New Year's Message from
the Global Director, Marina Ponti
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Afghan refugee girls hold hands and sing while playing near their mud homes on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo: Muhammed Muheisen
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As we enter 2024, we are faced by many challenges around us - from climate change to global inequalities. Despite this context, I still believe that positive change is possible and that by taking action together, we can build a future that is peaceful, sustainable and fair. Our hope is further bolstered by witnessing the resilience of people worldwide, especially those grappling with the stark realities of conflict and displacement. This is profoundly captured in this photograph taken by UN SDG Action Awards Judge, Pulitzer-prize winning photographer and Canon Ambassador, Muhammed Muheisen.
Looking ahead, the Summit of the Future in September 2024, convened by the UN Secretary-General, also ignites hope.
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Integrating human rights into global finance for a sustainable future
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“It is time for a profound shift in our approach to economic policies.”
-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk
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As the world navigates through geopolitical crises and escalating conflicts, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk at the Sixth Intersessional Meeting on Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda, urged governments and stakeholders to integrate human rights into the heart of the international financial architecture.
Türk underscored the urgent need for reforms in the international financial institutions. Initially designed 80 years ago to protect the world from deep economic and financial crisis, today the system is broken.
In the wake of the pandemic, countries are drowning even deeper in debt, with the “developing nations carry[ing] the biggest burden.” The High Commissioner warned against the “debt traps becoming even bigger death traps.”
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The Sixth Intersessional Meeting on Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda of the UN Human Rights Council, supported by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) on 18 January 2024 brought together UN agencies, human rights institutions, governments, and civil society organizations to discuss how to make sure the global financial system enables the achievement of human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
During the meeting, speakers addressed the urgent need for a 'human rights economy' amidst global crises and deepening inequalities. They emphasized the importance of reforming the international financial institutions to prioritize human rights and the SDGs, and focus on addressing social and structural economic inequities.
The discussion highlighted the urgent need to scale up resources for implementation of the 2030 Agenda, as well as the critical issue of debt distress, affecting 3.3 billion people, especially in developing countries where governments are spending more on debt than on fundamental human rights like health and education. Panelists called for a fairer system for sovereign debt management, including a multilateral legal framework for debt restructuring. With governments losing around $480 billion to global tax abuse, participants also called for more effective and inclusive international tax cooperation under the UN, to ensure that multinational corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
This meeting will contribute recommendations to the UN Summit for the Future in September 2024 and the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in 2025. The UN SDG Action Campaign proudly supported the advocacy and the dissemination of content of this important meeting.
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“For a long time, the way that economic policy has been being made hasn't really put people at the center of the equation…We also need to address some of the structural inequalities that underlie some of economic policy and decision making.”
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During the meeting, UN SDG Action Campaign interviewed Peggy Hicks, Director of the Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division of OHCHR. Ms. Hicks explores the concept of a 'human rights economy,' emphasizing the need for economic policies that support the realization of people’s human rights.
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