CARE International appreciates the good start of today’s discussions but urges to tackle root causes of poverty.
New York, September 26, 2013. World leaders gathered yesterday in New York City at the United Nations General Assembly to review progress on UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).They adopted an ‘Outcome’ document, which addresses the urgent need to accelerate work to achieve the current MDGs, as well as proposes a roadmap to negotiate an updated set of global goals from 2015 onward.
CARE International, one of the world’s leading non-governmental organisations working on women’s rights and empowerment, welcomed today's deliberations in New York, but warns that negotiations over the coming year must clarify how the poor and marginalised sections of society, in particular women and girls, will have a voice in setting the priorities and monitoring the implementation of what is eventually agreed.
“We are at an important moment in negotiations between the developed and developing world on tackling problems that are both national and global, from poverty to armed conflict to climate change. Given how politically sensitive these issues are, it's encouraging to see references to human rights and gender equality in what was agreed.” said Robert Glasser, Secretary General of CARE International, participating in high-level meetings in New York.
“But now governments must translate these broad priorities and principles into very specific goals and indicators. Without clear mechanisms for monitoring and accounting for progress, the fine words agreed to in New York will be meaningless. Most importantly, we need an agreement on how those affected--the millions of poor and marginalized-- will have a voice in both defining priorities and monitoring their implementation." Glasser said.
The outcomes adopted yesterday also imply a lack of clarity regarding how deliberations on climate change, sustainable development and poverty will, or will not, be integrated into one coherent global framework beyond 2015. A failure to achieve consensus on this issue would pose major challenges for international efforts on both poverty reduction and climate change in the future.
Lastly, CARE highlights that the new global framework will need to go much further than the current MDGs in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment if it is effectively to address the discrimination and violence against women and girls that hold back half of the world’s population.
“The conclusions adopted at the UN yesterday make general references to gender equality and women’s empowerment, which are welcome. But now we need to see governments come to a consensus on the specificities, in particular on sensitive topics like promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights, and addressing traditional harmful practices, such as child marriage," said Kathleen Hunt, CARE International's UN Representative.
Media contacts:
Kate Hunt (New York), CARE UN Representative [email protected]
Sandra Bulling (Geneva), Communications Officer, [email protected], +41 79 205 69 51