Since the SDGs do not require political reform, they are a big hit with wannabe life presidents, despots and one-party states.
UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY FREE
Make no mistake: the future that these regimes and their backers want is one where repression and blatant looting is permitted so long as superficial “development” gains are made and quantified, and so long as pesky issues like respect for democratic rights and the holding of free and fair elections are sidestepped entirely. Today, dictatorships like Algeria, Belarus, China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe are part of the Open Working Group tasked with implementing and monitoring SDG progress. And despite the perceived success of the SDGs, there has been twelve consecutive years of decline in global freedom, according to a recent report by Freedom House. In other words, the basic freedoms that underpin and advance human development are missing from the SDG equation.ĭespite their feel-good vibe the SDGs are, in many ways, an authoritarian project, assisting a status quo in which 93 countries, and an estimated four billion people, are ruled by authoritarian regimes, according to Human Rights Foundation. And numerous working groups, task forces, family foundations, philanthropic endeavors, and government delegations have formed part of a growing army dedicated to spreading the SDG gospel.Ĭritically important terms like “anti-corruption,” “civil liberties,” “free expression,” “press freedom,” “independent judiciary,” “separation of powers,” “free and fair elections,” and “civil society” are also absent. Billions of dollars of investment have been spent and donated to the cause. Today, there are countless global conferences based on SDG themes. In 2015 the United Nations unveiled the SDGs-an evolution of the Millennium Development Goals crafted in 2000-to address endemic poverty, the proliferation of HIV/AIDS, lack of clean drinking water, adequate healthcare and other basic services in the developing world. Indeed, this is by design and not at all a coincidence. Conveniently missing from the menu of high-level discussion topics, however, are the very causes of the world’s most persistent social ills: lack of respect for democratic values and basic human rights. A key theme of the meeting will center on progress made towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including gender equality, climate change, “building peace,” and “jobs of the future.” These issues are certainly worthy of concern, and on the surface, there would appear to not be much to criticize.
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This weekend, the Group of Seven (G7), an informal alliance of the world’s advanced economies, will meet to discuss today’s most pressing global challenges.