The UN works with governments and partners in support of accountable institutions and effective, agile, and transparent governance mechanisms that can cope with the complex challenges of democracy in the 21st century.
THE EU AND THE UNITED NATIONS
A JOINT APPROACH TO MULTILATERALISM AND TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES
The EU and its Member States have been steadfast supporters of peace and security, human rights and development. This includes the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since their inception. They have, also in difficult circumstances, maintained important support to the UN. Of the EU and its Member States also fully support the call of the 2023 SDG Summit for accelerated action to achieve the SDGs, including through implementing the Political Declaration.
At the UN 75th Anniversary in 2020, Member States pledged to strengthen global governance and asked the Secretary-General for his recommendations to address current and future challenges. The Secretary-General responded with Our Common Agenda, calling for solidarity between people, countries and generations and a renewal of the multilateral system to accelerate the implementation of existing commitments and fill gaps in global governance. The report proposed a Summit of the Future at the 79th session of the General Assembly in New York to get back on track and re-commit to a multilateralism that delivers for everyone, everywhere.
The SDG Summit in September 2023 marked the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs, at the halfway point to 2030. By adopting the Political Declaration, Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their commitment to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda, and recognised the urgency to attain the SDGs, amid a global context marked by insecurity, competition, and global governance gaps.
Radical shifts in how we operate are needed to deliver the SDGs. The UN development system has identified key SDG accelerators that are all aligned with EU priorities. These include: i) food systems, ii) energy access and affordability, iii) digital connectivity, iv) education, v) decent jobs and social protection, including healthcare, and vi) climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Human rights, gender equality and youth empowerment are priorities throughout. Under the leadership of the Resident Coordinators, the UN is rallying its collective expertise and works with governments and partners to create an enabling environment that includes: (1) enabling shifts across policy and regulatory frameworks; (2) identifying pipelines of market-ready national projects; (3) convening partnerships for financing these initiatives; and (4) building institutions and capacity at scale to steer and sustain the key SDG transitions.
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EXAMPLES OF UNITED NATIONS ENGAGEMENT WORLDWIDE
WESTERN BALKANS
GOOD GOVERNANCE
UKRAINE
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE, RECONSTRUCTION AND RESILIENCE-BUILDING
The UN and humanitarian partners provide principled and timely life-saving multi- sectoral assistance to people affected by the war and enable access to basic services for internally displaced people and returnees. The UN also supports the reconstruction and rehabilitation of critical and social infrastructure, as well as the development of long-term resilience plans to enable swift recovery and return.
GAZA
HUMANITARIAN RELIEF
The UN is leading aid efforts in Gaza and continues to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance to the population, working closely with all humanitarian partners.
CENTRAL ASIA
TRANSPORT CONNECTIVITY
The UN promotes regional cooperation and development, including by facilitating legally binding instruments and inter-governmentally agreed recommendations in critical areas of the inland transport sector (environmental sustainability, regional cooperation, cross-border practices). The UN also works with national partners on improving national capacity for sustainable inland transport connectivity data exchange, trade facilitation, and digital transformation of multimodal information exchange using UN standards.
SOUTH ASIA
JOBS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION
In collaboration with national stakeholders, the UN assists in the development of in-country integrated and coordinated employment and social protection policies with a view to leading to full coverage of the vulnerable and those in non-standard forms of employment, and devising strategies to facilitate just transitions.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
CLIMATE MITIGATION AND CLEAN AND AFFORDABLE ENERGY
The UN works with governments in the transition to a low-carbon economy, supporting the phase-down of coal and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. It assists in greening existing and new industries, fostering innovation around clean energy and clean production technologies, and boosting the adoption of energy-efficient practices.
MIDDLE EAST
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY
The UN works in partnership with governments, regional bodies and other partners to understand and address climate, peace and security linkages. Such work includes development of risk assessments as well as community-based initiatives that promote environmental protection, address climate risks and strengthen peacebuilding and social cohesion.
