Irish Government must show leadership in Addis

Irish Government must recommit to 0.7% GNI in overseas aid at the UN Financing for Development conference, says Trócaire

The Irish Government must show leadership at this week’s UN Financing for Development conference and recommit to its long-standing promise to give 7c out of every €100 of gross national income (GNI) to the world’s poorest people, Trócaire has said.
The conference, which takes place in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, between 13th – 16th July, will decide how the new, universal, anti-poverty Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs), due for agreement in September, will be financed. The goals come into effect in January and will set targets for UN member states around issues such as ending poverty, promoting peace and taking action to combat climate change.

Trócaire’s Executive Director, Éamonn Meehan, said that the conference “is a critical time for building solid foundations for the Sustainable Development Goals,” and that “Ireland, as a matter of urgency, must play its part in ensuring that the goals are adequately financed.”
 
He added: “In just two months time in New York, world leaders will meet at the UN to agree the post-2015 development agenda and a new set of universal goals to address some of the most pressing global issues of our time. Yet, despite the need for substantive additional funding to meet the SDGs, few have met their existing aid commitments to give 7c in every €100 of GNI in aid. Indeed many rich countries, including Ireland, are going backwards.
 
“Funding is essential to make the new SDGs happen. If there is no money, there will be no progress. Poorer countries need support, they need investment, tax justice and development cooperation.

“Political leadership of the highest order is urgently needed. Ireland, as co-facilitators of the SDG process in September, has a vested interest in success in Addis Ababa and should make a firm promise to the poorest people on earth to honour its commitment to give 0.7% of GNI in aid by 2020.”

Lorna Gold, Head of Policy at Trócaire, who is attending the summit in Addis Ababa, said:

“UN members have spent two years intensely focused on fine-tuning the vision of a new SDG world. The effects of mass migration, growing inequality, absolute poverty, climate change, war, terrorism and resource conflicts all call for urgent collective action.

“Addressing these collective challenges requires that governments think beyond the interests of their own country to work together and make necessary sacrifices to address the common good. It is essential that real and binding aid commitments are made if the SDGs are to be successful.”