IfE proposes adoption of SDG Goal 10 on Equality

 

IfE’s Field Hearings brought voices of poor and marginalized communities into the global discussion on the future of the earth, leading to the successful adoption of SDG Goal 10 on equality.

 

(Participants in Field Hearings in Malawi, 2012)

 

IfE’s Field Hearings brought voices of poor, socially excluded and politically marginalized communities into the global discussion on the future of the earth. This unprecedented movement was the first time so many marginalized communities were able to speak out collectively to influence policy. In June of 2012, IfE’s Field Hearings preliminary results as well as IfE’s Equity Treaty were presented by IfE network members at several events during the Rio+20 Earth Summit in Brazil. Our report and the discussions at these events influenced the Rio+20 Summit: the final outcome document ended up including the concept of “equity” over 20 times! 

 

IfE calls for a stand-alone goal on inequalities

The next year, citing the demands of marginalized communities expressed during Field Hearings around the world, IfE President Deborah S. Rogers called for a stand-alone goal on reducing inequalities to be included in the new Sustainable Development Goals which were being drafted at that time. Rogers was invited to speak to the UN’s Open Working Group (OWG), which was the body charged with drafting the SDGs, as one of just two civil society speakers elected through a Major Groups process. On 25 November at UN HQ in New York, Rogers presented the OWG with statistics on inequality, poverty, and the inadequacy of economic growth to eradicate poverty, demonstrating that the only realistic way to end poverty is through substantially reducing economic inequalities. Read her presentation here: Presentation to OWG 5th Session 25 Nov 2013

 

 

 

After Rogers’ remarks, OWG co-chair Ambassador Macharia Kamau (Kenya) asked Rogers to submit IfE’s proposal for draft language for a stand-alone goal to end inequalities. Over the upcoming months, IfE submitted draft text based on a network-wide consultation, then coordinated a large coalition to fight for its inclusion during the negotiations.

 

Global Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 10, Adopted

After much negotiation, the UN General Assembly adopted the SDGs – including IfE’s goal on reducing inequalities – in 2015. Goal 10, “Reducing inequalities within and among countries,” was the centerpiece of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), negotiated for 3 years and then adopted on 25 September 2015 by all nations in the UN.

 

IfE’s Deborah Rogers spoke at a Side Event on Goal 10 during the UN General Assembly meetings to adopt the SDGs. You can read her statement here: Reducing Inequalities Between Countries. Speakers at the event, which was sponsored by the government of Indonesia, the European Commission, and several NGOs, agreed that inequalities are the central theme of the new SDGs, and that addressing inequalities will be a political battle, not a technocratic process.

 

Although there are many problems with the implementation of the language, Goal 10 represents a significant shift in the global discourse, endorsing the importance of reducing inequalities – a systemic cause of poverty, rather than focusing on poverty as an individual condition.

 

 

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