other stakeholders of the multidimensional nature of poverty;

Calls upon Member States to continue their ambitious efforts towards more inclusive, equitable, balanced, stable and development-oriented sustainable socioeconomic approaches to overcoming poverty, and, in view of the negative impact of inequality on poverty, emphasizes the importance of structural transformation that leads to inclusive and sustainable industrialization for employment creation and poverty reduction, investment in sustainable agriculture and resilient infrastructure development and achievement of access to energy, as well as the promotion of decent rural employment, improved access to quality education and health care, the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, the expansion of social protection coverage, climate change mitigation and the adaptation and combating of inequality and social exclusion;

Invites all relevant stakeholders, including organizations of the United Nations system and civil society organizations, to share good practices relating to programmes and policies that address inequalities for the benefit of those living in extreme poverty and promote the active participation of those living in extreme poverty in the design and implementation of such programmes and policies, with the aim of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, including the regional commissions, as appropriate, to conduct activities to accelerate and review progress in the implementation of the Second Decade, in consultation with Member States and other relevant stakeholders;

Notes with concern the continuing high levels of unemployment and underemployment, particularly among young people, recognizes that decent work for all remains one of the best routes out of poverty, and in this regard invites donor countries, multilateral organizations and other development partners to continue to assist Member States, in particular developing countries, in adopting policies consistent with the Global Jobs Pact adopted by the International Labour Conference at its ninety-eighth session as a general framework within which each country can formulate policy packages specific to its situation and national priorities in order to promote a job-intensive recovery and sustainable development;

Urges Member States to address the global challenge of youth unemployment by developing and implementing strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work, and in this context stresses the need for the development of a global strategy on youth employment, building upon, inter alia, the Global Jobs Pact and the call for action by the International Labour Organization;

Encourages the international community to support developing countries in their efforts to eradicate poverty and promote the empowerment of women, the poor and people in vulnerable situations, with a view to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals, as established by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals, improving access to finance, microfinance and credit, removing barriers to opportunity, enhancing productive capacity, developing sustainable agriculture and promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all, complemented by national efforts on effective social policies, including social protection floors, and in this regard takes note of Social Protection Floors Recommendation of 2012 (No. 202) of the International Labour Organization;

Stresses the importance of implementing nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including social protection floors, and of achieving substantial coverage for the poor and the vulnerable, and encourages Member States to continue to develop and implement social protection floors based on national priorities, paying particular attention to women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities;

Emphasizes the reference in the Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to the need to ensure the significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide predictable means for developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions;

Urges the international community, including the United Nations system, to implement the outcome documents relating to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals, as established by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals, and the means of implementation, including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda;

Also urges the international community, including the United Nations system, to implement the Outcome of the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development in support of the objectives of the Second Decade;

Stresses that the impacts of natural disasters and conflicts are severely hampering efforts to achieve poverty eradication, in particular in developing countries, and calls upon the international community to give priority to addressing them;

Calls upon the organizations of the United Nations development system, including the funds and programmes and the specialized agencies, in accordance with their mandates, to assign the highest priority to poverty eradication, and stresses that efforts in this area should be scaled up to address the root causes of extreme poverty and hunger;

Calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and resources, to support Member States, at their request, in strengthening their macroeconomic policy capacity and national development strategies so as to contribute to achieving the objectives of the Second Decade;

Encourages greater inter-agency convergence and collaboration within the United Nations system in sharing knowledge, promoting policy dialogue, facilitating synergies, mobilizing funds, providing technical assistance in the key policy areas underlying the decent work agenda and strengthening system-wide policy coherence on employment issues, including by avoiding the duplication of efforts;

Calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and resources, to ensure that no country is left behind in the implementation of the present resolution;

Recognizes the importance of addressing the diverse needs and challenges faced by countries in special situations, in particular African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, as well as the specific challenges facing middle-income countries, and therefore requests the United Nations development system, the international financial institutions, regional organizations and other stakeholders to ensure that the diverse and specific development needs of middle-income countries are appropriately considered and addressed, in a tailored fashion, in their relevant strategies and policies, with a view to promoting a coherent and comprehensive approach towards individual countries;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session a report, including a review of the progress made by the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations development system in the implementation of the present resolution, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-first session, under the item entitled “Eradication of poverty and other development issues”, the sub-item entitled “Implementation of the Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008–2017)”, unless otherwise agreed in the discussions on the revitalization of the Second Committee.

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