The ABCs of Sustainable Development Goals and Sudan’s situation XVIII

Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

By Dr. Hassan Humeida

KIEL, GERMANY: The seventeenth and final goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aims to establish partnerships between countries to achieve the total sustainable development goals of the United Nations by 2030.

Since this is the last of the goals, it represents the base of the pyramid for work towards all the basic and side goals of sustainable development and the ways to activate and achieve it on the ground within the next six years.

In view of the partnerships concluded between countries, within countries and between institutions, as well as between groups and individuals, they represent the driving force of development and evolution and the impetus for progress in countries, continents and between societies.

This is achieved when the partnerships are balanced and mutually committed, in which justice, fairness and complementarity are upheld between the two partners.

Establishing partnerships within the framework of the sustainable development goals boosts internally partnerships between governments, civil society institutions, and private sector structures.

Externally, they bolster partnerships between countries at the regional and global levels, and include economic, commercial, scientific and cultural exchanges between countries.

Successful and efficient partnerships lead to benefits and advantages to humans wherever they are since they will be at the core of these partnerships achieved through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

An essential factor in the drive to achieve the seventeenth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals in the countries of the Global South within the next six years is to keep the following points in mind:

Supporting the Global South with fair trade in order to make a tangible development contribution to a world free of poverty, hunger and deprivation.

This can happen through distributing existing resources equally among people locally and globally, which fortifies a balance in sustainable development among peoples.

This is followed by the transfer of theoretical and applied knowledge and of modern technology, and the exchange of experiences between producers, including farmers, animal breeders, and fishermen, from the developed countries with the rest of the developing and poor countries.

Here, the capabilities and long experience of countries can be used, especially in the traditional sectors that drive global and sustainable development.

Maintaining the existing balanced global partnerships with friendly countries for mutual benefit, and establishing new partnerships with countries and cities in the Global South with the aim of creating or modernizing a stable, strong and effective infrastructure. The partnerships will also support the establishment of balanced and sustainable democratic governance, especially in poor countries in the Global South.

Securing the income of individuals working in traditional, simple and sustainable sectors; for example, improving the livelihoods of workers in agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing at all private and public levels, in order to achieve self-sufficiency locally and fight poverty and hunger globally. This will also help in supporting and encouraging the marketing of products from the sectors concerned at fair prices in order to preserve the continuity of traditional and sustainable sectors for future generations.

Valuing plant and animal products from organic agriculture or organic breeding, establishing weekly markets for local, seasonal and fresh products, purchasing, preparing and consuming high-quality products, especially foods that meet human daily needs and meet consumer expectations based on the specifications required regarding the quality of basic nutritional elements and their compositions.

Then comes the sustainable production and scale-up of organic products such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, milk and dairy products, eggs, cereals and legumes rich in protein.

This is followed by raising the level of personal awareness among consumers about the importance of healthy food and its quality for the body, in order to remain healthy and vigorous. This includes the availability of essential food for families and individuals, kindergartens, schools, and homes for the elderly.

Finally, there is also the need to keep up the media action, educational campaigns, school projects, and open days to clarify, what the environmental footprint looks like or how the water footprint affects the lives of people in their villages, cities, and regions.

The drive also focuses on highlighting the importance of all this activism for global sustainability, and what everyone can do to make a positive contribution that supports achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Let us finally take the seventeenth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, “Forging partnerships between the countries of the world” to achieve the total goals of the United Nations and Sudan’s position in it until the year 2030. The observer and follower of the events before the beginning of this ongoing war in Sudan sees the dramatic extent of neglect to which the country was subjected internationally during the sensitive transitional period through which it lived.

Its foundation was laid by the Sudanese youth during the glorious December Revolution. Young people of both sexes generously and bravely offered their blood make it a unique revolution, characterized by peaceful struggle, until the dream was fulfilled. Many were martyred and many more were either badly injured or became handicapped. However, those who have survived feel a deep sense of sadness about those who have lost their lives in their struggle to achieve the goals of a revolution for sustainable change.

During this short period, Sudan was supplied with huge quantities of narcotic drugs, including pills and drugs, smuggled by sea, air, and land to the country, or to the borders.

The smuggled narcotic substances were mainly hallucinogen pills, such as tramadol and ice crystal methamphetamine, an amphetamine derivative (an initial precursor to recruiting children and youth for war and combat).

Trafficking in these banned substances spread quickly in the streets and affected families. They are now sold even in schools and universities, including prestigious colleges of medicine, pharmacy, and law.

The psychologists who were supervising the treatment of patients (No need to mention their names in order to protect the identity of the therapist and the patient), said that some of the patients were sometimes children of elementary school age.

All of this was a prelude to this great war that was planned long ago by countries and states that, until now, hope that the Sudan war will not stop and that its people will fight among themselves for eternity.

Countries and mini-states have revealed their true colors and they will never have a place in the hearts of the Sudanese people or or leave a positive memory.

Meanwhile, clear-eyed and open-minded observers could monitor the hundreds of trucks moving from neighboring countries to the villages and cities of Sudan, and small and large ships sailing throughout the day to the eastern coast of Sudan, in order to carry away Sudan’s bounties from its rich forests, plants and animals.

Sometimes, animal and plant imports are sent back after arriving at the ports of these countries, under the fallacious pretext that the products ordered through the economic and commercial partnership do not conform to the specifications in a humiliating action to reduce their prices.

This is the embodiment of the ostentatious robbery of Sudan’s wealth in a time of heedlessness for the benefit of other countries that enter Sudan for the purposes of economic or commercial partnerships.

The people of Sudan did not know that they will soon be the next victims and that they will be abusively expelled from their own homes.

Plundering Sudan’s resources and wealth was not only by land and sea, but also by air, with precious commodities, mainly gold, are smuggled under the protection of foreign armies.

Sudan is a wounded nation, and the wounds are being deepened with every passing day, with every fleeting minute. Yet, it valiantly refuses to die despite the sordid wishes of the assailants who have become the sworn enemies of the nation.

Sudan refuses to die even as the international communities has,, for the last year, remained silent and inactive as the slaughtering continues ruthlessly and relentlessly.

All this prompts a serious question: What does it mean to conclude partnerships? Does it mean robbing people of their identity, entity, sovereignty, wealth and resources? Is this how partnerships between countries are concluded, where the strong exploits the weak, and the rich abuses the poor? What would the person in Sudan gain for himself or for others, if one day he made his free decision to accept an incubator described as not respecting human rights and democratic rule, or producing and sponsoring terrorism on a global scale?

The answer is left to the international community and its various organizations, including the United Nations that has formulated sustainable development goals and is striving to achieve them globally by 2030, including in Sudan as a permanent and loyal member.