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SDGs for All

SDGs for All is a joint media project of the global news organization International Press Syndicate (INPS) and the lay Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It aims to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets. It offers in-depth news and analyses of local, national, regional and global action for people, planet and prosperity. This project website is also a reference point for discussions, decisions and substantive actions related to 17 goals and 169 targets to move the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.

Photo: Students in Marrakech planning change for their university community. Credit: The High Atlas Foundation.

By Julia Payne

MARRAKECH (IDN) – As a society, we have hopes and dreams for the future; for our children, our countries, and the global community. These aspirations rest on the shoulders of the young generation. August 12, 2018 marked the 18th celebration of the UN's annual International Youth Day.

This awareness day was a unique opportunity to reflect on youth's challenges and to celebrate and support the world’s future leaders. This year’s theme, 'Safe Spaces for Youth' highlighted the importance of youth’s engagement, participation, and freedom of thought.

Goal 4

Photo credit: UN

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Fifteen years ago, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Iraq's capital Baghdad killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. The Brazilian United Nations diplomat had been working for the world body's humanitarian and political programs for more than 34 years.

"The Canal Hotel bombing was," according to Secretary-General António Guterres, "a massive loss for the United Nations and the humanitarian community, and it marked a turning point for the need to increase the protection of humanitarian operations in Iraq and worldwide."

Goal 16

Photo: Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

The writer is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and a Member of the South Centre Board. She has served as chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2005-2010). Following are extensive extracts from her presentation at the International Conference on the TRIPS-CBD Linkage: Issues and Way Forward, held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva on 7-8 June 2018. South Views carried the full text. The conference was jointly organized by the South Centre, the Centre for WTO Studies, New Delhi and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa to the WTO. - The Editor

Goal 13+14+15

Photo: Rosilah Abdul Hamid (centre) with her 13 year old daughter Syafeeqah Mohd Rusdi (on the right) and 10-year old Nureen Irdeenah Mohd Rusdi (on the left). Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) – Singapore's leading gender equality advocacy group – has called upon the government to provide free childcare to low-income families to enable, especially single mothers, to find sustainable employment.

In a report titled 'Why are you not working?' based on interviews with 47 mothers from low-income families – most of whom come from the minority Malay and Indian communities – AWARE said that the rise of precarious employment, gradual withering away of family backing and lack of public support for caregiving has made it impossible for mothers of low-income families to balance work and caring for the children.

Goal 5

Photo credit: UN

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Almost two thirds of 193 United Nations member States demonstrate a high-level of e-­government development with EGDI (the E-­Government Development Index) values above in the range of 0.5 and 1, finds a new survey, which also draws attention to the widening 'digital divide' between the industrialized and least developed countries.

The share of countries with low e-­government levels, in the range of 0 to 0.25, has dropped by a significant 50 percent, from 32 countries in to 16 countries in 2018, says the 2018 UN E-Government Survey.

Goal 11

Photo: Casa Rosada, executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina, viewed from Plaza de Mayo. CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – As governments across the globe crack down on citizen groups, stifling their ability to speak out and hold governments to account, the role of civil society is more important now than ever.

With his in mind, activists from more than 600 civil society organisations and more than 45 countries worldwide gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from August 6 to 7 for the sixth annual Civil 20 summit. The meeting came at a critical time prior to the meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) in November.

Goal 16

Photo: Uniformed children in class in Ha Nqabeni primary school, Lesotho. CC BY-SA 2.0

By Ntsoaki Nkoe

MASERU (IDN) – Lesotho has launched a landmark project with the European Union willing to provide Euros 12.5 million (approx. USD14.4 million) and the United Nations USD 2 million. Known as the Lesotho National Dialogue and Stabilization Project (LNDSP), the initiative aims to stimulate a comprehensive national reforms process the southern African country is undertaking.

Explaining the genesis of the project, UN Resident Coordinator Salvator Niyonzima said the launch of the project was the result of several months of consultations, project formulation and fund raising going back to September 2017 when Prime Minister Thomas Thabane wrote to the UN Secretary-General requesting UN support to Lesotho’s long-anticipated national reforms.

Goal 16

Photo credit: Lesotho's MMN Centre for Investigative Journalism.

By Billy Ntaote

This report is part of a series on Human Trafficking by MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Lesotho.

MASERU (IDN) – For people living in the rural parts of the country, early child marriage doesn't exist – but when a teenager is impregnated, families rush to organise a traditional wedding ceremony and it's a deal done.

This common, yet cruel practice perpetrated on the girl child continues in rural parts of Lesotho with the unsuspecting victims – socialised to believe it is their only way out of poverty and hunger – married-off in exchange for either a herd of cattle or cash in bride-wealth. It remains a generally common practice that girls below the age of 18 are wedded-off with the consent of parents though such practices   laws protecting children rights like Children’s Protection and Welfare Act of 2011 and Sexual Offences Act.

Goal 16

Photo: Michelle Bachelet of Chile, newly-appointed as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by Secretary-General António Guterres. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Moments after the UN General Assembly unanimously agreed on August 10 to appoint Chile's former President Michelle Bachelet as the seventh UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted: "Ms. Bachelet is a pioneer, a visionary, a woman of principle, and a great human rights leader for these troubled times." He had had put forward her candidacy to the General Assembly on August 8.

The United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK) Executive Director, Natalie Samarasinghe, agreed: she is "certainly a strong choice", and added: "She has experience at the highest level of government in Chile, at the highest level of administration within the UN system as the first head of UN Women, and of working with civil society under the shadow of oppression." (P11)  JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Project Articles

Photo: Izumi Nakamitsu, United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, briefs the Security Council as it considers the situation in the Middle East. 5 February 2018. © UN Photo/Manuel Elias

Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu

The author is Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. This article first appeared in UN Chronicle, Vol. LV No. 2 2018 | August 2018.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – The idea that disarmament and arms control are connected to development is not new. Article 26 of the Charter of the United Nations recognizes disarmament as a precondition for durable peace, security and development by calling for the maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion of the world’s economic and human resources for arms.

For a long time, however, disarmament has largely slipped off the development agenda. This is despite overwhelming evidence that excessive arms accumulation diverts needed resources from development and fuels armed conflict and violence, leading to unnecessary death and suffering, social inequality and environmental degradation.

Goal 16

  1. Empower Indigenous Women, Strengthen Communities
  2. New Study Warns Of 'Hothouse' Threatening Planet Earth
  3. South African Women March Against Gender-Based Violence
  4. Stakes High in Returning Nigerians' Stolen Millions
  5. Tanzania's Indigenous Communities Racing to Secure Land Eyed by Investors

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