New York, 18 September 2020 – In the midst of a crisis like no other in our lives, with COVID-19 destroying lives and livelihoods around the world, the 75th consultation of the United Nations General Assembly will open with a special high-level occasion once. Re-emphasizing the urgency of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a path to a fairer and more peaceful global settlement.
The first “SDP Moment” convened through UN Secretary-General Guterres will be held practically on 18 September, from 8:00 a. m. to 11:30 p. m. , with a “popular speech” through UN school activist and peace messager Malala Yousafzai. in combination, representatives of governments, civil society, local authorities, foreign organizations and the personal sector, as well as other relevant stakeholders, to generate a renewed sense of urgency, ambition, duty and opportunity for transformation as the world embarks on a decade of action. Sustainable Development Goals and leave no one behind.
“The Sustainable Development Goals are a plan to end poverty and hunger, address the climate crisis, achieve greater equality and more, over the next ten years,” he said. “At a time of wonderful uncertainty, the SDGs show the way forward for a strong COVID-19 recovery and a wonderful long term for everyone on a healthy planet. “
Five years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, progress has been made in areas such as maternal and child health, expanding access to electricity and expanding women’s representation in government; however, even this progress has been offset elsewhere through the expansion of food insecurity. deterioration of the herbal environment and persistent and widespread inequalities.
In the past, COVID-19 has triggered an unprecedented crisis, causing the loss of life and livelihoods and exacerbating existing inequalities that will make progress towards goals even more difficult, with the world’s poorest and highest affected.
As societies are blocked and economies slow, poverty levels are emerging for the first time in a generation, erasing almost all the progress made in recent decades, the pandemic is taking on millions more in chronic famine, and unequal access to distance education threatens to leave poorer young people progress towards gender equality has stagnated and even reversed in some areas , and violence against women and women has dramatically increased coVID-19 blockade.
The damage caused by climate change continues to be intensified, from worsening wildfires, floods and storms to lack of confidence in emerging food and economic losses. COVID-19 has not stopped the climate crisis: carbon emissions are returning to pre-COVID and greenhouse fuel grades. concentrations have reached new records.
At this time of crisis, the “SDP Moment” will highlight the movements and responses of UN Member States and other stakeholders that can drive transformative substitution and take the world back on track for sustainable progression goals.
“The Sustainable Development Goals are ambitious and achievable,” said UN Under-Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. “We can end poverty and hunger. Women and women can have the same rights and opportunities as men and boys. We can avoid the climate crisis. But we have to do it now. And we will have to do it in combination, in our communities and in solidarity with the global community.
About the “SDP Moment”
The SDA Moment will be an annual occasion convened through the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the opening of the General Assembly consultation until 2030, as provided for in the final document of the 2019 SDA Summit.
The three-hour event organized by SABC correspondent Sherwin Bryce-Pease will be opened by UN Secretary-General Guterres and UN PeaceTag and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai as the world’s leading voice of the people. as well as contributions from the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, Member States and stakeholders from civil society, the personal sector, local and regional government and academia.
Stakeholders expected to speak include Axel van Trotsenburg, Managing Director of the World Bank Group; Brad Smith, president of Microsoft; Khalila Kellz Mbowe, CEO and Founder of Unleashed Africa Social Ventures; Leila Fourie, CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; Nisreen Al Sayeem, member of the UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change; Danny Sriskandarajah, Executive Director of Oxfam; Hakima Abbas, Co-Executive Director of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development; Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone; Dr. Noa Biran, an oncologist at Hackensack University Medical Center, NJ; Natasha Mwansa, journalist and fitness advocate; Christiana Figueres, champion of meteorological action; Busi Sibeko, economist and researcher at the Institute of Economic Justice; Ola Rosling, president and co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation; Eddie Ndopu and Hindu Ibrahim, advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals before the UN Secretary General.
The 23 states expected to speak on this year’s occasion, whether on video pre-recorded or live message, are Angola; Argentina; Austria; Barbados; Botswana; Bulgaria; Colombia; Ecuador; Finland; Georgia; Lebanon; Morocco; Nepal; Nigeria; Northern Macedonia; Norway; Palau; Peru; Samoa; Seychelles; Slovenia; South Africa; Venezuela.
The timing of the SDGs is complemented by a global transmission entitled “United Nations”, a virtual action by the SDGs and a media SDS, and regional and national dialogues supported through the United Nations system.
For more information, the program:
www. un. org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-moment
Media Contact: Martina Donlon, United Nations Department of Global Communications: donlon@un. org