The article under review titled ‘Responsibility and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals’ was published in Forum for Development Studies, 2017. This article views the whole SDGs of United Nations from an analytical point of view by analyzing the term of ‘responsibility’ from three perspectives.
Firstly, the article explained responsibility in terms of responsibility as a cause for instance, if someone or any entity became the cause of a specific outcome then that entity has to fix things up. In terms of SDGs, if a country is responsible for climate change, then that country has the responsibility to fix this issue. It follows a middle ground between forward-looking responsibility (what should be done in future) and backward-looking responsibility (what became the cause of this outcome).
Secondly, the article explained responsibility in terms of responsibility as an obligation. In terms of SDGs, it asserts that nations and institutions have to consider it as their duty or responsibility to ensure the fulfillment of these SDGs. It also takes into account the actor’s ability to address an issue. So, it demands for distribution of responsibility according to capacity. For instance, it demands developed countries to do more as compared to developing countries. It follows a forward-looking approach (what should be done). Article also mentioned some challenges attached to it such as lot of responsibility on government without clear limits, tasks given to the government vs respecting government’s unique situation, did not address the responsibility of regular groups.
Thirdly, the article explained responsibility in terms of accountability, to keep a check and balance. It follows a backward-looking approach. Article explained various challenges that are in line with this accountability aspect such as concerns about voluntary review processes as inaccurate/fabricated, challenges in collecting data, especially in developing countries which might not be reliable or up to date, and ignorance of human rights in the pursuit of SDGs.
Overall, the article can be considered as a profound attempt to analyze SGDs of UN from a different perspective i.e., following the lines approach. Several points are mentioned in the article which proves its points strongly. Such analysis could help a reader to get an idea of what the term “responsibility” means, then only he would be able to develop a better understanding of the UN and its SDGs.
The writer is a student of “BS International Relations” at “National Defense University”.