Woman from Tupu Village, Mt Hagen Diocese in Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands Province, where Caritas provided assistance as part of its El Nino response programme. Photo by Mark Mitchell, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
Caritas delegates will be at the United Nations in New York for the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development to track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The High-Level Political Forum will be held from 10 to 19 July. This year’s meeting is on the theme of ‘Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world.’
The SDGs were adopted two years ago. The 17 goals address poverty eradication and the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
The Caritas delegation includes staff from Caritas Internationalis in New York and Geneva, and from member organisations in Africa, Latin America and Nigeria.
On Wednesday 12 July, from 1:15pm to 2:30pm, Caritas is co-organising an event at the New York meeting on implementing the agenda in Kenya and Oceania.
The Caritas event will look at
Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture;
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Stephen Kituku, director of Caritas Kenya, and Julianne Hickey, director of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, will join Archbishop Bernadito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and other speakers at the event.
In a statement, Caritas said that “changing political priorities, lack of resources and political will or low capacities” are major challenges in delivering the SDGs.
“The High-Level Political Forum should serve as a call on governments to reinforce their commitments, political will and full support to achieve the SDGs by 2030,” said Amparo Alonso, head of Caritas Internationalis delegation to the United Nations in Geneva.
“Economic prosperity must be shared, social protections must be put in place for all while the environment is safeguarded,” she said. “Governments from the Global North have a particular responsibility to deliver.”
In particular, the impacts of climate change on poverty eradication, hunger, forced migration and sustainable development are clear. The High-Level Political Forum must act as a forum to implement both the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement.
Follow @CaritasAdvocacy