A summary of theUnited Nations 75 Anniversary Declaration and the SDGs
online seminarthThis seminar was jointly hosted by the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (GPAJ), theAssociation of Former International Civil Servants (AFICS) – Japan, the Academic Council on the
UN System (ACUNS) Tokyo Office, and the Kyoto Peacebuilding Center (KPC)2 October 2021

Speaker: Professor AkikoYuge
Commentators: Mr. Norimasa Shimomura, Ms. Mikiko Tanaka and Ms. Chikako Takase
Introductory Remarks: Mr. Yasushi Akashi
Moderators: Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa and Dr. Dahlia Simangan
Report compiled by: Dr. Dahlia Simangan

November 2021
Tokyo, Japan1

Introductory remarks by Mr. Yasushi Akashi
Last year, the United Nations celebrated its 75th anniversary. It wasestablished in San Francisco in 1945, the year the Second World War
ended. As compared to its predecessor, the League of Nations, the United
Nations has so far lasted almost four times as long a life, with a great dealof courage, determination, imagination as well as good luck.
The 75 years of the UN history began with the difficult period of theCold War between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet
Union. From its outset, the UN experienced a stormy period in which thepromise of keeping peace through the basic accord among the permanent
members had to be tested. The UN had several achievements to its credit,
beginning with the Korean War in 1950-1953, in which a multinational force organized by the UnitedStates restored peace in the Korean Peninsula. The UN was also instrumental in restoring and keeping
the peace in the Middle East, focused on Israel and the Arab States. In Asia, India and Pakistan had
several conflicts over Kashmir, and UN intervention in their conflicts has extended from 1948 to thepresent. The United Nations also played its intermediary role to facilitate independence of Indonesia
from the Netherlands.
When the Cold War ended in 1989, the UN took advantage of the new climate to create divergent
peacekeeping activities, starting with Namibia and followed by Cambodia, Mozambique and San
Salvador. However, the wind of optimism changed and the UN was burdened with the violent ethnic
conflicts in Somalia, Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. Thanks to the Brahimi report of August 2000,
return to pragmatism and realism, based on a better dialogue between different organs, was attained on
the examination of basic principles of the Organization. Today, the UN seems to be more selective ofits means for intervention in the face of divergent situations prevailing in the world. At present,
Myanmar and Afghanistan call for a comprehensive approach to meet a dire humanitarian situation andbasic political reform which takes a lot of time, efforts and cooperation on the part of the UN
membership.
In the meantime, the UN has embarked on the SDGs, a new approach in 2015 to end in 2030, calling
for the mobilization of nongovernmental forces, composed of business circles, NGOs, intellectuals, andother segments of civil society, to deal with traditional challenges as well as new, environmental
problems, going beyond normal intergovernmental efforts. With the slogan “nobody should be left
behind”, the SDGs, consisting of 17 goals and 169 targets, has been proclaimed. Nongovernmental
activities need to be combined with the efforts of member governments. Only a new global cooperation
can succeed in this unprecedented struggle.
Short biography: Mr. Yasushi Akashi served the UN as Under-Secretary-General (for Disarmament,
Humanitarian Affairs, and Public Information) at the Headquarters and the Special Representative of theSecretary-General for Cambodia and the former Yugoslavia. He is currently the Special Advisor of both GPAJ
and AFICS-Japan.

