High-Level Political Forum 2020: Achieving SDG Target 8.7 and universal social protection in times of COVID-19

The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) took place from 6-17 July 2020 under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council under the overall theme “Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development.”

The HLPF plays a central role in the follow-up and review of the SDGs at the global level, including SDG Target 8.7. Alliance 8.7 organised a virtual side-event to the HLPF to launch the Pathfinder Countries’ e-reports and to showcase action taken towards achieving SDG Target 8.7, with a specific focus on action in the area of social protection in the context of COVID-19.

The event “Achieving SDG Target 8.7 and universal social protection in times of COVID-19” took place live on UNWebTV on Friday 10 July, from 8:00 – 9:00 am (EDT) and was sponsored by the Government of France and the Government of Argentina.

Here is the recording of the event:

The speakers were as follows:

Guy Ryder

ILO Director-General

Anousheh Karvar (video message)

Chair of Alliance 8.7

H.E. Ms Geannina Dinarte Romero

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Costa Rica

H.E. Ms Nguyen Thi Ha

Vice-Minister, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam

H.E. Ms Ergogie Tesfaye (video message)

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Ethiopia

H.E. Mr Parveen Kumar Bala (video message)

Minister of Employment, Productivity, Industrial Relations, Youth and Sports, Fiji

Mr Ayuba Philibus Wabba

President, International Trade Union Confederation

Matthias Thorns

Deputy Secretary-General, IOE