United Nations Members Establish 15-Year Global Development Agenda
(Worthy News) – In what the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, described Monday as the organization’s “to-do” list for the next 15 years, its 193 member states have agreed on an agenda for global development that aims to eliminate poverty and hunger, protect the environment from climate change, achieve gender equality and raise living standards.
The agreement, known as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, was finalized over the weekend after negotiations that began a few years ago. It will be formally adopted at a United Nations summit meeting next month. The agenda supersedes and broadens the eight Millennium Development Goals set in 2000, which Mr. Ban has credited with helping to raise more than one billion people out of abject poverty. [ Source ]
UN-Endorsed ‘Post-2015 Agenda’ Mentions ‘Foreign Occupation,’ Omits ‘Sexual Orientation’
During talks in New York on June 22, the chief U.S. delegate, Tony Pipa, pressed for a reference to “foreign occupation” to be removed from the draft, arguing that it was an inappropriate venue and calling for it to be removed.
A month later, Pipa once again raised the issue: “We note with concern that there has been no change to the reference to ‘foreign occupation,'” he said on July 21. “Our views on this point are well known, and this will not be acceptable.” [ Source ]