2

Presentation by Professor Akiko Yuge
Professor Yuge first talked about two key outcomes of the UN 75th
Anniversary. The first was the “UN75 Initiative”, a year-long global
consultation launched by the UN Secretary-General. The key results
showed that the top immediate priority was “universal access to healthcare”, followed by “more investment in education and youth programmes”
and “access to safe water and sanitation”. On longer-term priorities, thetop priority was “more environmental protection”. Many respondents
looked to the UN to lead in international cooperation, while also wanted
the UN to innovate – to be more inclusive, engaged, accountable andeffective.
The second key outcome was the adoption of the “Declaration on theCommemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the UN” at the UN General
Assembly in September 2020. The Declaration stated: “Our challenges are interconnected and can
only be addressed through reinvigorated multilateralism”; and “There is no other global organization
with the legitimacy, convening power, and normative impact of the United Nations”.
Responding to the outcome of the global consultation, and to address the world’s most pressing
challenges, threats and opportunities, the UN75th Declaration included the following 12commitments: 1) We will leave no one behind; 2) We will protect our planet; 3) We will promote
peace and prevent conflicts; 4) We will abide by international law and ensure justice; 5) We will place
women and girls at the centre; 6) We will build trust; 7) We will improve digital cooperation; 8) We
will upgrade the United Nations; 9) We will ensure sustainable financing; 10) We will boost
partnerships; 11) We will listen to and work with youth; and 12) We will be prepared. Professor Yuge
commented that most of these commitments are covered in the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development” and SDGs.
She explained that in adopting the Declaration, Member States requested the Secretary-General toreport back with recommendations to advance our common agenda. Accordingly, the SecretaryGeneral carried out extensive consultations with Member States and other stakeholders, and released
his report titled “Our Common Agenda” on 10 September 2021.
In the Report, the Secretary-General contrasts two possible futures: 1) a world heading towards
breakdown and perpetual crisis; or 2) a more positive outlook based on solidarity and cooperation.
The Report states: “Humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: breakdown or breakthrough”; “In thistime of division, fracture and mistrust, the United Nations is needed more than ever”, and “OurCommon Agenda is an agenda of action, designed to accelerate the implementation of multilateralagreements and cooperation – particularly the 2030 Agenda and SDGs.”
The Report contains 90 specific recommendations, and they are grouped under the following 4
broad areas: 1) Renewal of social contract, anchored in human rights, to rebuild trust and social
cohesion; 2) Focus on the future, through a deepening of solidarity with the world’s young people andfuture generations; 3) Urgent action to protect and deliver our global commons and global public
goods; and 4) An upgraded United Nations that is fit for a new era. For each of these broad areas,
Professor Yuge explained the recommendations contained therein.
Professor Yuge stated that in order to implement these recommendations, we need amultilateralism that is more inclusive, more networked, more effective, more equitable,
representative, and legitimate. She then elaborated on each of these aspects.

3Professor Yuge then shared the following observations in moving forward: 1) The Report covers abroad range and contains many useful recommendations; 2) There has been overall positive reaction
by Member States, global leaders, think tanks and other organizations, many praising as a landmark
ambitious and visionary report; some civil society organizations wanted more in UN reform; 3)
Delivering on these ambitions may be the most challenging part; 4) Examine, map out, and sequence
the 90 recommendations based on urgency and complexity, and agree on a timeframe for
implementation; 5) Implementation is most critical, and Member States must immediately start theintergovernmental process to materialize the recommendations through an inclusive multi-stakeholder
process; political will and leadership of Member States is crucial; UN system and its agencies must
immediately implement recommendations that can be materialized within their authority; 6) The
proposed Summit meetings are important as they enable focused discussion on specific topics, andforge global agreements; 7) Now is NOT the time to complain and criticize what was not included; as
the Report states, “Now is the time to take the next steps in our journey together, in solidarity withand for all people.”; 8) “Our Common Agenda” reinforces the need for robust action on the 2030
Agenda and the SDGs; and 9) Periodic monitoring is needed on the progress of implementation.
Professor Akiko Yuge assumed her current position as Professor of the Department of Global Politics, Facultyof Law of Hosei University, Tokyo in 2014. Prior to her current position, she served as the Director of United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Representation Office in Tokyo and Special Advisor to the UNDP
Administrator (2012-13), the UN Assistant Secretary-General/UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director,
Bureau of Management in UNDP Headquarters (2006-2012), and the Director, UNDP Tokyo Office (2002-06),
among many other positions.

