UN development goals will aid fight against extreme poverty, inequality and injustice, says senior Euro-M
World leaders will adopt the UN sustainable development goals tomorrow, a series of targets that will aid the fight against extreme poverty, inequality and injustice, says the MEP who is leading the European Parliament delegation to New York.
The sustainable development goals set a universal framework for all countries, not just developing nations, for global action until 2030. There are 17 goals underpinning 169 targets, building on the work of the Millennium Development Goals that aim to end extreme poverty within our life time.
2015 is the biggest year for global action for decades, and is also the European Year of Development which has firmly placed a focus on the sustainable development goals.
Linda McAvan MEP, chair of the European Parliament development committee, said:
“These new UN goals will go further than ever before, including targets for healthy lives and wellbeing, gender equality and empowering women and girls, and urgent global action to tackle climate change and its impacts.
“Let’s start the push now to guarantee delivery. Because having every country on the planet signed up to a fresh start in the way we do business, shifting away from the kind of short term thinking that is destroying our planet’s ecosystem, reversing the trend to growing inequality, that’s no mean thing.
“What we need to focus on in New York is delivery. And my aim in the next day or two is to find out who is supposed to do what, by when and then make sure we keep the pressure on. 2015 must be a year of action not warm words.”
Ms McAvan added:
“Sustainable development goals recognise we cannot end poverty without tackling other linking issues such as climate change and that we must address the root causes of issues on the sustainable development agenda – not just alleviate the symptoms.
“This is why it is so important that there are strong goals which focus on ending violence and discrimination against women, on achieving universal health and well-being, ending climate change and reducing global inequalities.
“Implementation of these goals will be a challenge in the coming months but one the UK and the EU must lead on.”