First published: here | 30 June 2025
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were put in place 10 years ago to guarantee peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future. However, it’s looking less and less likely that they will be achieved by 2030 – and it’s all because of significant underinvestment for a decade and more recently, aid cuts by major donors such as the USA and a number of European countries.
What are the Sustainable Development Goals?
In 2015, the United Nations put in place 17 goals to address global challenges, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, conflict and injustice. The vision was to end obstacles like discrimination, exclusion and inequality that frequently leave the most vulnerable people behind. The SDGs replaced the 2000-2015 Millenium Development Goals which made some progress in areas such as poverty reduction, education and health. However, much of this progress was uneven with deepening inequality both between and within countries.
Will the SDGs be achieved by 2030?
At the moment, no – with five years left to achieve the SDGs, they are widely off track.
Years of underinvestment by all states means that over 80 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ targets are off track. At the mid-way point of the SDGs, in July 2023, the UN reported that progress on more than half of the SDGs was “weak and insufficient”, while for another 30 per cent it had “stalled or gone into reverse”. These include key targets on poverty, hunger and climate action.
What does that mean for our world?
Existing inequalities between and within countries, which have widened due to a series of global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and economic downturns, could spiral further out of control.
The climate crisis together with weaknesses in the current financial system are sending lower- and middle-income countries further into debt. This is because often, their only option to cover the loss and damage caused by climate change is to seek additional loans. Countries in or at risk of spiralling debt spend more on debt repayments than on public services that are essential to people’s rights such as to health and education – fuelling the cycle of vulnerability.
How are human rights being impacted?
In the absence of real progress on the SDGs, the outlook for human rights is worrying.
The UN estimates that by 2030, 585 million people will be chronically undernourished, 1.66 billion people will still be living in extreme poverty, 84 million children will be out of school, 300 million attending school will leave unable to read and write and 660 million people will remain without electricity.
What’s finance got to do with fulfilling these goals?
Everything!
The global financial architecture is rooted in historical inequalities and the continuing legacy of colonialism, which leaves many low-income countries with unsustainable debt, depriving them of the resources they need to finance the SDGs. Tax evasion and avoidance by multinational companies and wealthy individuals cost countries an estimated US$492 billion annually. This is lost revenue, which could be spent on improving everyone’s access to economic, social and cultural rights.
How have the cuts to international aid affected the SDGs?
Food rations have been cut in refugee camps. HIV/AIDS clinics have closed overnight, people are not receiving antiretroviral treatments. Almost half of women-led and women’s organizations surveyed by UN Women expect to shut down within six months if current funding levels persist – with gender-based violence initiatives most at risk. The list goes on.
There’s been a lot of talk about tariffs in the USA. What are they and how are they affecting human rights?
Tariffs are taxes imposed by governments for imported services and goods.
Tariffs are both an instrument in international trade policy and an industrial policy, where they can be employed to protect domestic industries. The Trump administration has imposed broad and arbitrary tariffs as a political tool to pressure dozens of countries, including Canada, China and Mexico but also many smaller economies, into a range of concessions. The policy, which does not take into account the impact on people’s rights, is hitting some of the poorest and already most vulnerable countries.
Tariffs can have a cascading effect on living conditions, employment, access to essential goods, and economic sovereignty, all of which can undermine human rights. Tariffs on essential imports like medicine, food, or fuel can make these and other basic necessities unaffordable in smaller or lower-income countries.
What are high-income states doing to ensure these goals are achieved?
Not enough.In fact, rather than increasing their funding to support the SDGs, many major Western donors have slashed international assistance, creating a huge crisis.
Nevertheless, there are other ways high-income countries can help. They should commit to structural reforms that could provide sustainable sources of financing for the longer term – from advancing international tax cooperation and addressing the debt crisis, to reforming international financial institutions and promoting more inclusive systems of financing and development.
So, what can be done to achieve these goals?
A series of robust measures must be put in place if we are to rescue the SDGs.
The US and other governments must reverse cuts to aid budgets. States must provide debt relief for countries in or at risk of debt distress. Fossil fuels subsidies must be redirected towards investment in clean energy and leaders must commit to a full, fast, fair, and funded fossil fuel phase out across all sectors and invest adequately in a just and equitable transition.
Adopting these measures will go a long way to rescuing the SDGs and ensure social, economic and climate justice for millions across the world.
What is Amnesty’s take on financing for development?
Amnesty International is calling for broad transformation of development finance, taxation, debt, and public and private investment to ensure the Sustainable Development Goals are achieved. This will ensure finance is more available and affordable for low-income countries to achieve their human rights obligations.
These changes must take place quickly to meet states’ international obligations to provide international cooperation and assistance to ensure human rights through the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights.