Major Group: Children & Youth
Statement on Education and Culture at the 4th OWG
18th June 2013
THANK YOU FOR GIVING US THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK. AS MENTIONED BY A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF STATES YESTERDAY, YOUTH IS A CROSSCUTTING ISSUE. IN THE CONTEXT OF TODAY'S DISCUSSION, WHICH IS EDUCATION, WE HAVE SOME VERY SPECIFIC POINTS THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO THE CONVERSATION.
The sector that is often most affected by budget cuts is education. That is why we, the Major Group for Children and Youth, believe it is now more important than ever for governments to truly understand the importance of strong national educational programs. Our Major Group has 4 concrete preposals regarding education in relation to sustainable development:
1. Education for Sustainable Development should be integrated as a core component of national and sub national curricula and made accessible to all.
2. In order for this ESD to be effective, it must be culturally relevant and locally appropriate.
3. Indigenous worldviews and perspectives on sustainability should be integrated into education programs at all levels.
4. Support should be increased for alternative forms of education, like non-formal education, online resources, and peer teaching, including youth-led initiatives that promote community based grassroots learning.
5. Improvement to teacher training is a huge priority for these above goals to be realized.
Mr. Chair, as you mentioned yesterday, all of our policy points require real world resources. Therefore, with our 5 demands, we propose 6 way to pay for them:
1. Governments ought to redirect subsidies from fossil fuels and chemically intensive agriculture.( http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2013/012813.pdf)
2. Closing tax havens can generate an additional $40 billion dollars of revenue annually. (http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21571873-how-stop-companies-and-p…,
3. A global tax on extractive and polluting industries ought to be levied in which the money can be transferred into a trust fund that finances education and sustainable development. A tax of just .01% on the chemical industry alone can generate $4 billion. (Herman Daly, John Cobb, Gaffney)
4. We encourage OECD states to meet the target of .7% of GNI for ODA. We can also look at potentially proposing a target of .3% for the BRICS countries.
5. Governments should implement the long-discussed financial transaction tax.
6. Finally, since the Preamble of the UN Charter makes specific reference to saving "succeeding generations from the scourge of war," we believe it critical to make drastic reductions in military spending . . . We suggest 30%.
We hope that we have answered your call and contributed to this conversation productively.
Thank you.
18th June 2013
THANK YOU FOR GIVING US THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK. AS MENTIONED BY A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF STATES YESTERDAY, YOUTH IS A CROSSCUTTING ISSUE. IN THE CONTEXT OF TODAY'S DISCUSSION, WHICH IS EDUCATION, WE HAVE SOME VERY SPECIFIC POINTS THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO THE CONVERSATION.
The sector that is often most affected by budget cuts is education. That is why we, the Major Group for Children and Youth, believe it is now more important than ever for governments to truly understand the importance of strong national educational programs. Our Major Group has 4 concrete preposals regarding education in relation to sustainable development:
1. Education for Sustainable Development should be integrated as a core component of national and sub national curricula and made accessible to all.
2. In order for this ESD to be effective, it must be culturally relevant and locally appropriate.
3. Indigenous worldviews and perspectives on sustainability should be integrated into education programs at all levels.
4. Support should be increased for alternative forms of education, like non-formal education, online resources, and peer teaching, including youth-led initiatives that promote community based grassroots learning.
5. Improvement to teacher training is a huge priority for these above goals to be realized.
Mr. Chair, as you mentioned yesterday, all of our policy points require real world resources. Therefore, with our 5 demands, we propose 6 way to pay for them:
1. Governments ought to redirect subsidies from fossil fuels and chemically intensive agriculture.( http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2013/012813.pdf)
2. Closing tax havens can generate an additional $40 billion dollars of revenue annually. (http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21571873-how-stop-companies-and-p…,
3. A global tax on extractive and polluting industries ought to be levied in which the money can be transferred into a trust fund that finances education and sustainable development. A tax of just .01% on the chemical industry alone can generate $4 billion. (Herman Daly, John Cobb, Gaffney)
4. We encourage OECD states to meet the target of .7% of GNI for ODA. We can also look at potentially proposing a target of .3% for the BRICS countries.
5. Governments should implement the long-discussed financial transaction tax.
6. Finally, since the Preamble of the UN Charter makes specific reference to saving "succeeding generations from the scourge of war," we believe it critical to make drastic reductions in military spending . . . We suggest 30%.
We hope that we have answered your call and contributed to this conversation productively.
Thank you.