Global Goals Launched in Tanzania - Remarks by Ambassador Gilsenan, 29 September 2015

I am very honoured to be invited to make some short remarks about the SDGs which were adopted last weekend. Ireland, with Kenya, played an important role in facilitating the agreement of the SDGs, goals which are the result of an agenda based on wide and deep consultation with government, policy makers, civil society and the private sector.

This year also marks 60 years since Ireland became a member of the UN and I am very proud to share this platform today to draw attention to the vision and goals of the UN for the next decade and a half.

Everyone agrees that we have achieved much from the implementation of the Millennium Development goals, millions of people have emerged from extreme poverty, and we have made considerable progress in reducing the impact of infectious diseases, increasing access to education and to clean water. But equally, the much of the promise of the MDG remains to be achieved. In coming decade and a half, we must make further strides in gender equality if we are to reduce maternal mortality, ensure reproductive health and rights and improving newborn and child health.

One of the major drawbacks of the MDG framework was how it addressed inequality. The framework did not adequately recognise that while poverty was being reduced globally, many countries were experiencing rapidly growing inequality, as the poorest and most vulnerable people were left behind, excluded from the benefits of national and global growth. Bringing equality centre stage and allying it to sustainability is crucial as the world negotiates a future in the context of climate change and growing inequality.

The Global Goals build on the MDGs but they are more ambitious as they deal with new dimensions of old problems. They aim to tackle the complex nature of poverty and inequality. In particular, they “envisage a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity…. Equality and non-discrimination….. of equal opportunity permitting the full realization of human potential. An equitable world where the needs of the most vulnerable are met”. (Preamble para 8)

At the global level, there is a general recognition, against the background of economic and financial crisis, of the reality of growing inequalities, both between States and within States. Greater equality and reduction of poverty are not an automatic outcome of development processes to date. The SDGs cannot be contemplated in isolation from issues such as climate change, gender equality and human rights and tackling underlying structural inequality.

Agenda 2030 is not a development document where the unequal relations between donor and recipient are inscribed. Instead, it is as relevant to Ireland as it is to Tanzania. Delivering on the commitments contained in Agenda 2030 will required concerted political commitment. This is an important departure from the MDGs where it enables all countries to hold each other to mutual account for how we each contribute to realizing the goals in our own society and how we contribute as part of the global community to eliminate the poverty globally through partnership, solidarity and development assistance.

The launch last week and the universal nature of goals, agreed by all nations, opens up a political space much as the MDGs did in 2000. Now the important work begins in understanding and implementing what the UN and we as member states have agreed to and what that means for our everyday lives in a place like Tanzania or indeed in Ireland.

Today, the broader conditions for revitalized international development compact are more challenging that they were in 2000. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, we can observe a tendency for richer country to focus internally on their own challenges, and challenges in their immediate neighbourhood, with attendant risks to much needed global solidarity. Those of us tasked with promoting the SDGs and popularizing them must focus on Goal 17 which looks to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

There is a unique opportunity for Tanzania in a post-election period to work closely with international partners to translate the commitment to the SDGs into a new compact to tackle poverty and inequality. Though ODA is falling as a percentage of the available resources in Tanzania, in volume terms, it remains a significant source of finance for development. It is finance that, for the most part does not require repayment and is linked to common objectives which flow from international agreements such as the MDGs and now the SDGs.

As development partners, we look forward to government leadership in setting a new agenda based on the SDGs and to an enhanced partnership with civil society and the private sector. This is an opportunity for all to bring resources and ideas to the table in the context of the SDGs and revitalize the development partnership for Tanzania for the coming decade and half.

The launch of the SDGs late last week is the culmination significant consultations with civil society, which led to an emphases on equity within the goals and on the importance of leaving no-one behind. This means that no SDG should be considered met unless it accounts for all income and social groups, everywhere in the world. The Global Goals are the culmination of the work started over twenty years ago at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio, 1992). The aim was to find a way to integrate protection of the environment with the right to development. The Global Goals achieve this with stand-alone goals on Oceans, Biodiversity, Clean Energy and Climate Action and by integrating of economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development in all goals.

There is a role for citizens and civil society to engage in energetic campaigns to keep governments on track while policy makers and academics will need the courage to recommend radical new policy and instruments; and budgets and resources will need to shift to deliver on the goals.

There is an opportunity to take advantage of the international consensus and ensure that it pervades all levels of government and society across the world. As citizens, we need to discuss the policy options available to us that will make a difference in reducing poverty and addressing the structural inequality that is so harmful in all our societies.

As the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins said in New York last week ‘ this is a moment of hope….We are called on to engage with our possibilities and allow a new world of shared vulnerability and shared prospects to be born’.