LDCs present VNRs at the HLPF (13–15 July 2021)
Download UN Monitor #25 (pdf version).
By Barbara Adams and Tejaswini Vavilala
Two days ago at the opening of the UN High-level Political Forum (HLPF) the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, addressed the problem of inequalities– inside households, within national economies and across different countries. Concerning “vaccine inequality”, she added that as of 1 July there had been 1.3 doses per 100 people in least developed countries (LDCs) compared with 83 doses per 100 people in developed countries.
Six weeks ago, on 24-28 May, Member States met in the first Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the Fifth Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) to be held 23-27 January 2022 in Doha, Qatar. The second PrepCom session will take place on 26-30 July 2021 and will launch negotiations on the Programme of Action for LDCs for the next decade, a decade that coincides with the last decade of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This is the last HLPF before the Doha conference / LDC5. During the HLPF Ministerial segment of the HLPF, eight LDCs will present their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs), making a total of 53 LDC VNR presentations over the last six years, many by countries for the second, and some for a third, time.
Table 1 lists the LDCs, their VNR presentations and contains links (denoted by X) to the individual national reports.
Country |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Afghanistan |
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Angola |
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Bangladesh |
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Benin |
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Bhutan |
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Burkina Faso |
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Burundi |
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Cambodia |
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Central African Republic |
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Chad |
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Comoros |
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Democratic Republic of the Congo |
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Djibouti |
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X |
Eritrea |
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Ethiopia |
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Gambia |
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Guinea |
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Guinea-Bissau |
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Haiti |
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Kiribati |
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Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
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Lesotho |
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Liberia |
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Madagascar |
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Malawi |
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Mali |
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Mauritania |
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Mozambique |
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Myanmar |
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Nepal |
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Niger |
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Rwanda |
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Sao Tome and Principe |
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Senegal |
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Sierra Leone |
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Solomon Islands |
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Somalia |
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South Sudan |
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Sudan |
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Timor-Leste |
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Togo |
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Tuvalu |
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Uganda |
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United Republic of Tanzania |
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Yemen |
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Zambia |
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The Presidents of the UN General Assembly and the ECOSOC, the Secretary-General, as well as CSO representatives, have sounded the alarm on the complex agenda facing the LDCs, an agenda that requires quality policy responses across many inter-governmental processes and fora, such as the WTO, to shape a robust and meaningful Doha Programme of Action.
For more information, follow the Global Policy Watch Monitors on the website: https://www.globalpolicywatch.org/blog/category/un-monitor/