“THIS MUST BE THE WORK OF THE WORLD”
Barack Obama on Sustainable Development Goals PRESIDENT OBAMA (quotes) « When eleven boys and girls die every single minute from preventable causes, we know we have more work to do. When hundreds of women die every single day just from having a baby, we know we have more work to do. When tens of millions of children are still not in school, when hundreds of millions of people have no clean water, no toilets, we have so much more to do. Right now, some 800 million men, women and children are scraping by on less than $1.25 a day. Imagine that. Gripped by the ache of an empty stomach. Billions of our fellow human beings are at risk of dying from diseases that we know how to prevent. Many children are just one mosquito bite away from death » “I
profoundly believe that many of the conflicts, the refugee crises, the
military interventions over the years might have been avoided if nations
had truly invested in the lives of their people, and if the wealthiest
nations on Earth were better partners in working with those that are
trying to lift themselves up.” “The wealthiest
and most powerful in our societies oftentimes like to keep things as
they are, and they often have disproportionate political influences”“When
women have an education, when women have a job, their children are more
likely to get an education, their families are healthier and more
prosperous. Their communities and countries do better, as well.”“All of our countries will be affected by a changing climate. But the world’s poorest people will bear the heaviest burden” General Assembly HallUnited Nations New York, New York (Extracts)PRESIDENT OBAMA Sometimes it's said that our efforts to combat poverty and disease do not and cannot work,
that there are some places beyond hope, that certain people and regions
are condemned to an endless cycle of suffering. Here, today, we put
those myths to rest. Today, we set aside the skepticism, and we lift up
the hope that is available to us through collective action. Because the world came together in an unprecedented effort,
the global hunger rate has already been slashed. Tens of millions of
more boys and girls are today in school. Prevention and treatment of
measles and malaria and tuberculosis have saved nearly 60 million lives.
HIV/AIDS infections and deaths have plummeted. And more than one
billion people have lifted themselves up from extreme poverty -- one
billion. (…) Cynicism is our enemy. A belief, a capacity in the dignity of every individual, and a recognition that we, each
of us, can play a small part to play in lifting up people all around
the world -- that is the message that we are sending here today. And because of the work of so many who are assembled here today, we can point to past success. And yet, we are also here today because we understand that our work is nowhere near done. When
eleven boys and girls die every single minute from preventable causes,
we know we have more work to do. When hundreds of women die every
single day just from having a baby, we know we have more work to do.
When tens of millions of children are still not in school, when
hundreds of millions of people have no clean water, no toilets, we have
so much more to do. Right now, some 800 million men, women and
children are scraping by on less than $1.25 a day. Imagine that.
Gripped by the ache of an empty stomach. Billions of our fellow human
beings are at risk of dying from diseases that we know how to prevent.
Many children are just one mosquito bite away from death. And that is a
moral outrage. It is a profound injustice. It is literally a matter of
life and death, and now the world must act. We cannot leave people
behind.And so, today, we commit ourselves to new Sustainable
Development Goals, including our goal of ending extreme poverty in our
world. We do so understanding how difficult the task may be. We suffer
no illusions of the challenges ahead. But we understand this is
something that we must commit ourselves to. Because in doing so, we recognize that our most basic bond -- our common humanity -- compels us to act.
An impoverished child in a distant slum or a neighborhood not that far
from here is just as equal, just as worthy, as any of our children, as
any of us, as any head of government or leader in this great hall. We
reaffirm that supporting development is not charity, but is instead one
of the smartest investments we can make in our own future.
