The United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres on September 17, 2021, appointed Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi as the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocate ahead of the start of the 76th United Nations General Assembly.

According to the press release by the UN, along with Kailash Satyarthi, Microsoft President Brad Smith, STEM activist Valentina Munoz Rabanal and K-pop superstars BLACKPINK has also been appointed as new SDG advocates.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, while talking about the SDG Goals, said that we are at a pivotal moment. The choices we make now could put us on a path towards breakdown and a future of perpetual crisis; or a breakthrough to a safe and greener world.

Role of SDG advocates

The appointment of Kailash Satyarthi is a significant step to bolster the outreach on critical child rights issues such as combatting child labour.

The role of Sustainable Development Goals Advocates will be integral to advancing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. The advocates will be able to use their considerable spheres of influence to reach new constituencies to act now and keep the promise of SDGs for people and the planet.

The SDG Advocates of the UN Secretary-General are the strong public figures who can use their platform and voices to bring to life the vision of a better world and also call for action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Kailash Satyarthi as SGD advocate: What are the plans?

Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi after being appointed as SDGs Advocate said that the responsibility has been given at a critical time when the world saw the first rise in child labour in two decades during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added that there is a need for urgent measures to get the governments to focus on the most marginalized children. With 160 million children now in child labour, and millions more at risk due to pandemic, the increased numbers have interrupted the world’s promise of eliminating child labour by 2025 as committed to UN SDG 8.7. It puts the entire 2030 agenda for SDG at risk.

Satyarthi, after the first meeting UN Chief, plans on reinforcing that the next 2 years will be critical and there is an immediate need for a Social Protection Fund for children of low-income nations, to begin with.

For India, Kailash Satyarthi cautioned that trafficking is on the rise and there is a need to allocate more funds for children protection services.

About Kailash Satyarthi

Kailash Satyarthi is an Indian social reformer who campaigned against child labour and also advocated for the universal right to education.

Satyarthi is the founder of multiple social activist organisations, including Global March against Child labour, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Kailash Satyarthi children’s foundation.

• Kailash Satyarthi and his team at Bachpan Bachao Andolan have liberated more than 90,000 children from India from slavery, child labour and trafficking.

In 2014, Kailash Satyarthi was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Malala Yousafzai. They were honoured for their struggle against the suppression of young people and children and for the right of all children to education.

Kailash Satyarthi has also served on the committee and board of several international organisations including the International Labour Rights Fund, Center for Victims of Torture and Cocoa Initiative.

Sustainable Development Goals

In 2012, Sustainable Development Goals was accepted by all the United Nations members at the Rio de Janeiro Council Meet. It aims to promote a healthy and developed future for the planet and its people.

SDGs are a set of 17 pointer targets that all the nations that are members of the UN have agreed upon for the better future of the country.

SDG is a group of 17 goals with 304 indicators and 169 targets, as proposed by the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group on SDGs to be achieved by the years 2030.

Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join Us