The United Nations headquarters (center), in New York, September 15, 2023 (AFP/ANGELA WEISS)
While the most vulnerable countries are hit hard by an avalanche of crises, dozens of leaders are meeting at the UN on Monday to relaunch failed promises to radically improve the fate of humanity.
In a context of geopolitical tensions unprecedented in decades, this development summit, which opens the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly, risks being quickly eclipsed by the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The fate of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by UN member states in 2015 to build a better and more sustainable future by 2030 is nevertheless crucial for “more than half of the world” left behind, including those suffering fallout from the war in Ukraine.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Nairobi, Kenya, May 3, 2023 (AFP/Archives/Tony KARUMBA)
These objectives “concern the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people, and the good health of our natural environment”, insisted this weekend the Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres.
“It is about repairing historic injustices, healing global divisions, and putting our world on the path to lasting peace,” he added, calling for a “rescue plan”.
Indeed, at mid-term, only 15% of these SDGs are on track, many are stagnating and others are regressing.
Like the hope that not one of the 8 billion humans will suffer from hunger anymore.
– Financing –
Getting out of poverty, having access to education, drinking water or clean energy, being in good health, fighting climate change or achieving peaceful societies, all these development objectives are largely interdependent.
As the most vulnerable countries are hit by an avalanche of crises, dozens of leaders meet at the UN to revive failed promises to radically improve the lot of humanity (AFP/Hussein Faleh)
And all undermined by the multiple crises that have swept the world in recent years, from the Covid-19 pandemic to climate disasters, not forgetting the war in Ukraine and its cascading impacts on the cost of living.
So this summit is “a vital space to make changes”, commented Abby Maxman, of the NGO Oxfam, calling on leaders to make “meaningful commitments, followed by real actions”.
According to the draft declaration to be adopted on Monday, member states will commit to “act with urgency” to make this “action plan for people, the planet, prosperity, peace and partnership, and Don’t leave anyone on the side of the road.
With this in mind, they should in particular “support” a reform of the international financial architecture, while many developing countries are paralyzed by the weight of their debt.
But “will this SDG summit rekindle a feeling of ‘hope, optimism and enthusiasm'”, as it was presented? I’m rather skeptical,” said Noam Unger, of the American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), who fears that this will amount to “a chic high-level photo shoot”.
– “The most vulnerable are watching us” –
But the countries of the South, whose leaders will be present en masse on Monday, hope for more.
Faced with their demands and resentment, Western diplomats have also taken care to insist on the fact that development is their priority for this annual high mass.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks during a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York on August 24, 2023 (AFP/Archives/Yuki IWAMURA)
“The most vulnerable in the world are watching 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,” noted a senior European diplomat.
And we must “ensure that this gap does not widen even further”, he added, recognizing that the war in Ukraine “steals political and economic attention from urgent global problems like food security, climate disasters, inequalities, access to financing”.
These existential questions, particularly for the poorest countries, risk taking center stage this week to the Ukrainian president who will take the podium at the UN for the first time, before a Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday. .
A visit which could further upset the countries of the South if he adopts a “hard line” demanding more arms from his allies, warns Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group.
© 2023 AFP
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