After all, it is a lack of development -- when people have no
education, and no jobs, and no hope, a feeling that their basic human
dignity is being violated -- that helps fuel so much of the tensions and
conflict and instability in our world. And I profoundly
believe that many of the conflicts, the refugee crises, the military
interventions over the years might have been avoided if nations had
truly invested in the lives of their people, and if the wealthiest
nations on Earth were better partners in working with those that are
trying to lift themselves up. As one of the
founders of the United Nations, Ralph Bunche once said, “Peace is no
mere matter of men fighting or not fighting. Peace, to have
meaning…must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health, and
education.” I’m here to say that in this work, the
United States will continue to be your partner. Five years ago, I
pledged here that America would remain the global leader in development,
and the United States government, in fact, remains the single largest
donor of development assistance, including in global health. In times
of crisis -- from Ebola to Syria -- we are the largest provider of
humanitarian aid. In times of disaster and crisis, the world can count
on the friendship and generosity of the American people. The question before us, though,
as an international community, is how do we meet these new goals that
we’ve set today? How can we do our work better? How can we stretch our resources and our funding more effectively? How
can donor countries be smarter, and how can recipient countries do more
with what they receive? We have to learn from the past -- to see where
we succeeded so that we can duplicate that success, and to understand
where we’ve fallen short and correct those shortcomings. And we
start by understanding that this next chapter of development cannot fall
victim to the old divides between developed nations and developing
ones. Poverty, growing inequality exists in all of our nations, and all
of our nations have work to do. And that includes here in the United
States. That’s why, after a terrible recession, my
administration has worked to keep millions of families from falling into
poverty. That's why we’ve brought quality, affordable health care to
more than 17 million Americans. Here in this country, the wealthiest
nation on Earth, we’re still working every day to perfect our union, and
to be more equal and more just, and to treat the most vulnerable
members of our society with value and concern. That’s why,
today, I am committing the United States to achieving the Sustainable
Development Goals. And as long as I am President, and well after I'm
done being President, I will keep fighting for the education and housing
and health care and jobs that reduce inequality and create opportunity
here in the United States and around the world. Because this is not just the job of politicians; this is work for all of us. This
next chapter of development cannot just be about what governments
spend, it has to harness the unprecedented resources of our
interconnected world. In just a few short years -- in the areas of
health, and food security, and energy -- my administration has committed
and helped mobilize more than $100 billion to promote development and
save lives. More than $100 billion. And guided by the new consensus we
reached in Addis, I'm calling on others to join us. More governments, more institutions, more businesses, more philanthropies, more NGOs, more faith communities, more citizens -- we all need to step up with the will and the resources and the coordination to achieve our goals. This must be the work of the world.At
the same time, this next chapter of development must focus not simply
on the dollars we spend, but on the results that we achieve. And this
demands new technologies and approaches, accountability, data,
behavioral science -- understanding that there’s lessons that we have
learned, best practices on how people actually live so that we can
dramatically improve outcomes. It means breaking cycles of dependence
by helping people become more self-sufficient -- not just giving people
fish, but teaching them how to fish. That's the purpose of development.
Rather than just sending food during famine -- although we have to do that to avert starvation
-- we also have to bring new techniques and new seeds and new
technologies to more farmers so they can boost their yields and increase
their incomes, feed more people and lift countless millions out of
poverty. Rather than just respond to outbreaks like Ebola --
although we have to do that, and we have -- let’s also strengthen public
health systems and advance global health security to prevent epidemics
in the first place. (…) This next chapter of
development must also unleash economic growth -- not just for a few at
the top, but inclusive, sustainable growth that lifts up the fortunes of
the many. We know the ingredients for creating jobs and opportunity --
they are not a secret. So let’s embrace reforms that attract trade and
investment to areas that are in need of investment and in need of
trade. Let’s trade and build more together, make it easier for developing countries to sell more of their goods around the world.
And let’s invest in our greatest resource -- our people -- their
education, their skills. Let’s invest in innovative entrepreneurs, the
striving young people who embrace new technology and are starting
businesses and can ignite new industries that change the world. I have
met young people on every continent, and they can lead the way if we
give them the tools they need.Our new development goals are
ambitious. But thanks to the good work of many of you, they are
achievable -- if we work together; if we meet our responsibilities to
each other. I believe that. The progress of recent years gives us
hope. We know what works. We know how to do this. But perhaps because
this is now my seventh year of addressing the General Assembly, I tend
to be more blunt. Along with the gray hair, I'm becoming more likely to speak my mind. (Laughter.) So
indulge me when I say that we will never achieve our goals if we do not
squarely confront several insidious threats to the dignity and
well-being of people around the world. No matter how much hard work is
done by development agencies, no matter how large the donations and
commitments that are made by donor countries, if we don't take care of
some other elements of development, we will not meet the goals that
we've set. Number one, development is threatened by bad
governance. Today, we affirm what we know to be true from decades of
experience -- development and economic growth that is truly sustainable
and inclusive depends on governments and institutions that care about
their people, that are accountable, that respect human rights and
deliver justice for everybody and not just some. So, in the face
of corruption that siphons billions away from schools and hospitals and
infrastructure into foreign bank accounts, governments have to embrace
transparency and open government and rule of law. And combating illicit
finance must be a global effort because it is part of our development
effort. And citizens and civil society groups must be free to
organize and speak their mind and work for progress, because that's how
countries develop; that's how countries succeed. Development
is also threatened by inequality. And this is a political debate that
we have in this country, so I just want to be clear, this is not
something from which the United States is immune to. Every country has
to grapple with this issue. The wealthiest and most powerful in
our societies oftentimes like to keep things as they are, and they
often have disproportionate political influences. When poor
children are more likely to get sick and die than children in wealthier
neighborhoods just across town; when rural families are more likely to
go without clean water; when ethnic and religious minorities, or people
with disabilities, or people of different sexual orientations are
discriminated against or can’t access education and opportunity -- that
holds all of us back. And so, in all of our countries, we have to
invest in the interventions that allow us to reach more people --
because no one should be left behind just because of where they live or
what they look like. Development is threatened by old
attitudes, especially those that deny rights and opportunity to women.
In too many places, girls are less likely to be in school than boys.
Globally, women are less likely to have a job than men and are more
likely to live in poverty. I've said this before and I will keep
repeating it -- one of the best indicators of whether a country will
succeed is how it treats its women. When women have an
education, when women have a job, their children are more likely to get
an education, their families are healthier and more prosperous. Their
communities and countries do better, as well. So every nation -- all of our nations -- must invest in the education and health and skills of our women and girls.And
I have to say I do not have patience for the excuse of, well, we have
our own ways of doing things. We understand that there is a long
tradition in every society of discriminating against women. But that's
not an excuse for taking a new path in order to make sure that everyone
in a society has opportunity. Development is threatened if we do
not recognize the incredible dynamism and opportunity of today’s
Africa. Hundreds of millions of Africans still struggle in the face of
grinding poverty and deadly diseases, daily assaults on their lives and
dignity. But I visited Africa recently, and what I saw gave me hope and
I know should give you hope, because that continent has made impressive
gains in health and education. It is one of the fastest-growing
regions of the world, with a rising middle class. And
during my travels, Africans -- especially young Africans -- tell me they
don’t just want aid, they want trade. They want businesses.
They want investment. So I call on the world to join us as we mobilize
billions of dollars in new trade and investment and development in
Africa -- and that includes Power Africa, our initiative to bring
electricity and greater opportunity to more than 60 million African
homes and businesses. If we get Africa fulfilling its full potential,
that will help the entire global economy. Everyone here will be helped.
It's not a zero-sum game. We are invested in their success. Development is threatened by war.
This should be a simple proposition, but it bears repeating. It is no
coincidence that half of the people living in extreme poverty around
the world live in places afflicted by chronic violence and conflict.
Today, some 60 million men, women and children have been forced from
their homes, many by conflicts in the Middle East and in Africa. These
are humanitarian crises and refugees that we cannot ignore, and we have
to deliver the urgent aid that is needed right now. And those countries
that can must do more to accommodate refugees, recognizing that those
children are just like ours. But our efforts must be matched by the
hard work of diplomacy and reconciliation to end conflicts that so often
tear societies apart.And as I said earlier, war and conflict is
more likely to arise where we have bad governance, and we have high
inequality, and we have discrimination against minority groups and
ethnic groups, and we have low educational levels. So these things are
all related. And finally, development is threatened by climate change.
And I want to thank the Secretary General for the extraordinary
leadership and work that he’s done on this issue. (Applause.) All of our countries will be affected by a changing climate. But the world’s poorest people will bear the heaviest burden
-- from rising seas and more intense droughts, shortages of water and
food. We will be seeing climate change refugees. As His Holiness Pope
Francis has rightly implored the world, this is a moral calling. (…) Future
generations of young people watching today and tomorrow will judge us
by the choices we make in the months and years ahead. And one
of those young people is Eva Tolage. Eva lives in a village in
Tanzania. She’s 15 years old, and she wrote me a letter. Some of you
know I get 10 letters a day, mostly from inside the United States, but
sometimes international letters. I get 40,000 a day, but I read 10.And
so Eva told me about her parents -- farmers who struggle to provide for
their seven children. And this young 15-year-old girl -- a girl the
age of my daughters -- she dreams of going to college, but with little
food to eat, she explained how it's hard for her sometimes to
concentrate in school. She explained that her house doesn’t have
electricity, so it's hard for her to study at night. It's not
because her parents don't love her and don't have ambitions for her.
Her father works incredibly hard in the fields to pay for her
education. But they just need a little help. “I won’t let him down,”
Eva said. “I’ll do whatever it takes,” she said in her letter. And
then, knowing that we would be gathered at this summit to help lift up
families like hers, she asked me a question that could be asked of all
of our nations -- “What will you commit to doing…?” What will you do? And
there are billions of boys and girls just like Eva. They’re just like
our children. They have as much talent and as much hope for the future.
And they’re willing to work hard, and their parents love them just as
much as we love ours. And just by the accident of birth, it's so much
more difficult for them to achieve their dreams as it is for our
children. But in the eyes of God, they are the same children. They’re
just as important.And for Eva, and all those just trying to
survive another day in conditions that many of us can barely imagine, it
can sometimes seem as if the world is blind to their struggles and
their dreams. And so today, I say to Eva and hundreds of millions --
billions -- like her: We see you. We hear you. I've read your letter.
And we commit ourselves -- as nations, as one world -- to the urgent
work that must be done. To standing with families like Eva’s as they
work and strive for a better life. To ending the injustice of extreme
poverty. To upholding the inherent dignity of every human being. Whatever it takes. We can’t let them down. And with your help, we won't. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/27/remarks-president-sustainable-development-goals
