Leave no one behind (LNOB) is the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It represents the unequivocal commitment of all UN Member States to eradicate poverty in all its forms, end discrimination and exclusion, and reduce the inequalities and vulnerabilities that leave people behind and undermine the potential of individuals and of humanity as a whole. LNOB not only entails reaching the poorest of the poor, but requires combating discrimination and rising inequalities within and amongst countries, and their root causes. A major cause of people being left behind is persistent forms of discrimination, including gender discrimination, which leaves individuals, families and whole communities marginalized, and excluded. It is grounded in the UN’s normative standards that are foundational principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international human rights law and national legal systems across the world.
Published in Chapter:
The Other Face of Those Left Behind in the Silence of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Global Analysis of SDG Discontent Geography
Isidore E. Agbokou (Centre d'Etudes Diplomatiques et Stratégiques de Paris (CEDS), France)
Copyright: © 2024
|Pages: 36
DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-2758-6.ch003
Abstract
This chapter identified the factors that could justify the growing social inequalities and reduce possible threats of discontent that may arise among disadvantaged groups across the world. The research has been conducted based on data provided by the VNR reported by the HLPF from 2016 to 2021. The number of actions implemented to comply with the principle of LNOB and the number of SDGs affected by the actions implemented at the country and regional levels are the two parameters that support the analysis which led to the conclusion of the potential pockets of discontent. Since 2016, a total of 143 countries have committed, with 605 actions for the implementation of the LNOB principle. The chapter revealed that people from all around the world have expressed a desire to move towards a more equal world of sustainable development. Nevertheless, some regions of the globe have shown more commitment and determination than others since the movement of LNOB was born. The risk of delay is that the need for managing conflicts will only grow from frustration and discontent.