LATIN AMERICA
PREVENTING AND RESPONDING TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
In partnership with the European Union, the Government of Belgium, USAID, and other partners, Spotlight Initiative – the United Nations high-impact initiative to end violence against women and girls – supports governments, civil society and local communities to end femicide (when a woman or girl) is killed because of her gender.
CARIBBEAN
CLIMATE ADAPTATION
The UN helps governments formulate national climate adaptation plans and identify renewable energy options as well as modalities to increase countries’ access to climate finance. It also helps develop national and local strategies for integrating climate change in development planning and investment.
NORTH AFRICA
MIGRATION MANAGEMENT, MIGRANT PROTECTION & REINTEGRATION, AND DISMANTLING SMUGGLING NETWORKS
In cooperation with governments and non-state actors, the UN contributes to the strengthening of migrant protection and sustainable reintegration systems, improving protection and enabling the voluntary return of stranded migrants and migrants in transit. It supports partner countries to enhance the sustainability of reintegration through an integrated approach addressing economic, social, and psychological dimensions. It also supports partner countries to take decisive actions against migrant smuggling crime groups.
WEST AFRICA
FOOD SYSTEMS
The UN works with partner countries to advance robust and sustainable food systems. This includes support to increase incomes, bolster resilience, improve nutrition, increase water efficiency, and enhance human, animal, and ecosystem health. This also entails cooperation to secure increased access to financing to accelerate food systems transformation.
EAST AFRICA
DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY
The UN assists governments in closing the digital divide and in reaping the full benefits of digital transformation. This includes enhancing digital infrastructure connectivity, improving digital literacy, addressing existing policy and regulatory challenges, building capacities and access to new technologies, promoting an open, safe and secure online space, and closing the gender divide.
HORN OF AFRICA
DURABLE SOLUTIONS TO INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS
The UN works with State authorities to help internally displaced persons to sustainably reintegrate into their places of origin, local communities, or other areas of the country. The UN also designs analysis, planning and programming to address the root causes of displacement and prevent further displacement crises from emerging. It also provides effective protection and assistance to those facing displacement.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
HEALTH SYSTEMS
The UN supports countries to reach universal health coverage, improve the quality and accessibility of health services, including sexual and reproductive health services, and increase public/domestic financing for health.
PACIFIC
BIODIVERSITY
In this region rich in but vulnerable to biodiversity loss, the UN works with governments and partners to put the Global Biodiversity Framework into practice and harness the opportunities provided by biodiversity and natural ecosystems, including nature-based solutions and ocean-based climate action.
GLOBAL CHALLENGES REQUIREMULTILATERAL SOLUTIONS
THE EU AND THE UNITED NATIONS
For decades, the UN and EU have partnered on addressing global challenges such as tackling climate change, promoting global peace and security, achieving sustainable development, and protecting human rights. Both organizations leverage their unique strengths and resources to implement joint initiatives and policies, and both have multilateralism and solidarity in their DNA. This cooperation enhances our joint capacity to respond to
global crises and promote international stability and prosperity.
Twenty-seven UN agencies are currently based in Brussels, working together to further EU-UN relations. In the spirit of this partnership, the EU and the UN have been strengthening the strategic collaboration at all levels, through for example, high-level dialogues between the UN Secretary-General and the President of the European Commission, as well as regular engagements of the UN Secretary-General with the European Council and the European Parliament. Many UN entities also hold regular strategic dialogues with different Directorate-Generals of the European Commission. The EU and the UN are engaging in a more strategic manner on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) analysis and priorities, and finding ways to leverage planning, programmatic and financial tools for greater impact, both through the work being done in Brussels and in the field.
The UN has a global presence, which includes 130 country teams, covering 162 countries and territories. The UN’s actions on the ground are more targeted and coherent thanks to the strengthened Resident Coordinator system, leading to better results in support of the needs and priorities of developing countries in the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) again.
WITHIN THE EU SPACE, THE UN HAS ENGAGED ON SEVERAL IMPORTANT TOPICS (NON-EXCLUSIVE LIST):
- Engaging in discussions on the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, calling from the outset for provisions that align with international human rights and refugee conventions, and now within the implementation plans.
