[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 30 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 30
Supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 11, 2021
Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Mr. Smith of Washington, and Mr.
Espaillat) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Whereas 193 nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the
2015 United Nations General Assembly;
Whereas, on January 1, 2016, the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development officially came into force;
Whereas the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes 17 Sustainable
Development Goals and 169 targets to address extreme poverty, protect
the planet, and ensure that all people have access to peace and
prosperity by 2030;
Whereas the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes that ending
extreme poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies to improve health
and access to education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth;
Whereas the Sustainable Development Goals include--
(1) no poverty;
(2) zero hunger;
(3) good health and well-being;
(4) quality education;
(5) gender equality;
(6) clean water and sanitation;
(7) affordable and clean energy;
(8) decent work and economic growth;
(9) industry, innovation, and infrastructure;
(10) reduced inequalities;
(11) sustainable cities and communities;
(12) responsible consumption and production;
(13) climate action;
(14) life below water;
(15) life on land;
(16) peace, justice, and strong institutions; and
(17) partnerships for the goals;
Whereas the Sustainable Development Goals were negotiated and agreed to by all
193 members of the United Nations and the United States played a strong
role in crafting an outcome that reflected many longstanding bipartisan
foreign policy and development priorities that Republican and Democratic
administrations and Congress have championed;
Whereas the Sustainable Development Goals reflect the priorities and input of
people from member states around the world, including the United States
where 70,000 Americans added their voice to the negotiations through an
official United States country consultation and input directly with the
United Nations;
Whereas the United States prioritized two areas throughout the negotiations,
governance, peace, and security (Goal 16) and gender equality (Goal 5);
Whereas the Sustainable Development Goals align with many United States
priorities, including ending human trafficking, increasing access to
jobs in collaboration with the private sector, gender equality, and good
governance;
Whereas these Sustainable Development Goals will attempt to complete what the
Millennium Development Goals did not achieve;
Whereas the Millennium Development Goals focused on ending extreme hunger and
poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender
equality and women empowerment, reducing child mortality, improving
mental health, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases, ensuring
environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for
development;
Whereas, according to the Millennium Development Goals 2015 report, the global
mobilization behind the goals resulted in the most successful
antipoverty movement in history;
Whereas in the United States and around the world, racial injustice continues to
plague communities;
Whereas the United Nations and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
should continue to include a commitment to racial justice, equity, and
the elimination of global racism and the dismantling of structural
racism;
Whereas the number of people living in extreme poverty declined by 56 percent
between 1990 to 2015, with most progress occurring since 2000 when the
Millennium Development Goals were launched;
Whereas over 6,200,000 malaria deaths were averted between 2000 and 2015, and
the primary school enrollment rate in developing countries reached 91
percent by 2015 from 83 percent in 2000;
Whereas much progress was made, but many challenges and opportunities for
development remain, particularly for women and girls where targets
related to maternal mortality and universal access to reproductive
health were not met and cross-cutting issues which were not addressed by
the Millennium Development Goals;
Whereas COVID-19 is reversing decades of progress on poverty, health care, and
education with global gross domestic product expected to contract by the
largest amount since the Great Depression;
Whereas an estimated 88,000,000 to 115,000,000 people were pushed into extreme
poverty in 2020, the first rise in global poverty since 1998, and lost
incomes, limited social protection, and rising prices mean even those
who were previously secure could find themselves at risk of poverty and
hunger;
Whereas women and girls are among those bearing the heaviest brunt of the
pandemic's effects and they still face violence and gender-based
discrimination that limit their economic opportunities;
Whereas the poverty burden remains overwhelmingly concentrated in some parts of
the world, including sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia;
Whereas the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development introduces new focus areas
that are key to ending extreme poverty, including accountable government
institutions, which came out of the understanding that structural
inequalities in societies keep people in poverty;
Whereas the Sustainable Development Goals call for global action and
coordination to achieve a dignified life for all people, peace,
prosperity, a sustainable planet, and strong global partnership;
Whereas gender equality is the fifth Sustainable Development Goal which builds
on the successes of the third Millennium Development Goal, promoting
gender equality and empowering women;
Whereas, from 2000 to 2015, about two-thirds of countries in the developing
world achieved gender parity in primary education, but disparities
persist at the secondary and tertiary levels;
Whereas the average proportion of women in parliaments nearly doubled between
1995 and 2015, yet gender parity in government remains a distant goal;
Whereas one of the key targets of gender equality as part of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development is to eliminate all forms of violence against
all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including
trafficking, sexual, and other types of exploitation;
Whereas child marriage is a fundamental violation of human rights with impacts
across development and the goal of eliminating all harmful practices
such as child, early, and forced marriage by 2030 would keep up to
150,000,000 girls from being married off before their 18th birthday and
help achieve at least 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals, including
no poverty, quality education, decent work and economic growth, reduced
inequalities, and peace, justice and strong institutions;
Whereas one of the targets of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development is to
ensure reforms are taking place in all countries to give women equal
rights to economic resources, property, financial services, inheritance,
and natural resources by promoting birth registration in areas where
girls are systematically undercounted, which will ensure that girls can
enjoy other rights such as education and health;
Whereas the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for countries to
collaborate to achieve universal peace and justice, because countries
that lack the rule of law often fail to meet the most basic needs of
their populations, and peace, justice, and accountable institutions make
it possible for countries to develop;
Whereas all people have a right to peace, and all forms of violence violate
human rights, hinder people's well-being, and significantly limit
development and progress of countries;
Whereas Goal 16 is key to ensuring that progress and prosperity are widely
shared, and that those most in need can claim and exercise their rights
as global citizens;
Whereas data show that homicide is more prevalent in countries with high income
inequality, which are majorly developing countries;
Whereas many victims of exploitation and trafficking are people from vulnerable
populations, and some of the poorest regions in the world, which
suggests that least developed areas are the most prone to violence;
Whereas supporting the Sustainable Development Goals will significantly reduce
violence in developing countries so peaceful and empowered populations
can then begin to create and reinforce just, inclusive, and accountable
institutions;
Whereas sustained United States leadership in supporting the Sustainable
Development Goals will ensure that we can leverage our resources and
expertise with the private sector, governments, faith-based
organizations, and nonprofits to build a better and safer world for
generations to come;
Whereas the expanded Sustainable Development Goals represent a new understanding
of what effective sustainable development looks like;
Whereas countries will be better positioned to recover from the human and
economic devastation caused by COVID-19 by accelerating efforts to
achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and if coronavirus responses
are ad hoc, underfunded, and without a view to long-term goals, decades
of progress toward sustainable development stand to be reversed;
Whereas the Sustainable Development Goals now include key economic drivers of
poverty alleviation and go beyond foreign assistance to focus on trade
and investment from the private sector to better account for their
important contributions in development, health, and economic and social
opportunity; and
Whereas support for the Sustainable Development Goals will continue to be
counted through direct multilateral development assistance, domestic
spending, grants, subsidies, loans, public-private partnerships, and
other financial instruments such as guarantees and direct investment
instruments: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
(1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
(A) the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development is a critical
international blueprint to end poverty, protect the
planet, and ensure that all people can live in peace
and prosperity by 2030; and
(B) the United States, which adopted the
Sustainable Development Goals, should recommit to
implementing its commitments under the Sustainable
Development Goals; and
(2) the House of Representatives--
(A) reaffirms its support for multilateral
organizations such as the United Nations and its role
in advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development; and
(B) reaffirms its support for meeting key goals of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including
gender equality, ending extreme hunger and poverty, and
improving public health.
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