#GlobalGoals - Dear World Leaders, This is an Emergency

Dear World Leaders,

This is an emergency.

We are activists for different causes from across the world, writing as one for the first time to demand your immediate action in this critical year…

So starts an unprecedented open letter launched today, signed by 20 leading global activists, calling out world leaders to act faster to end extreme poverty, defeat inequality and fight climate crisis.

This open letter marks the first time that activists fighting for global causes have been united by one single voice. Ranging from ages 10 to 94, the leading gender, climate, environmental, equality, justice and human rights campaigners include Malala Yousafzai, Obiageli Ezekwesili (Bring Back Our Girls, Nigeria), Tarana Burke (Me Too), Patrisse Cullors (Black Lives Matter) and Dr. Jane Goodall. 

The activists’ open letter has also been signed and supported by a network of 2000 campaigners and public figures across the arts, business and philanthropy from over 140 countries, including Emma Watson, Bono, Danny Boyle, Keira Knightley, Christiane Amanpour, Idris Elba, Femi Kuti and Spike Lee.

The letter declares a state of “emergency” for people and planet. It comes one week on from UN Secretary-General António Guterres calling on the international community to make the 2020s the “decade of action” and 2020 the “year of urgency”.

The letter stresses the need for immediate action, including at key 2020 moments, if the world is to meet the Global Goals. These key moments, include COP26, the Gavi replenishment, Generation Equality Forums in Mexico and France, the UN General Assembly and a landmark biodiversity conference in China.

The Global Goals for Sustainable Development are a historic plan adopted at the UN in 2015 to tackle these world problems. 193 countries (yes, including yours) have committed to achieve them by 2030.

Richard Curtis, SDG advocate, screenwriter and co-founder of Project Everyone, says:  “We are in an emergency for people and planet - the solution to which is the Global Goals  - the historic plan to defeat poverty, fix inequality and combat the climate crisis. In 2020, leaders will be watched by people all around the world who expect them to deliver dramatically. It’s also a clear commitment that this diverse and deeply committed group will themselves press hard throughout this crucial year to kickstart a Decade of Action for the Goals.”

The activists demand sustained innovation, financing and action over the crucial decade ahead to 2030. Recent reports underline the need for swift action; at least half the global population does not have access to essential health services, hunger is on the rise after a prolonged decline, and at the current rate of progress, it will take almost 100 years to close the global gender gap. Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions are reaching record levels and key ecosystems are on the verge of collapse with one million species in near-term danger of extinction.

The open letter is accompanied by a public campaign asking citizens to show their support by sharing the letter and to join this effort for people and planet by using #GlobalGoals. The full list of signatories can be seen at www.globalgoals.org. A campaign film has also been directed by Richard Curtis.

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Trouble in Paradise: Solomon Islands’ traditions foster inequality

Solomon Islands/ credit: olli0815 /bigstock.com

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Solomon Islands, the string of paradise-looking green islands tucked away in the South Pacific, is a place of exotic beauty where life flows at a gentle pace.  But it also a country with one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.  And the violence is widely accepted as "the way things are".

A new report by the Equal Rights Trust shows that strong traditions, such as Kastom (Pijin for custom) and Wantok ('one talk') reinforce clan ties, but also emphasise differences and foster discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, gender, disability and sexual orientation.

In particular, the report highlights widespread discrimination against women, which is directly connected to Kastom - in this case, the patriarchal attitudes and gender stereotypes typified by the Bigman culture, whereby communities look to a strong male figure to provide leadership and consider women as inferior to men.

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Members of Solomon Islands YWCA march during International Women’s Day in Honiara by DFAT/Credit:Jeremy Miller

“We found that women are effectively second-class citizens in Solomon Islands; they are invisible in all areas of politics and government and do not participate equally with men in any area of life. Violence against women is alarmingly widespread and widely accepted by both men and women,” said Executive Director of the Equal Rights Trust, Dr Dimitrina Petrova.

Statistics highlighted in the report are startling: more than half of all women experienced sexual violence by an intimate partner and 64% of women between 15 and 49 suffered violence at home.

During a focus group discussion for the report, one woman summarised male attitudes towards women in these terms: “You women are here on earth to give birth and work for us men, and we are your bosses; so do as we say.”

In travel guides, the former British protectorate south-east of Papua New Guinea is presented as a friendly melting pot of cultures and traditions, but the report found serious discrimination between those of different Wantok, community groups based on shared linguistic and cultural heritage.  “Our research found compelling evidence of concern amongst Solomon Islanders that those in positions of power abuse their authority and make corrupt decisions in favour of their Wantok group,” says Petrova.

In addition, the report found that people with disabilities are perceived as “cursed” and denied equality of participation in education, employment and healthcare. And lesbian, gay and bisexual persons are subject to severe social stigma.

The report argues that if Solomon Islands is to move on from the civil unrest, which brought the country to the brink of collapse between 1998 and 2003, its people must stand up and fight traditions which exacerbate difference on the basis of ethnicity, gender, disability and sexual orientation.