“The time has come” to act to fulfill the promises to improve the future of humanity, The head of the UN pleaded this Monday before dozens of leaders of a world hit by an avalanche of crises.
(Read here: Live: this is how President Petro’s visit to New York for the UN Assembly progresses)
In a context of geopolitical tensions unprecedented in decades, this development summit, which opens the high-level week of the UN General Assembly in New Yorkmay be overshadowed by the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The future of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by UN member states in 2015 to achieve a more sustainable and better future for “more than half the world” by 2030 is essential, and even more so for those suffering the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
These goals “embody the hopes, dreams, aspirations and expectations of people around the world,” insisted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“The time has come for you to be heard,” he told the audience.
Halfway there, only 15% of the 17 SDGs are on the right track, many are stagnant and others are going backwards.
Like the hope that not a single person of the 8 billion people on the planet is hungry. “In our world of plenty, hunger is a horrific stain on humanity and an epic violation of human rights,” Guterres said.
Financing
Getting out of poverty, accessing education, drinking water, clean energy, having good health, fighting climate change or achieving peaceful societies are development objectives that are interrelated.
Unicef, the UN children’s organization, recalled this Monday that two thirds of the indicators related to children are not in a position to achieve their goals.
“If the planned progress continues, only a total of 60 countries – where 25% of the child population lives – will have achieved their goals by 2030, leaving behind some 1.9 billion children in 140 countries,” he warned.
The multiple crises that have emerged in recent years – the Covid-19 pandemic, climate catastrophes, the war in Ukraine and the cascading impact on energy and food prices – threaten the objectives.
This summit is “a vital space to make changes,” recalled Abby Maxman, from the NGO Oxfam, who urged leaders to make “significant commitments, followed by authentic actions.”
According to the declaration adopted by consensus, member states commit to “act without delay” to make this “plan of action for people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership, leaving no one behind.”
In this perspective, they should “support” a reform of the international financial architecture, since many developing countries are paralyzed by the weight of their debt.
But “will this summit on the SDGs revive the feeling of “hope, optimism and enthusiasm” as it was presented? I doubt it,” estimates Noam Unger, of the American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
‘The most vulnerable look at us’
The southern countries, whose leaders will be present on Monday, have high hopes.
Faced with their demands and resentment, Western diplomats remember that development is their priority in this global diplomatic dance.
“The most vulnerable in the world are looking to us, like this young woman I met in Chad last week, who fled unthinkable violence in Sudan,” said US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “This young woman is counting on us.”
“There is a growing gap between the developing world and the developed world,” acknowledged a European diplomat.
We must “ensure that this gap does not grow even further”, while admitting that the war in Ukraine “steals political and economic attention from urgent global problems such as food security, climate catastrophes, inequalities or access to financing”.
These existential questions, particularly for poorer countries, threaten to be overshadowed this week by the presence, for the first time, of the president of Ukraine on the UN platform on Tuesday, ahead of a Security Council dedicated to his country on Wednesday.
A visit that could further upset the countries of the South if it adopts a “hard line” demanding more weapons from its allies, warns Richard Gowan, of the International Crisis Group.
AFP
#calls #improving #future #humanity #start #General #Assembly