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Now is the time for a global plan to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are woefully off-track halfway towards their 2030 deadline, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday in New York. 

Mr. Guterres was speaking at the opening of a high-level forum Opens in new windowat UN Headquarters where world leaders adopted a political declaration to accelerate action to achieve the 17 goals, which aim to drive economic prosperity and well-being for all people while protecting the environment.

“The SDGs aren’t just a list of goals. They carry the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people everywhere,” he said

Now is the time for a global plan to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are woefully off-track halfway towards their 2030 deadline, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday in New York. Mr. Guterres was speaking at the opening of a high-level forum at UN Headquarters where **world leaders adopted a political declaration to accelerate action** to achieve the 17 goals, which aim to drive economic prosperity and well-being for all people while protecting the environment. "The SDGs aren't just a list of goals. They carry the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people everywhere," he said. ## Going backwards World leaders adopted the SDGs in 2015, promising to leave no one behind. 

ISLAMABAD — The United Nations secretary-general Monday renewed his demand for Afghanistan's Taliban to allow teenage girls to attend high school.

"This is an unjustifiable violation of human rights that inflicts long-lasting damage on the entire country," Antonio Guterres said on X (formerly Twitter). "Girls belong in school. Let them back in," he added. His statement marks two years since the de facto rulers imposed an education ban.

“Denying education to girls is a violation of universal human rights,” said Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW).

“The de facto authorities can do the right thing for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan by ensuring that every girl in Afghanistan can access quality education and contribute to rebuilding their war-torn country,” she added.

The international community must ensure that every girl in Afghanistan has an opportunity to learn, the head of the UN fund for education in emergencies said on Monday – the second anniversary of the Taliban’s edict banning secondary education for girls. 

Today, we mark the second anniversary of the ban on secondary school girls’ education in Afghanistan and join the world in calling for it to be lifted now.

Denying education to girls is a violation of universal human rights. The de facto authorities can do the right thing for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan by ensuring that every girl in Afghanistan can access quality education and contribute to rebuilding their war-torn country.

Today, we mark the second anniversary of the ban on secondary school girls' education in Afghanistan and join the world in calling for it to be lifted now.

Denying education to girls is a violation of universal human rights. The de facto authorities can do the right thing for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan by ensuring that every girl in Afghanistan can access quality education and contribute to rebuilding their war-torn country.

Today, we mark the second anniversary of the ban on secondary school girls' education in Afghanistan and join the world in calling for it to be lifted now.

Denying education to girls is a violation of universal human rights. The de facto authorities can do the right thing for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan by ensuring that every girl in Afghanistan can access quality education and contribute to rebuilding their war-torn country.

Today, we mark the second anniversary of the ban on secondary school girls' education in Afghanistan and join the world in calling for it to be lifted now.

Denying education to girls is a violation of universal human rights. The de facto authorities can do the right thing for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan by ensuring that every girl in Afghanistan can access quality education and contribute to rebuilding their war-torn country.

NAIROBI, Sep 18 2023 (IPS) - A Taliban edict is rolling back time in Afghanistan after access to education for all Afghan girls over the age of 12 was indefinitely suspended on September 18, 2021. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are forbidden from attending school beyond the primary level, leaving more than 1.1 million girls and young women without access to formal education.

As part of my blog series, I have been inviting voices from a variety of contexts to share their work and thinking on professional development. In this post, I share authorship with Ukrainian TESOL educators Svitlana Smolina, Nataliya Prokopchuk, Tetiana Konovalenko, Olha Bilyk, and Nadiia Grytsyk.

The 2023 Global Citizen Festival will broadcast live to the world on Saturday, September 23 from New York City's Central Park, where 60 thousand global citizens, along with the world's leading artists and advocates, will gather for a day of action and advocacy for equity, for the planet, for food and for jobs, to end extreme poverty NOW, as world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly.

Charlize Theron, Chris Rock, Daymond John, Eddie Izzard, Katie Holmes, Liza Koshy, Natasha Lyonne, Nomzamo Mbatha, and Vladimir Duthiers are set to join the line-up that will take the stage on Central Park's Great Lawn. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN; Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Norwegian Minister of Development and Cooperation; Gilbert Houngbo, Director-General, International Labour Organisation; José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor Leste; Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, CEO, Dubai Cares; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization; Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait; and leading advocates Brianna Fruean, Helena and Nina Gualinga and Moj Mahdara will lead the charge, calling for systemic change for the world's most marginalized populations.