{"id":1140,"date":"2025-10-02T04:03:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/breaking-the-promise\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:03:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:03:02","slug":"breaking-the-promise","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/goal-posts-what-next-for-the-mdgs\/breaking-the-promise\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking The Promise"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content column wide left blog_post content view\" id=\"content\">\n<article class=\"fader\">\n<header class=\"contents\">\n<div class=\"share\">\n\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    var addthis_config = {\n        ui_language = 'en'\n    }\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis sharing\">\n\t<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style\" addthis:title=\"Breaking the promise\">\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_twitter\" tw:via=\"thebrokeronline\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_facebook\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_pinterest_share\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_4\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_compact\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_bubble_style\"><\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_config = data_track_addressbar;<\/script><br \/>\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"addthis article_options\">\n\t\t<!-- \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/mandrill\/subscription\/add\/10432\/10644\">Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t -->\n    \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBreaking the promise<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pubDate\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/experts-and-authors\/groenstad-christoffer\/\">Christoffer Gr\u00f8nstad<\/a>\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20 September 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"body contents\">\n\t<!-- body --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Already, before the MDG summit has even kicked off, the German chancellor Angela Merkel has pointed out that the 0.7 ODA target will not be achieved during her term (ending in 2013). At least she deserves credit for her honesty\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Goals are goals. Politicians fail to reach their goals on a daily basis, and one could even say that it is acceptable to not reach one\u2019s own goals \u2013 at least when one is honest about it. Come on, you might say \u2013 we ordinary people sometimes also fail to reach our own goals, it is human. However, this lack of achievement should not first and foremost be degraded and seen to be about reaching the goals of our political leaders. No; with the misachievements of Merkel and her colleagues, people are starving and dying \u2013 every single day \u2013 and this is first and foremost a consequence of ignoring the rights of the hungry and the poor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">I sometimes wonder how much knowledge our world leaders actually have about the population of the world they live in (and rule). Do they actually know that nearly half (45 percent) of the world\u2019s population is under 25 years of age? Do they know that today\u2019s generation of 15\u201324 year olds is the most educated generation ever? The latter I am rather sure they know, it is a sign of being on track with at least one goal \u2013 and bragging about progress is not really new to any of them. But do they see the powerful consequences of the combination?<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Out of the world\u2019s one billion people aged 15\u201324, 85 percent live in developing countries. And this figure is growing. Imagine one billion impatient youths, fully aware of their rights (this is often a consequence of education) and also aware of the MDGs and the inequalities in the world. And then try to imagine that they are going to accept the world order of today \u2013 let us say in 15 years from now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">In the hearings leading up to the MDG summit, numerous international NGOs, among them Amnesty International and Oxfam International, stressed the interlinks between development and human rights. The universal agreement about the MDGs was worth celebration in 2000 \u2013 but if they are to take the attention away from every person\u2019s internationally recognized rights, then we are on the wrong track.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">In the movement of youth-led and democratic youth organizations, we often lack the resources to invest in food, health and employment programmes. But we do have strong and life-changing non-formal education tools for learning about human rights, empowerment and democracy. When the 15\u201324 year olds of today replace Angela Merkel and her colleagues in governments \u2013 and in the UN General Assembly Hall as well \u2013 their voters will not accept the slow pace of development as it is today. In fact, they are already impatient. I just returned from the University of Youth and Development, where 250 youth leaders of today brought this message to Merkel and her colleagues.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p>\t\t<!-- body -->\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<section class=\"commentform content column wide left\">\n<div class=\"disqus_content\">\n\t\t\t<a name=\"comments\" id=\"comments\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"disqus_thread\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\t\t\t\t\/* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * *\/\n\t\t\t\tvar disqus_shortname = 'broker'; \/\/ required: replace example with your forum shortname\n\t\t\t\tvar disqus_identifier = '5540';\n\t\t\t\t\/* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * *\/\n\t\t\t\tfunction trackComment(comment)\n\t\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(comment);\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\tfunction disqus_config() {\n\t\t\t\t\tthis.callbacks.onNewComment = [function() { \n\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(comment);\n\t\t\t\t\t}];\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t(function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tvar dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text\/javascript'; dsq.async = true;\n\t\t\t\t\tdsq.src = '\/\/' + disqus_shortname + 'https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/blogs\/goal-posts-what-next-for-the-mdgs\/.disqus.com\/embed.js';\n\t\t\t\t\t(document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq);\n\t\t\t\t})();\n\t\t\t<\/script><br \/>\n\t\t\t<!--\n\t\t\t<noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href=\"http:\/\/disqus.com\/?ref_noscript\">comments powered by Disqus.<\/a><\/noscript>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/disqus.com\" class=\"dsq-brlink\">comments powered by <span class=\"logo-disqus\">Disqus<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t-->\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking the promise Christoffer Gr\u00f8nstad | 20 September 2025 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_2.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1140","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Breaking the promise \/ Goal Posts - What next for the MDGs? \/ Blogs - The Broker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Already, before the MDG summit has even kicked off, the German chancellor Angela Merkel has pointed out that the 0.7 ODA target will not be achieved during her term (ending in 2013). At least she deserves credit for her honesty\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Goals are goals. Politicians fail to reach their goals on a daily basis, and one could even say that it is acceptable to not reach one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own goals \u00e2\u20ac\u201c at least when one is honest about it. 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