(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Kuwait on Tuesday urged a UN panel on Sustainable Development to heed the Arab Group concerns and include in its final working document a number of Arab targets, including the end of occupation, in order to achieve sustainable development for all.
Addressing the 13th session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, Hasan Shaker Abulhasan, Second Secretary at the Kuwait Mission to the UN, said the Arab Group "cannot accept a selective approach with regard to the relationship between development, peace and security." He said the Arab Group wishes to include in the final document the following targets: immediate end to all forms of colonial domination and foreign occupation in order to achieve sustainable development for all; strengthen adherence to international law by all stakeholders including states, international organisations and financial institutions to achieve an international law rule-based order; and intensify international cooperation in the field of countering terrorism, in particular addressing its root causes as an obstacle to achieve sustainable development.
"The Arab Group expects that these suggested targets will be duly reflected in the (final) working document," Abulhasan said.
He noted that despite lack of consensus, Goal 16 entitled 'Achieve peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all, and effective and capable institutions' remains in the working document, and said he would like the Arab targets to be included under that Goal.
He recalled that the Arab Group had acknowledged in the past the "intrinsic link between development, peace and security," and reiterated that a detailed discussion of the issue "should take place in the framework of the post-2015 development agenda, not the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to the lack of mandate from Rio+20 Conference." Moreover, he added, the Arab Group reaffirmed that, by all means, "any discussion on peace and security should take into consideration and address Arab concerns in this regard, in particular those related to ending foreign occupation and fighting terrorism." He said the Arab Group reiterates its commitment, expressed in several high-level meetings, including the 2010 plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), "to take further effective measures and actions," to remove the obstacles to the full realization of the right of self-determination of peoples living under colonial and foreign occupation, which continue to adversely affect their economic and social development as well as their environment, and which are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person, and must be combated and eliminated."
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