Spotted this the other day, it is the United Nations 2030 Agenda from their own website:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
What are people’s thoughts on it?
My thoughts.
They identify many issues, that is to say things they wish to change. To change something on behalf of another, is to swap the other’s ownership for your own, increasing your power at the reduction of theirs.
The document mentions the use and need of international law to facilitate its goals:
- We are announcing today 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 associated targets which are integrated and indivisible. Never before have world leaders pledged common action and endeavour across such a broad and universal policy agenda. We are setting out together on the path towards sustainable development, devoting ourselves collectively to the pursuit of global development and of “win-win” cooperation which can bring huge gains to all countries and all parts of the world. We reaffirm that every State has, and shall freely exercise, full permanent sovereignty over all its wealth, natural resources and economic activity. We will implement the Agenda for the full benefit of all, for today’s generation and for future generations. In doing so, we reaffirm our commitment to international law and emphasize that the Agenda is to be implemented in a manner that is consistent with the rights and obligations of states under international law.
- States are strongly urged to refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede the full achievement of economic and social development, particularly in developing countries.
What is International Law? Here it is according to Wikipedia.
Attempts to codify customary international law picked up momentum after the Second World War with the formation of the International Law Commission (ILC), under the aegis of the United Nations.
Democracies in the developing world, due to their past colonial histories, often insist on non-interference in their internal affairs, particularly regarding human rights standards or their peculiar institutions, but often strongly support international law at the bilateral and multilateral levels, such as in the United Nations, and especially regarding the use of force, disarmament obligations, and the terms of the UN Charter.
The formation of the United Nations, for example, created a means for the world community to enforce international law upon members that violate its charter through the Security Council.
The document mentions the use and need of global solidarity even at the individual level:
We are determined to mobilize the means required to implement this Agenda through a revitalised Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focussed in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable and with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all people.
- We, the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives, meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 25-27 September 2015 as the Organization celebrates its seventieth anniversary, have decided today on new global Sustainable Development Goals.
- On behalf of the peoples we serve, we have adopted a historic decision on a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Goals and targets. We commit ourselves to working tirelessly for the full implementation of this Agenda by 2030. We recognize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. We are committed to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner. We will also build upon the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seek to address their unfinished business.
- We are announcing today 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 associated targets which are integrated and indivisible. Never before have world leaders pledged common action and endeavour across such a broad and universal policy agenda. We are setting out together on the path towards sustainable development, devoting ourselves collectively to the pursuit of global development and of “win-win” cooperation which can bring huge gains to all countries and all parts of the world. We reaffirm that every State has, and shall freely exercise, full permanent sovereignty over all its wealth, natural resources and economic activity. We will implement the Agenda for the full benefit of all, for today’s generation and for future generations. In doing so, we reaffirm our commitment to international law and emphasize that the Agenda is to be implemented in a manner that is consistent with the rights and obligations of states under international law.
- We reaffirm the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as other international instruments relating to human rights and international law. We emphasize the responsibilities of all States, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations, to respect, protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, disability or other status.
- The new Goals and targets will come into effect on 1 January 2016 and will guide the decisions we take over the next fifteen years. All of us will work to implement the Agenda within our own countries and at the regional and global levels, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities We will respect national policy space for sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, in particular for developing states, while remaining consistent with relevant international rules and commitments. We acknowledge also the importance of the regional and sub-regional dimensions, regional economic integration and interconnectivity in sustainable development. Regional and sub-regional frameworks can facilitate the effective translation of sustainable development policies into concrete action at national level.
- We pledge to foster inter-cultural understanding, tolerance, mutual respect and an ethic of global citizenship and shared responsibility. We acknowledge the natural and cultural diversity of the world and recognize that all cultures and civilizations can contribute to, and are crucial enablers of, sustainable development.
- The scale and ambition of the new Agenda requires a revitalized Global Partnership to ensure its implementation. We fully commit to this. This Partnership will work in a spirit of global solidarity, in particular solidarity with the poorest and with people in vulnerable situations. It will facilitate an intensive global engagement in support of implementation of all the Goals and targets, bringing together Governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizing all available resources.