Commentary by Mr. Norimasa Shimomura
Building on the presentation of Professor Yuge, Mr. Shimomura
explained how the UN Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda
attempts to turn the UN fit-for-purpose to respond to the 21st-century
realities, most of which require multilateralism and therefore places the
UN at the heart of their solutions. Mr. Shimomura mentioned that it wastherefore SG’s foresight to launch a three-tier UN reform – covering
UN’s political areas, development system, and management.
Mr. Shimomura further explained that the UN development system
reform has been the most far-reaching in the UN’s history, as many ofthese areas went beyond SG’s prerogative and required Member States
actions that culminated in the adoption of GA resolution 72/279. The
reform of the UN development system aims to enhance coherence,
efficiency, effectiveness of the UN development system and make it more accountable to the Member
States.
The UN development system reform involves a transformation at global, regional and country
levels. Global reform entails the upgrading of UN Development Group (UNDG) to UN Sustainable
Development Group (UNSDG), now chaired by Deputy SG and vice-chaired by UNDP
Administrator, supported by UN Development Coordination Office (DCO), which too was upgradedfrom UN DOCO. At the regional level, UNSDG regional directors and UN Regional Economic
Commissions (REC) now form a Regional Collaborative Platform to generate synergies and minimize
duplications, chaired by Deputy SG and co-vice-chaired by the Executive Secretaries of the REC and
UNDP Regional Directors.

4

At the heart of the country-level reform of the UN development system is the attempt to create a
new generation of UN country teams, with empowered and more independent UN Resident
Coordinators. This involved the introduction of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation
Framework (UNSDCF) as the single most important instrument to bring all UN agencies to provide
coordinated support to help achieve the SDGs in the host countries. Reinvigoration of the UN
Resident Coordinators involved their delinking from UNDP Resident Representatives, as they havenow become the staff of UN Secretariat instead of UNDP.
The country-level reform has been successful overall, and yet, it still requires some time to achieve
its intended results, partly as they require a shift in the mentalities of the UN agencies. Many enabling
elements of the reform had been introduced in the pre-UN reform period, but the high-levelcommitment from all sides generated by the current reform helped these changes to take hold.
Quoting former USG Mr. Akashi’s introductory remark, Mr. Shimomura stressed that it is importantfor both Member States and the UN system to continue to implement the reform ‘patiently andpersistently’ while making necessary calibrations.
Mr. Norimasa Shimomura is the UNDP Resident Representative in Indonesia. Prior to his current assignment,
he served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Kazakhstan in 2015-2020 and UNDP Resident
Representative for Kazakhstan until December 2018 when the global UN reform separated the positions of UN
Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative. He has more than 25 years of experience at the UN,
promoting sustainable human development in various countries.

Commentary by Ms. Mikiko Tanaka
Ms. Tanaka’s comments drew on the case study of the UN Development
System Reform-Spotlight Initiative in Guyana. She described the UN-EU
Spotlight Initiative as an excellent example of a UN joint program thataligns with the UN Development System Reform and the reinvigorated
RC/UNCT roles at the country level. The Spotlight Initiative is thelargest global partnership (and program) singularly focused on
eliminating violence against women and girls under SDG 5 Gender
Equality. The partnership between the UN and the EU is underpinned bya generous EU contribution of €500 million that goes beyond a donorrole.
Spotlight has a common global results framework derived fromevidence-based analysis and addresses gender-based violence (GBV) holistically through six
dimensions: laws and policies, institutions, prevention, services, data and women’s movements. The
framework is tailored to the context of individual countries or regions, and catalytic interventions are
determined through extensive multistakeholder consultations.
According to Ms. Tanaka, joint programs like the Spotlight Initiative have been in existence forsome time, but there are innovations in the design of the framework and institutional architecture thatfacilitate and strengthen the UN’s ability to deliver development in more coherent andtransformational ways: (1) clearer roles and accountability for results comprising the RC leadership,technical coherence lead agency, implementing UN agencies and the Program Coordination Team in
the RC Office; (2) rigorous quality assurance and system coherence from the Spotlight Secretariat
under the DSG; (3) emphasis on partnerships for advocacy with the EU, national government andcivil society; (4) integrated approach through multi-SDGs and intra/inter-program synergies; (5)Leave No One Behind principle that highlights norms, values and harmful practices that perpetrate
5GBV and grounds policies and services in the reality of victims/survivors and perpetrators ofviolence; (6) changing ways of UN business in a systemic manner, e.g., simplified common
procedures to expand CSO access to funding.
As RC in Guyana, Ms. Tanaka used her convening role to promote teamwork and partnerships forcollective awareness raising and advocacy on GBV. She undertook joint visits to Spotlight target
communities with the UN team, EU, government and CSOs to have conversations with community
members and public services providers (police, health, schools). When community members felt theirculture was being attacked or were in denial that GBV was a problem (particularly from malemembers), she and her team would all pitch in to offer information and perspectives. For example,
together with the EU Ambassador, she would explain that GBV was a global issue and constituted an
explicit target under the SDGs. This would help bring down the wall and open up the dialogue where
women can also raise their issues. For Ms. Tanaka and her team, these conversations around very
sensitive and complex issues brought the UN team and partners together and opened their eyes to thelimitations of policies, laws and institutional systems that the UN had been advising and assisting overtime. Achieving the SDGs is challenging in that it requires the systemic transformation of behaviors
and attitudes. A fresh and critical look at how the UN delivers development assistance is warranted.
To conclude, Ms. Tanaka emphasized that the Spotlight Initiative offers a programmatic
framework, architecture, and tools to operationalize the UN Development System reform. Institutionaland human dynamics may not change overnight but the institutional environment has opened up to
make changes in how the UN does business on the ground, and this opportunity has to be seized tohelp countries achieve the ambitious 2030 agenda.
Ms. Mikiko Tanaka was the UN Resident Coordinator in Guyana (2016-August 2021). She has 27 years ofinternational development experience in sustainable development, youth and women empowerment, public
administration and decentralization, rule of law, disaster risk management, conflict prevention and recovery,
partnering with governments, private sector, civil society organisations, and UN agencies at field level and at
the headquarters in New York.