- Engaging in discussions to improve air quality within the adoption process of an EU Directive on Air Quality and in line with the ambitions set in a UN System Common Approach to transitioning towards a pollution-free planet .
- Promoting comprehensive policies and strategies to tackle the high child poverty rates within the EU, the adoption of the EU Child Guarantee, and supporting its rollout in selected EU Member States.
- Engaging in discussions, consultation processes, parliamentary hearings and reporting processes in view of the adoption of the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence.
WITH PRE-ACCESSION COUNTRIES:
The UN provides expertise and capacity support to pre-accession countries to support the alignment of their policies and regulations with the EU acquis.
THE UNITED NATIONS
WORKING AROUND THE WORLD
FOOD AID AND EMERGENCY AGRICULTURE INTERVENTIONS
21.4 million girls and boys received
nutritious meals.
152 million women, men, girls and boys received food assistance to improve their food security, out of which 142 million people reached in the context of emergency and protracted crisis response.
Agriculture interventions in food crisis contexts support local food production, boost self-reliance and contribute to food security and stability. 55 million people benefitted from emergency agriculture and resilience interventions. 23 million people were reached through the vaccination and/or treatment of more than 33 million livestock. More than 27.5 million rural people benefitted from the distribution of more than 2 million tonnes of seeds and 173 000 tonnes of fertiliser.
ENERGY ACCESS AND AFFORDABILITY
20 million people gained access to clean, affordable & sustainable energy in 41 countries.
78 countries engaged children, adolescents & young people in action & advocacy to address climate change, unsustainable energy use and/or environmental degradation.
DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY
Over EUR 46.1 billion pledged by governments, private sector & other stakeholders for digital connectivity projects in developing countries.
JOBS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION
71.6 million people gained access to basic services, with support from 49 countries.
76 countries had legislative policy frameworks to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
49 countries advanced women’s equal access to & use of services, goods and/or resources, including social protection.
25.8 million refugees & asylum seekers in 81 countries benefitted from government social protection programmes.
GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT
92 laws adopted, revised or repealed to advance gender equality across 23 countries.
TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
37.7 million children & adolescents accessed education, including 3.1 million children on the move & 17.7 million in emergencies.
31.2 million children accessed learning materials, including 5.4 million in emergencies.
Prior to October 2023, more than 500,000 Palestinian children refugees supported to ensure access to basic education and primary health care for 2 million Palestinian patients annually.
CLIMATE - BIODIVERSITY - POLLUTION
50 countries supported to advance national plans to reduce short lived pollutants such as methane & hydrofluorocarbons, which contribute to climate change & air pollution, through the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.
44.3 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions reduced, and an additional 2,797.9 metric tons of mercury & Persistent Organic Pollutants prevented from being released to environment.
178 million hectares of protected area created or received improved management in 56 countries.
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
27 million women & young people reached with integrated sexual & reproductive health services (SRHS).
132.9 million children vaccinated against measles, including 32.4 million in emergencies.
83 countries supported to scale up combination HIV prevention programmes.
> 80 countries supported with the procurement of medicines, medical equipment & medical supplies.
14.6 million refugees, asylum seekers, & others of concern in 77 countries received essential healthcare services (EHS).
GOVERNANCE, PARTNERSHIP AND RULE OF LAW
Over EUR 5 billion in additional resources catalyzed for SDG acceleration from domestic, developmental & private financing (cumulative since 2019).
74 countries supported with technical assistance on trade & interrelated issues in areas of finance, investment, technology & sustainable development.
32 Member States developed & strengthened institutions, mechanisms & regulatory frameworks for social dialogue, labour relations & dispute resolution, supporting green transition & digital economy, through tripartite consultations between governments, labor unions and business organizations.
46 countries supported to establish or improve oversight, accountability, or protection mechanisms to enhance compliance with international human rights standards.
11.4 million people gained access to justice in 68 countries.
328.4 million registered voters in 2023 (22 elections).
