The UN’s sustainability goals, which have fallen behind schedule, urgently need new impetus: a high-profile meeting in New York should bring this. The focus is on reforming the global financial system.
In the fight against poverty and hunger in the world, the 193 UN member states want to give new impetus to the faltering sustainability goals. A high-level summit at the United Nations in New York unanimously adopted a declaration reaffirming the 17 Humanity Goals adopted in 2015.
This also includes a commitment to reforming the international financial structure. This “must be made more relevant, equitable and responsive” to the needs of developing countries.
With the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the countries of the world set central resolutions aimed at ending hunger and extreme poverty by 2030. But the corona pandemic, the war in Ukraine and a debt crisis in poor countries have set the goals back extremely: If things continue as before, according to the UN, 575 million people will still be in great poverty and more than 600 million will be hungry in 2030 life. According to the UN, only 15 percent of all resolutions are on track.
Guterres: Hunger a “shocking eyesore”
“In our world of plenty, hunger is a shocking blight on humanity and an epic human rights violation,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who also called for sweeping changes to the global financial system. There is an urgent need to redesign the “outdated, dysfunctional and unfair” structure so that developing countries have better access to cheap loans. However, the statement does not mention an SDG “stimulus” of at least $500 billion annually, as required by the UN.
Against the background of a competition with China and Russia for the favor of the so-called Global South, many Western industrial nations have recently shown themselves to be open to far-reaching concessions. A group of states around Russia had threatened to block the now adopted declaration the day before, but did not follow up their threats with action at the meeting.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz was also scheduled to speak at the summit. The SPD politician had previously demanded more effort from the world’s countries to implement the development goals. “We see that the progress we wanted for the whole world in the fight against poverty and for better coexistence has slowed down, that we have not achieved as many improvements as we would have liked,” he said. Scholz added: “But this is a reason for us to make sure that we achieve this necessary progress.”
Countries in the global south expect support
The Chancellor also said that the countries of the Global South in Africa, Asia and South America expect support from the economically strong countries. “Germany has committed itself to exactly this and is setting an example here. That is what we will continue to do.” An important contribution to the development of the world is that Germany, with its technological possibilities and economic power, creates the framework conditions “so that it is possible to gain and expand economic prosperity and at the same time operate in a climate-neutral manner.”
The sustainability summit took place before the high-profile start of the general debate on Tuesday, at which Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and US President Joe Biden are also scheduled to speak.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
