The new academic year is underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — but dozen of schools in the territory of Nyiragongo, near the North Kivu capital of Goma, have become makeshift homes to internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Antoinette Gahizi is one of the IDPs, who every morning has to pack up her belongings and carry them out of the classroom she calls home. She needs to make way for the school children who will use the same space for their lessons.
“After classes, we head back to the classrooms,” Gahizi told DW. “But we’re hit by the rain here, our things get wet and there’s no way to shelter our children. We are suffering a lot.”
Violent clashes between M23 rebels and the Congolese army have displaced thousand in eastern DRCImage: Jerome Delay/AP/picture alliance Displacement and violence in DRC
Gahizi is a victim of a conflict in eastern DRC which, since the beginning of the year, has kiled more than 2,750 people and displaced 1.6 million — expanding the country’s overall numbers of IDPs to 6.3 million.
Tensions flared in March 2022 when M23 rebels, after a decade of relative calm, attacked Congolese army positions near the border between Uganda and Rwanda, causing locals to flee for their safety.
Among the displaced are more than 800,000 children, who suffer violence of “unprecedented levels,” according to UNICEF.
Over 2,000 schools have been affected — and thousands of children have been deprived of their right to education.
Meanwhile, the UN hopes that by 2030, every child will have access to a school education that gives them an opportunity to have a career in the future — one of 17 so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to end of all kinds of poverty.
The SDGs are aimed at promoting a fairer, more eco-friendly world without hunger and poverty, and will be the topic of conversation at a summit in New York next week.
The action plan was adopted at a UN summit in 2015, however the DRC is a long way from achieving them.
What are the UN’s 17 sustainability goals?
The United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aimed at promoting a fairer, more eco-friendly world without hunger and poverty. The action plan was adopted at a UN summit in 2015.
Image: Christoph Soeder/dpa/picture alliance
The first goal calls for the eradication of poverty “in all its forms everywhere.” This is an extension of the old Millennium goal that set out to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Opinions are divided on the feasibility of the target.
Image: Daniel Garcia/AFP/Getty Images
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, some 800 million people in the world who don’t have enough to eat. Sustainable agriculture, small-scale farming and rural development have all been cited as factors that could contribute to wiping out malnutrition by 2030.
Image: picture-alliance/dpaGoal 3: Good health and well-being
Every five seconds, an infant dies somewhere in the world. Around 6.6 million children under the age of 5 die every year, and almost 300,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth. Child and maternal mortality could be prevented through simple measures. By 2030, everyone should have access to health care, affordable medicines and vaccines.
Image: Maxwell Suuk/DWGoal 4: Quality education
Whether a girl or a boy, rich or poor – by 2030 every child should have access to a school education that gives them an opportunity to have a career. Men and women should have equal educational opportunities regardless of their ethnic or social background and regardless of any disabilities.
Image: picture alliance/Robert Harding World Imagery
Women should be able to equally participate in public and political life. Violence and forced marriage should be a thing of the past and all women should have access to contraceptives and family planning services — a controversial point in some religious circles.
Image: Alexandar Detev/DWGoal 6: Clean water and sanitation
Almost 750 million people have no access to clean drinking water, and 1 billion people lack access to sanitation, according to UN estimates. By 2030, safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation should be available to everyone. Water resources should be sustainable and the ecosystem must be protected.
Image: Arka Duttaa/Pacific Press/picture allianceGoal 7: Affordable and clean energy
By 2030, everyone should have access to electricity and other forms of energy, preferably from renewable sources. Global energy efficiency should be doubled and infrastructure constructed — particularly in the poorest countries. There are around 1.3 billion people that still live without access to electricity.
Image: Thomas Imo/photothek/picture alliance Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
This pledge calls for fair working conditions worldwide and job opportunities for young people in a sustainable global economy. This applies both to industrialized and developing countries and also includes an end to child labor and compliance with the international labor standards of the International Labor Organization.
Image: AFP/Getty ImagesGoal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Better infrastructure to promote economic development — that’s something everyone could benefit from. But industrialization should be socially and environmentally sustainable, create more and better jobs and encourage innovation. This would contribute to sustainable and social justice.
Image: imago/imagebrokerGoal 10: Reduced inequalities
One percent of the world’s population generates more than half of global economic growth, according to the UN. The gap between rich and poor has continued to grow. International development policy should help the poorest half of the population living in the world’s poorest countries.
Image: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty ImagesGoal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
Human and environmentally-friendly living spaces with affordable housing should be a feature of every city in the world. These urban centers should also be more sustainable and green, particularly in developing countries, which should receive support to make them more resistant to climate-related natural disasters.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. DirectoGoal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Recycling, reuse of resources and waste mitigation, particularly with regard to food production and consumer use: everyone shares responsibility for this goal. Resources should be used in a way that is both ecologically and socially sustainable, and fossil fuel subsidies should be phased out.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J.-K. Kasper
A global agreement on measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change is a necessity. Developed nations should help poorer countries with technological and financial means to achieve this pledge. At the same time, they should work to massively reduce their own emissions.
