HLPF 2023: Accelerating the Recovery from the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the Full Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all Levels

The United Nations High-Level Political Review Forum (HLPF) is the central United Nations platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the global level. The theme for 2023 is "Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels". Stakeholders are discussing the recovery measures that are attempting to mitigate the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals. 

Human mobility is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda. When well-governed, human mobility can have an impact on all SDGs, including those where the linkages may not be readily apparent. The SDGs in focus for the HLPF are below. Click each link to see exactly how human mobility fits into the context and achievement of the SDGs. IOM has also created infographics that summarize some of the evidence and ways that human mobility and migration feed into the SDGs. Two of these (SDG 6 and 11) have case study variants, to demonstrate the way migration fits into specific communities such as Azerbaijan and Serbia and their SDG goals. 

  SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

  SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

  SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

  SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

  SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals 

Every year for the HLPF, IOM submits a written review of how migration is contributing to progress towards the SDGs during the HLPF. Read our analysis for 2022 and revisit our 2021 submission. IOM also submitted a written statement during the HLPF 2023, outlining evidence for how human mobility supports the SDGs, and highlighting our key messages:

As this review of the SDGs 6, 7, 9, 11, and 17 has evidenced, human mobility is more than ever a multifaceted reality that can and does contribute to achieving the SDGs as a whole.

Human mobility is driven and impacted by major global transformations as outlined above, which are already present and will continue to generate their own, evolving set of challenges and opportunities in the years to come, well beyond the 2030 Agenda.

At the mid-way point of the 2030 Agenda, these challenges risk leaving hundreds of millions of international migrants, internal migrants and displaced persons behind. That is one in every eight people in the world.

No country can address the challenges and opportunities of mobility, a global phenomenon, on its own. Inclusion of mobile populations, and the integration of human mobility considerations across sustainable development efforts, is part of the solution, and requires leveraging the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Secretary General’s Action Agenda for Internally Displaced Persons.

To meet that ambition, we must step up our efforts so we truly work towards leaving no one behind.

The 2023 SDG Summit Declaration provides a critical opportunity to reignite global commitment to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs between now and 2030.

IOM encourages States to:

- Affirm that speaking of migrants and displaced persons means speaking about the people who have been a cornerstone of development, innovation and progress since the dawn of time. At the same time, these are the very people who too often have suffered, been stranded and excluded and exposed to abuse, exploitation and discrimination solely on the basis of their movements.

- Recognize and advance the role of human mobility as an opportunity for the future and comprehensive strategy that can help reduce inequalities, adapt to the climate crisis; and that is an integral component of the renewed social contract needed to secure our future. Everyone matters and makes a difference in our achievement of global prosperity, including people on the move.

- Reiterate that global development will not be achieved without safe, orderly and regular human mobility. Multilateralism and whole-of-society partnerships have the power to maximize the potential of human mobility. The GCM is central in our efforts to harness human mobility for inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and well-managed human mobility can accelerate the attainment of the SDGs in what remains of the Decade of Action.

- Acknowledge that major global transformations such as digitalization, the climate crisis and urbanization impact and are impacted by human mobility in increasingly complex and intertwined ways. More transformational change is needed to strengthen the positive impact of human mobility, building on the progress since 2015 and the landmark IMRF Progress Declaration.

Embracing the opportunities that human mobility provides is vital for achieving the SDGs.