By Holy See Mission
Intervention of the
Permanent Observer Mission of the
Holy See
to the United Nations
Tenth Session of the Open Working Group on the
Sustainable Development Goals
Cluster 1 “Poverty Eradication and Promoting
Equality”
New York, 31 March 2014
Mr.
Co-Chair,
The importance that all States place on
poverty eradication is abundantly manifest from the opening lines of The Future We Want, which unequivocally
considers poverty eradication to constitute “the greatest global challenge facing the world today” and “an indispensable requirement for sustainable
development.”[1]
The Holy See, which actively
participated in this negotiated outcome, stands resolutely with all of you in
this conviction. Pope Francis wrote recently that “[t]he
need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed, not only
for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but
because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and
frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises.”[2]
Fortunately, in this regard we do not
need to reinvent the wheel. Through trial-and-error, society itself has
developed what the Secretary-General calls its own “basic building block”:[3]
the family. It is within the family that the next generation of humanity is
welcomed, fed, clothed, and provided for. Setting a development agenda for the next
15 years is a powerful gesture of intergenerational solidarity. The future we
want becomes, then, the future we want for our children and our children’s
children. In the very paragraph where Rio + 20
decided to launch this intergovernmental process, it is extremely instructive
to note how it immediately stressed that “we will also consider the need for
promoting intergenerational solidarity for the achievement of sustainable
development, taking into account the needs of future generations, including by
inviting the Secretary General to present a report on this issue.”[4]
The
Secretary-General has not been remiss in this regard. In numerous reports,[5] he highlights the centrality
of the family for poverty eradication and sustainable development. “The family,” he rightly observes, “remains the
basic societal unit of reproduction, consumption, asset-building and – in many
parts of the world – production.”[6]
My delegation recognizes that it can be irksome for some, as Pope Francis has also acknowledged, “when the question of ethics is raised,
when global solidarity is invoked… [and even, at times, that] these issues are
exploited by a rhetoric which cheapens them.”
Nevertheless, obstinacy in recognizing the obvious role of the
family in eradicating poverty and addressing its causes with family-sensitive
policies that bolster the stability of this most fundamental of societal
institutions is highly irresponsible and ultimately counter-productive on the
part of governments.
Recognizing, as does Rio + 20, that
“people are at the centre of sustainable development”[7]
one does not need to look far for those who are the most urgently affected by
the scourge of poverty and hunger, namely: women, children and the youth. To
these, the Secretary-General recommends adding, as a post-2015 development priority,
the family. This is a recommendation my delegation can wholeheartedly support.
With him, we call upon States to recognize that that adding the family as a
cross-cutting priority to the post-2015 development agenda could constitute “a
progressive step”,[8] since
this is currently insufficiently addressed in this process.
Pope
Benedict XVI considered charity to be “the principle not only of
micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups)
but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones)”.[9] To this, his successor,
Pope Francis, adds: “I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are
genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor!
It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden
their horizons.”[10]
Thank you,
Mr. Co-Chair.
[1] Rio
+20, The Future We Want, 2.
[2] Evangelii gaudium, 202.
[3] A/67/61 at para. 4.
[4] Rio
+20, The Future We Want, 86.
[5] A/69/61, A/68/61, A/67/61.
[6] A/68/61at para. 5.
[7] Rio
+20, The Future We Want, 6.
[8] A/69/61 at para 67.
[9] Caritas in veritate, 2.
[10] Evangelii gaudium, 205.
Copyright © 2015-2021 The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations