Goal 8 - SDGs for All

Photo: A view of Morocco. Source: High Atlas Foundation.

Sub-Saharan African Migrants to Morocco at a Crossroads

Viewpoint by Max Berengaut*

MARRAKECH (IDN) — Entering Morocco, Sub-Saharan African migrants find themselves at a crossroads. There is the promise of an economic future waiting for them in Europe, but the path to it is perilous. They require either an assurance of asylum status or some familial relationship with a European in order to enter Europe without any problems. Unfortunately, many will have neither, forcing them into dangerous and irregular means of entry into Europe, or at times leading them to stay in Morocco.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 18 July 2021

Photo: Women planting an olive tree in the Marrakech-Safi region of Morocco (High Atlas Foundation, 2021)

Decentralisation Vital to Achieving the UN's Global Goals

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and president of the High Atlas Foundation.

MARRAKECH (IDN) — The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aspirationally universal, addressing globally relevant issues with earnest objectives. Despite the profound good that they represent, fundamental problems exist with the Goals. They lack prescriptiveness, even to the extent of not explicitly aligning with what we know is indelible to sustainability: local people’s participation. (P09) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 14 June 2021

COVID-19 Exposes Fault Lines on Protecting Vulnerable Workers

By Mahinda Seneviratne*

SYDNEY (IDN) — As twilight approaches, Rakesh (not his real name) mounts his bicycle with a large thermal backpack over his narrow shoulders. He lost his regular job at a small suburban restaurant when the family business could not sustain itself during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. With the recent shocking road deaths of three food delivery riders heavily on his mind, Rakesh pedals cautiously into the growing traffic lanes to commence his first home delivery gig.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 27 April 2021

Photo: Dr Wim Naudé, Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics with the Cork University Business School in Ireland with the image of AfCFTA from African Union website.

African Free Trade Area Expected to Lift Millions out of Extreme Poverty and Boost Growth

By Busani Bafana

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (IDN) — The long-awaited African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)—set to be the world’s biggest free-trade zone by size—which entered into force on January 1, 2021, promises a new era for African trade.

An Africa-wide free-trade pact could bolster the region’s income by $450 billion and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035, if accompanied by significant policy reforms and trade-facilitation measures, according to the World Bank. When fully operational, the Free Trade area will create a market of 1.2 billion and drive a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion. (P02) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 13 April 2021

Image Copyright © 2014 Province of British Columbia.

The Menace of Human Trafficking—A Canadian Perspective

Viewpoint by Anusha Jaura-Sindhwani*

Human trafficking is one of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets endorsed by the international community in 2015. Goal 8.7 aims at "immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms". Anusha's Canadian perspective is based on 20 years of experience in the child welfare sector. She is also on the Human Trafficking Committee which looks at prevention and supporting youth at risk of trafficking.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 07 April 2021

Photo: File photo | Karnataka State Farmers Association members take part in a protest rally | PTI

India's Farmers Fight for Their Rights and Existence

Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar*

LOS ANGELES (IDN) – India’s farmers are revolting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in a mass movement that has drawn international attention. The world’s largest democracy is witnessing a collective groundswell of protest as hundreds of thousands of farmers, largely from the states of Punjab and Haryana, have laid siege to the outskirts of the capital of New Delhi, determined to occupy the edges of the city until Modi reverses unpopular new laws that they say are anti-farmer.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 18 December 2020

The Need to Engage Youth Social Entrepreneurs to Accelerate the SDGs

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Ms. Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was Professor of Economics at Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia.

BANGKOK (IDN) – This year, the United Nations is marking its 75th anniversary – a milestone of extraordinary economic and social progress in Asia and the Pacific. While the Organization enjoys a lifespan almost equal to the world’s improved average life expectancy, the future lies with those who have recently embarked on theirs: our young people.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 30 October 2020

Photo: Farmer Nurul Haque stands near his 13-year-old daughter in Bangladesh, saying he may have to pull her from school and marry her off to an older man because he has few financial options left. Credit: UNICEF/UN0159775/Nybo.

UN Agency Points to Linkages Between Human Trafficking and Forced Marriage

By Richard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – A new UN report has documented the interlinkages between trafficking in persons and marriage, and specified steps for governments and other authorities to strike back. Published by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the report points out that across the world, girls as young as 12 are being forced or tricked into marrying men who exploit them for sex and domestic work, in what the UNODC has called an "under-reported, global form of human trafficking".

: Admin; Goal 8; 08 October 2020

Photo: Many of the huge numbers of people not covered by social insurance programmes are informal workers, low-waged, women and young people, refugees and migrants, and people with disabilities – and they are the ones hardest hit by this crisis. Photo: UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaizer

UNDP Favours Temporary Basic Income to Protect the World's Poorest from The Impact of COVID-19

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new report by the United Nations is pleading for the immediate introduction of a Temporary Basic Income for the world’s poorest people, arguing that this could slow the current surge in COVID-19 pandemic cases by enabling nearly three billion people to stay at home.

A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report estimates that it would cost from $199 billion per month to provide a time-bound, guaranteed basic income to the 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 developing countries. JAPANESE

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 1; 23 July 2020

Image: Small Island States at the forefront. Credit: Simon Sees at Flickr.

Sustainable Tourism and Fisheries Key to Growth in Post-COVID Pacific

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Developing countries of Asia and the Pacific are experiencing unbalanced tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grim milestones in infections and deaths have left countlessly devastated. Yet, we must look at the economic and social impacts in small island developing States (SIDS), where setbacks are likely to undo years of development gains and push many people back into poverty.