Don’t worry, the UN respects you as a nation, but you must voluntarily comply with their collective:
- We recognize that each country has primary responsibility for its own economic and social development. The new Agenda deals with the means required for implementation of the Goals and targets. We recognize that these will include the mobilization of financial resources as well as capacity-building and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed. Public finance, both domestic and international, will play a vital role in providing essential services and public goods and in catalyzing other sources of finance. We acknowledge the role of the diverse private sector, ranging from micro-enterprises to cooperatives to multinationals, and that of civil society organizations and philanthropic organizations in the implementation of the new Agenda.
- We emphasize that international public finance plays an important role in complementing the efforts of countries to mobilize public resources domestically, especially in the poorest and most vulnerable countries with limited domestic resources. An important use of international public finance, including ODA, is to catalyse additional resource mobilization from other sources, public and private. ODA providers reaffirm their respective commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7% of ODA/GNI to developing countries and 0.15% to 0.2% of ODA/GNI to least developed countries.
- We acknowledge the importance for international financial institutions to support, in line with their mandates, the policy space of each country, in particular developing countries. We recommit to broadening and strengthening the voice and participation of developing countries – including African countries, least developed countries, land-locked developing countries, small-island developing States and middle-income countries – in international economic decision-making, norm-setting and global economic governance.
- We acknowledge also the essential role of national parliaments through their enactment of legislation and adoption of budgets and their role in ensuring accountability for the effective implementation of our commitments. Governments and public institutions will also work closely on implementation with regional and local authorities, sub-regional institutions, international institutions, academia, philanthropic organisations, volunteer groups and others.
The UN will not tolerate entities acting without them. Their governments, companies and citizens, must comply as tools for the UNs expansion:
- Our Governments have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review, at the national, regional and global levels, in relation to the progress made in implementing the Goals and targets over the coming fifteen years. To support accountability to our citizens, we will provide for systematic follow-up and review at the various levels, as set out in this Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. The High Level Political Forum under the auspices of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council will have the central role in overseeing follow-up and review at the global level.
- Indicators are being developed to assist this work. Quality, accessible, timely and reliable disaggregated data will be needed to help with the measurement of progress and to ensure that no one is left behind. Such data is key to decision-making. Data and information from existing reporting mechanisms should be used where possible. We agree to intensify our efforts to strengthen statistical capacities in developing countries, particularly African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing States and middle-income countries. We are committed to developing broader measures of progress to complement gross domestic product (GDP).
The UN is God embodied. Individuals are chess pieces to the UN.
- Seventy years ago, an earlier generation of world leaders came together to create the United Nations. From the ashes of war and division they fashioned this Organization and the values of peace, dialogue and international cooperation which underpin it. The supreme embodiment of those values is the Charter of the United Nations.
- Today we are also taking a decision of great historic significance. We resolve to build a better future for all people, including the millions who have been denied the chance to lead decent, dignified and rewarding lives and to achieve their full human potential. We can be the first generation to succeed in ending poverty; just as we may be the last to have a chance of saving the planet. The world will be a better place in 2030 if we succeed in our objectives.
- What we are announcing today – an Agenda for global action for the next fifteen years – is a charter for people and planet in the twenty-first century. Children and young women and men are critical agents of change and will find in the new Goals a platform to channel their infinite capacities for activism into the creation of a better world.
- “We the Peoples” are the celebrated opening words of the UN Charter. It is “We the Peoples” who are embarking today on the road to 2030. Our journey will involve Governments as well as Parliaments, the UN system and other international institutions, local authorities, indigenous peoples, civil society, business and the private sector, the scientific and academic community – and all people. Millions have already engaged with, and will own, this Agenda. It is an Agenda of the people, by the people, and for the people – and this, we believe, will ensure its success.
- The future of humanity and of our planet lies in our hands. It lies also in the hands of today’s younger generation who will pass the torch to future generations. We have mapped the road to sustainable development; it will be for all of us to ensure that the journey is successful and its gains irreversible.
Individuals should be responsible for their wealth, food, health, education, gender equality, water, energy, economy, infrastructure, international inequality, settlements, consumption, climate, oceans, ecosystems, societies, finance, technology, building, trade - not a global government managing it for each nation.
Individual empowerment and governmental empowerment are mutually exclusive. Expanded governmental power, only comes at reduced individual freedoms. You cannot have both individual empowerment and governmental empowerment.