Image: APGoal 14: Life below water
The ecosystems that make up the world’s oceans are on the verge of collapse, and swift action is needed. By 2030, measures should be taken to prevent overfishing, destruction of coastal areas and marine biodiversity. The aim by 2025 is to significantly reduce pollution caused by garbage and overfertilization.
Image: imago
UN member states must put a stop to extensive environmental degradation of watersheds, forests and biodiversity. By 2030, land, forests and water resources should be better protected and use of natural resources fundamentally changed.
Image: WILDLIFE/I.R.Lloyd/picture allianceGoal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
Everyone should be equal before the law. National institutions and international bodies need to work together to do more to prevent violence, terror, corruption and organized crime. By 2030, everyone should have the right to a legal identity and a birth certificate.
Image: imago/Paul von StroheimGoal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Developed countries should set aside 0.7% of their gross national income (GNI) to support developing countries, a target that was already part of the Millennium Development Goals. In Germany, only 0.39% of the GNI is set aside for development aid at the moment. Just five countries have reached 0.7% so far: Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Image: Christoph Soeder/dpa/picture alliance Half a billion people live in poverty
The SDGs also call for the eradication of poverty “in all its forms everywhere” and zero hunger.
But almost 1 in 10 of the world’s inhabitants are suffering from hunger, according to the World Bank.
And there are more than 110 active conflicts taking place globally, according to the The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights — more than 35 of which are in Africa.
The UN in March 2022 stated that 26% of the world’s population does not have access to clean drinking water. Although access to energy has increased in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 50% of the region’s population still lacks access.
More than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school, said NGO Humanium, with Sub-Saharan Africa being the most affected area with over 32 million children.
“Two thirds of African countries are said to be in the suboptimal human development category,” Lebohang Liepollo Pheko, a senior research fellow and a political economist at feminist think tank Trade Collective, told DW.
Among the displaced are more than 800,000 children, who suffer violence of ‘unprecedented levels,’ according to UNICEFImage: Andrea Hanks/UPI Photo/Newscom/picture alliance
Development is even declining in almost one-third of the continent’s countries.
The decline is blamed in part on the COVID pandemic, which shook up health, economic and social systems.
Russia’s war in Ukraine sent prices for commodities skyrocketing worldwide.
And millions of people in the Horn of Africa face a severe humanitarian crisis due to drought, flooding and conflict.
Making headway
Amid the challenges, however, are major achievements that are worth mentioning.
Ghana has made strides in tackling maternal mortality, as well as providing access to improved drinking water services and electricity.
Tanzania has made progress towards reducing inequalities, providing education and setting up climate action interventions.
“The DRC made very significant progress on a number of areas,” pointed out Grant Leaity, UNICEF’s representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“The number of under-five mortalities has reduced by half to 70 under-five mortalities per 1,000 live births from 2013 to 2018. We also saw the government of DRC very committed to the reduction of multi-dimensional poverty, and building a social protection system.”
East Africa’s smallest country, Djibouti, seeks to capitalize on its strategic position on one of the world’s busiest trade routesImage: YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP
But despite these achievements, Pheko was critical that the SDGs “promote a very universal agenda which is really good by global north interests,” but fetishized countries that failed to meet SDG standards without considering individual starting points.
According to Pheko, the problem is the “neoliberal and colonial context as to how certain regions and countries came to be supposedly ‘underdeveloped’ and ‘developed’.”
“There’s a correlation between the two,” Pheko pointed out. “The extraction from the Global South versus the so-called prosperity of the global North, the slave trade, colonialism, apartheid and so on. And then how the global economic architecture continues to support these extractives.”
It takes more than money
Aid agencies and the UN emphasized that there is a massive requirement to increase funding for education, healthcare and agriculture — not to mention a need to invest in basic services, clean energy and digital transition.
Africa needs about $194 billion (€182 billion) annually to achieve the SDGs by 2030, according to the African Union Commission and the OECD.
“We need to rethink trade relationships which make it difficult for African countries to trade finished products rather than exporting raw products which are then ironically sent back to us,” suggested Pheko.
Also required is a conversation around debt forgiveness and “redistribution of benefits, wealth and resources from the global north to the Global South, including reparations and a more reparative solidarity approach,” added Pheko.
Renewable energy offers Africa best opportunity to achieve the SDGs, according to the African Development BankImage: Thomas Imo/photothek/IMAGO
Aside from protecting the environment to minimize the impact of climate change, Leaity pointed out the importance of ending the conflict.
“We need peace. We need the 1.6 million internally displaced people in DRC to go back home,” Leaity said.
“If we find a political solution to the conflict in the east, that will provide the favorable conditions to getting back to the pre-pandemic trajectory of improvement towards SDGs.”
Back in the east of Congo, Noëlla Ngezabera and thousands of others fleeing the violence hope for nothing else. But the dream of peace seems far away. Ngezabera feels forgotten — and considers drastic measures.
“It leaves us to ponder if it might be preferable to return to our villages and coexist with the rebels. But our government seems to care less about our situation.”
Zanem Nety Zaidi contributed to this article
Edited by: Keith Walker
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Source link : https://amp.dw.com/en/africa-needs-peace-to-hit-sustainable-development-goals/a-66813011
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Publish date : 2023-09-14 07:00:00
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