Malala, Jane Goodall, and Tom Brady joined more than 2,000 activists in signing an open letter calling on world leaders to achieve the United Nations’ Global Goals by 2030.
The letter is structured as a poem, with direct statements and short lines. It reads as both a warning and a call to action, emphasizing the immense risks facing humanity from climate change and extreme poverty, while pointing to similarly vast opportunities
The letter calls on world leaders to raise the money needed to achieve the Global Goals, which cover 17 objectives including ending extreme poverty, ending hunger, achieving gender equality, and making health care universal.
A landing page for the open letter features a timeline of major development conferences this year, including the G7 Summit and the United Nations General Assembly, where world leaders can make progress on the Global Goals and commit funding to organizations working to achieve them.
The letter features the input of 20 leading activists including Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, youth climate activist Alexandria Villaseñor, and Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, co-founder of Bring Back Our Girls. Global celebrities including actress and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson, Global Citizen Festival Curator Chris Martin, and Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek added their support to the letter.
This is an emergency.
We are activists for different causes from across the world, writing as one for the first time to demand your immediate action in this critical year.
5 years ago, at the United Nations, 193 countries committed to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.
A historic plan to end extreme poverty, conquer inequality and fix the climate crisis.
Look at our world now.
Our climate is heating up.
Natural disasters are increasing.
Millions flee their homes.
Children suffer without vital food and healthcare.
Activists are murdered for their views.
Girls and women are refused an education and subjected to discrimination and violence.
But we still dare to hope that in 2020 you will act decisively and courageously and kickstart a Decade of Action.
We need you to act faster.
To find the finance. To track implementation. To unlock radical solutions.
We are watching you. And we will fight every day, for people, for planet.
There are not just a few of us – there are millions with one voice and one question.
How will you keep your promise and deliver dramatic progress towards the Global Goals this year?
We await your urgent reply.
“The battle for justice and equality becomes more urgent with every passing day,” Cullors said in the press release. “I am proud to join together with 19 other activists today, across issues, across continents, and generations — to demand world leaders deliver on their promises contained in the Global Goals. We are doing our bit. They must do theirs.”
The Global Goals already have extensive support from both the activist community and celebrities, but this latest effort suggests a renewed focus on building momentum for the new decade.
“Governments across the world are simply not acting quickly enough or with enough intention to meet the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals,” Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, co-founder of Bring Back Our Girls, said in the press release. “We need our leaders to find innovative financial solutions and show us how they will commit to this next decade of action.”
Global Citizen is also using 2020 as a launchpad for progress on the Global Goals through Global Goal Live: The Possible Dream, a year-long campaign culminating in a 10-hour global media moment, with events taking place in seven cities around the world to call for action and financial commitments in the fight to end extreme poverty.