ATD Activist Kathleen Spoke at United Nations Side Event on SDGs
To ensure that the voices of children were present in the discussion and negotiations on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ATD Fourth World, along with other child-focused agencies and civil society groups, shared its practice of bringing back to children the outcome of their engagement on United Nations' event Children Speak Out on SDGs on 25th March. The youth representative Kathleen from ATD Fourth World, Rodrigo from SOS Children’s Villages, and Mario Donna from World Vision delivered speeches on their thoughts and views of the SDGs and targets.As the Third Session of the Post-2015 Intergovernmental Negotiations on SDGs and Targets took place from 23 to 27 March, child focused agencies have presented the outcome of the consultations carried out with children. This side event provided a great opportunity for children to be present at the United Nations, something which is not always possible in global conversations.Representing child activists for ATD Fourth World, Kathleen shared her opinion on the definition of poverty. “People believe that money is the main and only factor of poverty and I know firsthand that this is not so. Poverty is living in an environment ridden with stigma and stereotypes, people not respecting your worth and value because they cannot see past your clothing and where you live. People judge others because of what they see, rather than what they know of that person.” She emphasized the importance of dignity and self-respect and appealed, “if people took more caution in the way they treat people in poverty, it would alleviate the suffocating hold poverty has on the people who are in it.”In terms of the SDGs, she discussed the lack of concern for poverty discrimination in Goal 10 on reducing inequality within and among countries and concluded that an opportunity to speak out could be an opportunity to alleviate poverty since this is the very first way to boost people’s confidence and self-respect.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnWHcCH4-Rc