21 November 2018 - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for Central Asia (UNODC ROCA) and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan, hosted a two-day "Meeting on Monitoring and Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals: Supporting the five Central Asian states, Azerbaijan and Georgia," in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from 12 to 13 November 2018.
The meeting aimed to help countries finalize national indicators and implement internationally agreed statistical standards regarding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions, and 3 on health, in particular targets 3.3, 3.5 & 3.8
It brought together more than 70 participants from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and underlined the importance of data collection and monitoring in the process of achieving the SDGs. It also highlighted how crucial regional cooperation is to this end.
In her opening remarks, Ashita Mittal, UNODC Regional Representative for Central Asia, stressed the close collaboration of UNODC with other UN Country Team sister agencies, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), to support Governments in defining their baselines and monitoring systems to track the nationalized SDG indicators under Goals 16 and 3.
Ms. Mittal said that "UNODC is working in the region to support the States by sharing the global best practices, expertise, tools and methodologies. Through this event, UNODC ROCA is looking forward to establishing regional networks for fostering greater cooperation around the effective monitoring of Goal 16 and Goal 3 under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development."
UNODC's mandate on drugs, crime and terrorism enjoins it to assist UN Member States in achieving several SDGs, with specific focus on, but not limited to, Goal 16 and Goal 3 working within human rights and healthcare frameworks. In this regard, UNODC is committed to support the national governments, specifically in developing their capacity in monitoring and reporting on the relevant indicators.
UNODC and the Sustainable Development Goals
