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Global goals on poverty, inequality and climate change challenge business as usual: Oxfam
The United Nations headquarters in New York
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The United Nations headquarters in New York. (Associated Press) (Associated Press)
The United Nations headquarters in New York. (Associated Press)
Oxfam has warned that there must be tangible, political and disruptive progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were painstakingly negotiated with input from civil society, academics, scientists and the private sector, and millions of citizens.
'The new SDGs are ambitious on paper ' and they could be historic in their impact. They seek to go beyond band-aid solutions by setting out to eradicate ' not just reduce ' extreme poverty and hunger in every country,' said Oxfam International director Winnie Byanyima.
'The key is to welcome the richest people back in touch with the rest of society, rather than allowing them to exist on the margins of privilege,' she said.
Oxfam is joining world leaders, civil society and people around the world to celebrate the adoption of the SDGs by world leaders at the United Nations. The goals seek to eradicate extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and fix climate change over the next 15 years.
Oxfam praised the new focus of 'leaving no one behind' but warned that this requires the participation of the most vulnerable and marginalized people so they can hold their governments to account and claim their rights. The international aid agency said women must be central to realizing these goals, while at the same time the concentrated power of vested interests must be challenged and those interests held more accountable by governments and citizens.
'With 17 goals and 169 targets, this promise is a necessarily complicated one,' said Byanyima.
"To leave no one behind, we have to understand the many barriers people face, from economic and gender inequality to how the most vulnerable are the most affected by climate change. The goals are achievable, but it cannot be business as usual. Governments ' rich and poor ' must defy vested interests that seek to maintain the status quo at the expense of people and the planet,' she continued.
To meet this shift of power, Oxfam says national and international financing rules must be rewritten, including a clamp down on tax evasion by multinational companies, and measures by governments to ensure the richest contribute more equally to the rest of society.
It further says that an agreement at the Paris climate talks that delivers for the poorest must be made if 'zero hunger' is to ever be achieved. (ebf)