The balance between the two, is accepted only when each individual accepts their agreement between themselves and their government collective. If they do not accept to live at accordance and have no way to opt-out, then governmental oppression, suppression, and repression of the individual ensues.
The interests of a group can never come at the expense of any individual’s interest, unless the individual agrees to it, otherwise there is tyranny. Solidarity is an equivocation for surrendering individuality for a collective - this is fine for festivals where it is done voluntarily - but to enforce it, is to enforce a cult.
The future of humanity and of our planet lies in our collective’s hands. It lies also in the hands of today’s younger generation who will pass the torch to future generations. Our collective has mapped the road for our sustainability targets through our expansion; it will be for every individual, company, and nation to ensure that the journey for our collective’s expansion is successful and its gains irreversible.
The future of an agent, should never lie in another’s hands without their consent. Responsibility for anyone besides yourself, is the antithesis of self-actualisation for the other.
It is not that we must work towards a future where no agent has that power, as then no individual is powerful, but work towards a future where no agent can take power away from another.
While an instant criticism of my criticism, is the the UN is a collective sure, but they are collective seeking help from all types of agents to empower individuals across the globe. The problem for me is where the UN exists. Their vehicle is government intervention, expansion, and regulation. Having a global government control tinker with international food and wealth is a terrible idea - in the same way global government control of inequality has been.
If you want environmentally friendly cooking, do not blame the gas companies for procuring you gas, blame yourself for paying them to do that on your behalf so you can use your gas cooker instead of an electric one. Then do not blame the electricity company for procuring your electricity through coal, blame yourself for paying an electricity company that uses coal instead of selecting a clean competitor. Do not blame the coal electricity companies for no clean competitors, blame yourself for not funding through money or time clean infrastructure to where it is more profitable to adopt.
Redistributing wealth at any point in this cycle does not solve the innovation problem, it only worsens it. Redistributing wealth from what one perceives as bad companies to good companies, makes the products of perceived bad companies more expensive, making the current infrastructure more expensive, making it more expensive for the next company to do its thing. It may even make the perceived bad yet current company go out of business, leaving no foundations for the next company to bootstrap off of.
Individuals can fix their own problems, when they have the currency of will. They exchange will for action, and when those actions are desired by others, it results in payment with money. You get as much money to the extent your enacted willpower was desired by yourself and the paying party. The value of each currency is based on the current cumulative value of that currency against all the value of all the others.
Having a collective then say, we will take some of the symbol of your stored enacted desired willpower, without consent nor the ability to opt-out without oppression, is theft through coercion.
The problem then arises with, the government does facilitate some things that are desirable which we pay them to do, such as ensuring that the free market operates without corruption, however they also inevitably will do things with your money that you do not agree with. And as an entity that has power over individuals, can be corrupted itself to do heinous things against individualism.
The only solution to that, does not seem to be more governmental expansion, which governments and dependents desire, but with more lego block style governments, which technology can help facilitate the movement towards. My thoughts on that are here.
I think anyone familiar with the history of the UN and its involvement in corruption and scandal in nearly every project, agenda, or proxy war they wage would be wise to distrust everything they say. Succinctly, the stated motives of an organization are not the same as its behavior. A committee of 100 people (guessing) vomited the pithy truisms and empathetic statistics into the reports and mission statements of a million different agendas- and an army of self-interested actors are lining up to milk the resource bureaucracy it devises to create (almost certainly as a thinly disguised attempt to siphon and redistribute wealth). There isn’t enough coherence in the UN body to be efficacious, and power is distributed too asymmetrically with respect to agenda and effort.
Metaphorically, if my body were the UN, and my organs all member states, its like my head stating grandly that it intends to send all the vital resources of my next meal to the feet (arbitrary), and then my gut earnestly agreeing, but laughing as it steals all the fat along the way, and my liver chortling as it sucks the glucose all for itself etc.; meanwhile, the poor feet get diabetic myopathy and gangrene as the nutrients and circulation are reduced. See the Clinton Foundation and its efforts to help Haiti, for instance.
I agree with you that all production capacity and resource allocation should be localized and closely tied to individual freedom of production, action and use.
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