Commentary by Ms. Chikako Takase
Noting the theme of the seminar being “United Nations 75th Anniversary
Declaration and the SDGs,” Ms. Takase pointed out that the adoption of
SDGs and making them as the framework for the post-2015 development
agenda was the turning point in how “development” is considered at the
UN and the development community. It made a clear departure from theprevious period when “development” was considered as one directionalwith assistance going from the developed countries to the developing
countries. In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,“development” is considered as a universal agenda. By bringing “Planet”
into the picture, it became obvious that it concerns everyone. Ms. Takase
further noted that in the Declaration, as well as in “Our Common
Agenda,” the commitments to fully achieve the SDGs in time are reaffirmed.
Ms. Takase pointed out that Mr. Guterres has been using the SDGs as a basis for his UN reform,
not just on development, but also on the peace and security area.1 For the development aspect, to1

For example, the remarks to the General Assembly High-level Dialogue on ‘Building sustainable peace for all: synergies
between the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and sustaining peace’” on 24 January 2017 and the Report of theWork of the Organization, 2017 (A/72/1).

6

better deliver in countries, he has brought the RC system directly under him. Noting that the SDGs
require integrated implementation, the efforts are made for the county teams to work closer and UN
departments and divisions to work closely. On this point, Ms. Takase posed a question to Ms. Tanaka
if there was any difference in the working environment of RC from the previous arrangement to thecurrent arrangement.
On “Our Common Agenda,” Ms. Takase pointed out that many of the recommendations are in linewith sustainable development. One of the major recommendations is the focus on the youth and thefuture generation and she reminded that sustainable development is an intergenerational concept. She
pointed out that the definition presented by the report of the World Commission on Environment andDevelopment (Brundtland Commission) “Our Common Future” (1987) best explained this. Anotherrecommendation she noted was reaching out for diverse actors, in particular civil society, cities andlocal governments. This was in line with the emphasis on the Major Groups in the sustainable
development process, and a proposal to set up an Advisory Group on Local and Regional
Governments reflected the importance of SDG 11. Noting the many recommendations that were
presented in “Our Common Agenda,” Ms. Takase expressed the hope to see a good resolution fromthe current session of the General Assembly.
Ms. Chikako Takase retired from the United Nations in June 2017 after serving for 34 years. Among her manyother past affiliations include the Division for Sustainable Development, the Office for ECOSOC Support andCoordination of UN DESA as Deputy Chief of the Policy Coordination Branch, and the United Nations Centre
for Regional Development (UNCRD) in Nagoya, Japan as Director. She currently teaches part-time at several
universities and is a member of the Executive Committee of AFICS-Japan.

Open Discussion
The following are some of the questions and comments raised by the participants during thediscussion.
While commending various efforts of the UN, including broad-based
consultations and reforms, Ms. Kae YANAGISAWA (former Ambassador ofJapan to Malawi, former Vice President of JICA, and Member of the Board ofTrustees of KPC) shared her observation that these processes are happening
mostly in New York, and the level of understanding of host countries is not
sufficient. She also asked how many Japanese Resident Coordinators are
currently serving the UN.
Professor TAKAHIRO Shinyo of Kwansei Gakuin University and current
president of Japan Association for United Nations Studies asked the panelists, as
representatives of UN agencies in developing countries, if their work involves
democracy promotion or not because neither the UN Charter nor the SDGs
mentions democracy. He also noted that the UN activities do not sufficiently
deal with the promotion and protection of fundamental freedoms and humanrights despite being enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter. Meanwhile, the
Human Rights Council is also becoming an insufficient venue for discussing human rights because it
involves non-democratic countries that are not observing human rights criteria. Professor Shinyosought the opinion of the panelists about these contradictions surrounding democracy and humanrights within the UN.
7

While recognizing that multilateralism is indispensable when dealing with
global issues, Ms. Yumiko KANEKO of UNDP Philippines also acknowledged
the difficulty of reaching a consensus both at the global and country levels. For
example, some donors prefer bilateral agreements over joint funding because
single donors are more visible and they have different priorities. She then asked
the panelists how would the UN take a leading role in facilitating
multilateralism and if there are any alternatives to multilateralism whenaddressing global issues.
Mr. Ken INOUE, Vice-President of GPAJ, noted the prominence of bilateralissues over multilateral issues that suggests a focus on China-US relations.
Relatedly, he asked the panelists if they have had observations of China
influencing the UN programs in their countries of deployment. For example,
there have been observations of China trying to influence peacekeeping
operations by reducing the budget for human rights and gender affairs officers.

Ms. Fumiko HAKOYAMA of AFICS-Japan recalled her experience working
with UNICEF in Mauritania when the RC system was introduced 20 years ago.
Although the system was a welcome change for the Mauritanian government, it
caused confusion among UN agencies in the country, which also happened inother countries. She inquired about the discussion and orientations within the
UN about the RC system during the past 20 years.

Mr. Kenichi SUZUKI of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan asked
about the characteristics and qualities of leaders of UN organizations because,
nowadays, the positions of heads of UN organizations are filled by former headsof states. He sought advice from the panelists regarding the advantages anddisadvantages of appointing former heads of states to the lead UN organizations,
whether this trend will continue, and if so, what is the reason behind it.

The responses and discussions pertinent to the comments and questions above can be viewed athttps://youtu.be/Xms3QN7qOmA.

8

Concluding Remarks by Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa
In his concluding remarks, Professor Hasegawa said that the seminar
revealed that the achievement of SDGs requires the concerted efforts of
not only the Government but also business and other civil society
organizations, as mentioned by Mr. Akashi and elaborated by Professor
Yuge. As Professor Yuge said, the global problems and challenges
should be dealt with in a multilateral approach that is more inclusive,
networked, interconnected, effective, and representative. Professor
Hasegawa also referred to the points made by Ambassadors Shinyo andYanagisawa as well as Inoue-san, Kaneka-san, Ikeda-san, Hakoyamasan, Suzuki-san and others.
Prof. Hasegawa highlighted two points. First, as stated in the
Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly of this year, there is the need to continue
strengthening the role of RC’s convening and coordinating power. This requires the change ofmindset, mentality, and attitudes of all concerned. It is the ultimate role of RCs. Secondly, it was
alarming to note that there are currently no Japanese RCs. By showing the photo of the members ofthe High-Level Panel on SDGs commissioned in 2015, Professor Hasegawa noted that the photoreflected the declining interest of Japanese political leaders and the public in the role of the UN insetting goals, norms, and standards of the international community. He found it essential that Japan
renew its interest and commitment to multilateral diplomacy and the UN, in particular.
Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa is Distinguished Professor of the Kyoto University of the Arts and Director of
Kyoto Peacebuilding Center. He is also the President of GPAJ, Executive Director for Academic Exchange of
UN Association of Japan, and Director of ACUNS-Tokyo Liaison Office. He is former UN SRSG for TimorLeste, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in South Pacific, Rwanda and Timor-Leste,
Deputy Executive Coordinator of the UN Volunteers Programme, UNDP Deputy Assistant Administrator andRegional Director for Asia and the Pacific, and Director of Policy Planning for UNOSOM II in Somalia.

9