[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15597-15598]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise to address an important event that 
occurred this week at the United Nations, which is marking the 70th 
session of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA.
  Over the weekend, over 150 world leaders gathered at UNGA to adopt 
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This new 2030 Agenda for 
Sustainable Development is built on the progress achieved by Millennium 
Development Goals, MDGs, which were launched in 2000. The Millennium 
Development Goals brought together nations, businesses, international 
organizations, and foundations in a focused and coordinated effort to 
reduce poverty and disease by 2015.
  By any and every metric, the initial set of MDGs has resulted in 
tangible, concrete progress. One goal was to cut extreme poverty by 
half as measured by the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 
a day. That goal was met 5 years ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, maternal 
mortality was cut nearly in half. We've also made progress in global 
education, with a 20 percent increase in primary school enrollment in 
sub-Saharan Africa and a nearly 50 percent decrease in the number of 
out-of-school children of primary school age. When it comes to 
combating HIV/AIDS, we've made truly incredible strides over the past 
15 years. New HIV infections have dropped by 40 percent between 2000 
and 2013, and the number of people living with HIV that were receiving 
antiretroviral therapy increased seventeenfold from 2003 to 2014.
  In some areas, like gender equality, we still have a long way to go. 
But we can cheer the fact that, in 90 percent of countries today, women 
have greater parliamentary representation than they did just 20 years 
ago.
  So there is no doubt that we've seen real growth around the world. 
Millions of lives have been saved and enriched. But we still have more 
progress to make.
  The old Millennium Development Goals have laid the groundwork for the 
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted by the U.N. 
over the weekend. The new agenda sets out an ambitious global 
development framework that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
  These new goals were negotiated with strong engagement by the U.S. 
government, business leaders, and civil society members over the last 3 
years. American and international corporations worked closely with the 
U.N. because many businesses leaders correctly believe that, to end 
extreme poverty and open new markets, we must increase government 
transparency, root out corruption, and accelerate inclusive economic 
growth.
  Many of these new goals focus on the areas where we hope to see 
additional progress, such as maternal and child health, environmental 
sustainability, and gender equality. But they also focus on good 
governance and corruption.
  I am particularly pleased at the addition of goal No. 16, which is to 
``promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, 
provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and 
inclusive institutions at all levels.'' Including that goal wasn't 
easy--it was met by resistance from many other countries--but no one 
can ignore the fact any longer that good governance and anticorruption 
efforts are critical to development.
  Truly sustainable and inclusive development depends on governments 
and institutions that are accountable and transparent and that respect 
human rights and deliver justice for everybody, not just some. The U.N. 
has noted that ``lessons learned from MDG implementation showed the 
importance of incorporating human rights, the rule of law and personal 
security to ensure progress towards development goals. Effective and 
inclusive governance and robust institutional capacity are instrumental 
in achieving this.''
  The necessity of incorporating good governance and strong 
anticorruption measures in sustainable development efforts is most 
evident when we look at resource rich countries in Africa and the 
extraordinary development challenges there. The Democratic Republic of 
the Congo, DRC, for example, is a country rich in minerals, water 
resources, and agricultural potential. And it has experienced high 
annual economic growth in recent years. Yet most of its people continue 
to live in extreme poverty. DRC's progress on sustainable development 
is hindered by minimal central government control over large parts of 
the national territory, poor transportation and electricity 
infrastructure, the government's inability to manage and monitor 
extraction of its natural resources, and broad governance problems 
including endemic corruption and barely functional state institutions.
  Without progress on justice and effective and accountable 
institutions, corruption will continue to infect governments around the 
world, like the DRC, creating greater economic and political 
instability, which often leads to violent conflict.
  The DRC is just one example of why we need goal 16. The desperate 
refugees streaming into Europe provide another sad example. Most of 
these people are coming from places where ordinary people have 
experienced long-term repression and other human rights abuses at the 
hands of deeply corrupt governments. Consequently, many of these 
countries are now consumed by violent conflict. Most of the people 
crossing the Mediterranean in rafts are fleeing wars in Syria, 
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia.
  The Syrians are the largest group. They are fleeing a deadly 
combination of their own government's indiscriminate barrel bomb 
attacks on crowded markets, schools, and clinics; suffocating sieges; 
and atrocities committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,

[[Page 15598]]

ISIS and other extremist groups. We know that only a minority of 
migrants arriving in Europe are motivated solely by economic 
betterment.
  As the world focuses on the wave of refugees and migrants arriving in 
Europe, we must not lose our focus on the roots of this crisis. We must 
pay attention to why these desperate men, women, and children are on 
the move. The misery of many of these refugees is the direct result of 
the conflicts and human rights abuses of governments that are 
ineffective or illegitimate, or both, and mostly likely corrupt.
  The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals is remarkable for 
the historic inclusion of goal 16. It acknowledges the centrality of 
good governance and accountable and transparent institutions as 
prerequisites for sustainable development. If nations across the globe 
truly embrace goal 16, I am convinced we will also witness far fewer 
men, women, and children being forced to endure extraordinary misery, 
violence, displacement, and exploitation as refugees. Surely, that must 
be our collective goal.

                          ____________________