For ten days in July over two thousand government, business and civil society leaders made their way to UN Headquarters in New York to take part in the 2018 High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Meditators working with World Goodwill’s Cycle of Conferences Initiative joined them subjectively, pondering the thought-form under construction at the event and visualizing seeds of living will energy being planted in the heart of this thought form. The theme of the 2018 Forum was: Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies. And the meditation keynote for the Cycle Visualisation: A recognition of the unity of all life and an economics based on simplicity and sharing are essential for the realisation of the sustainable development goals.

The numerous side events at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development allowed a wide range of themes to be considered, with contributions  from a diversity of actors and stakeholders from all levels of government, civic society, and  UN agencies.  One of these events, SDGs in Action: Working Together for Inclusive, Safe, Resilient, and Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements, was an opportunity to address the role cities and human settlements play in implementing the Sustainable Development Agenda, particularly Goal 11.

The recent event, Strengthening Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue through Knowledge Sharing: Opportunities and Challenges, organized by The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC) and the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), was an opportunity for diverse actors to share their thoughts and their work on the status of interreligious and intercultural dialogue(IRD/ICD) in the world today.  Specific focus was given to knowledge sharing and educational platforms.

The event received support from the permanent missions to the UN of Austria, Spain, and Saudi Arabia.  Five experts in fields of IRD/ICD shared their work and insights on the theme.

On Friday, July 13, Andrew Gilmour, Assistant Secretary General of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, delivered a sobering assesment of challenges facing the Sustainable Development Goals during his keynote address to a session of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, currently meeting at UN Headquarters in New York. 

Leaving no one behind is an affirmation of the principles that are central to human rights: equality and non-discrimination.  Indeed, the core aim of the SDGs, as agreed by all Member States in the 2030 Agenda, is to “realise the human rights of all”, to make our programmes people-centred.  

With both multilateralism and human rights taking such a pummelling at the moment, this core commitment of the SDGs seems a rare beacon of hope.  Along with today’s agreement on the Migration Compact.  

But are we succeeding?  Are we meeting this great pledge to leave no one behind?  

Jedes Jahr am 21. Juni unterstützen die Vereinten Nationen den Internationalen Tag des Yoga, eine Feier der alten Wissenschaft des Yoga und seiner vielen Vorteile für die Menschheit. Als Anerkennung für den Tag halten Organisationen auf der ganzen Welt Veranstaltungen ab, die Yogapraktizierende und interessierte Neueinsteiger/innen aller Altersgruppen, Religionszugehörigkeiten und ethnischen Hintergründen zusammenbringen. In diesem Jahr beinhaltete das Programm im UN-Hauptquartier in New York eine Yoga-Sitzung auf dem Nord-Rasen und eine Meditationssitzung im Kirchenzentrum für die UNO mit dem Titel:  Yoga, Frieden, Einheit und Heilung: Kollektive Meditation in der Stille teilen.