Coalition demand concrete pro-poor actions this year

The Action/2015 Ghana Coalition has urged the President to work with fellow world leaders at the September UN Summit to adopt legal binding frameworks to fight Climate Change, reduce poverty and societal inequalities towards achieving the sustainable development goal by 2030.

The global Non Governmental Orgainsation, which is seeking to achieve sustainable development for all, has also petitioned the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to implement ambitious agreements on poverty, inequality, and climate change this year.

The organisation perceives 2015 as a pivotal year, which marks the end of the set targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) where African leaders promised to significantly minimise poverty and other societal inequalities.

It has, therefore, called for the mobilization, vigilance and action towards achieving MDGs.

The goal of the organisation is to inspire actions that give strength to the marginal and collectively tackle the root causes of inequality, injustice, poverty and climate change.

The petition is part of a global campaign to mount pressure on governments to reduce poverty, causes of climate change and inequality, while demanding more radical actions especially by the Government of Ghana, this year, in efforts towards addressing the issues raised.

It said extreme poverty often condemned millions of people, especially women and girls, to an early death, poor education and ill health and must be urgently addressed to provide hope for future generations.

The petition, which was read by Ms Priscilla Abrefi Akuoko, a 15 year-old pupil of the Mataheko Roman Catholic Junior High School in Accra, called for an urgent need to make the interest of children a priority in the new post-2015 development framework, with targets that promise all children care, support and services, which worked together for the best start in life.

According to the Organisation, the UN would hold two summits this year - in September and December - , to agree on new Goals, tackle the three key issues raised and also set new climate change action targets towards ensuring a safer planet.

It was, therefore, crucial to make the right choices for future generations, it said, and asked that the leaders make choices, which were dictated by the needs of future generations and not choices dictated by short-term policies.

The petition, therefore, called for an urgent need for all 2015 commitments to mark a turning point in the soaring levels of inequality and discrimination driven by economic policies that delivered for the few rather than the many.

It also asked for an accelerated transition to 100 per cent renewable energy so that a safer climate and sustainable economy with all its benefits would be made possible for all.

The Post-2015 Framework, it said, must poor people, particularly in Africa, to build resilience so as to adapt to current climate impacts.

The petition also demanded for actions that guaranteed global justice, where people rights were realized and respected and citizens could democratically participate freely and fully in decisions that affect their lives.

It also called for efforts to ensure that governments, international institutions, the private sector, civil society and other power holders, were accountable to their communities.

It said the challenges posed by the economic and political systems that favoured the elite and concentrated power and wealth in the hands of a few must be urgently addressed.

It said, “We need to transform patterns of production and consumption so they will not interfere with the lives of people and the planet”.

Mr John Alexander Ackon, Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, who received the petition on behalf of the Minister, commended the group for the foresight and campaign.

He said the concerns raised were already being worked on by the Government, which had initiated various policies and programmes to improve the lives of the aged, orphans and persons with physical disabilities without employment opportunities.

He promised that the issues raised would be further discussed by the Ministry and forwarded to the President for onward consideration at the UN Summit.