Problem Description
The sustainable development goals are referred to as a call for action by all nations, whether rich, middle, or poor, to enhance prosperity while protecting the planet. The core purpose of the United Nations is to protect vulnerable communities against hunger, poverty, lack of education, and gender inequality. For example, vulnerable communities are discriminated against, and their rights are not protected, which negatively affecting as well as the entire society (UN, 2022a). On the other hand, the effect on individuals is that their rights will consistently be violated. This problem is connected to some UN goals, such as eradicating poverty and solving social needs such as climate change. This report focuses on a global overview of the protection of vulnerable communities and the sustainable goals of the United Nations.
Challenges in Addressing Problem
Coastal communities and island nations are famous regions affected by climate change. They are usually affected by the climate’s changes due to the rising sea levels that happen only in those areas. For example, places like Bangladesh in the Philippines have been fighting the impacts of climate change for a very long time (UN, 2022b). These climates have affected everyone in the country. For instance, it causes some people to be displaced from their homes (UN, 2022b). Chad is another country that is widely affected by climate change. It is one of the landlocked countries that is highly influenced by climate change and poverty. Afghanistan is the other country that is also affected by climate change. Rains in that region have reduced by 40%, resulting in a rise in drought.
Major Issues Regarding Topic
People worldwide often suffer many issues, such as extreme violence, disabilities, hardships, social marginalization, and discrimination. Most people facing these challenges are known as vulnerable communities. For example, some of the issues they face are religious affiliation, as members of religious minorities are vulnerable to trafficking (Sharma et al., 2021). Traffickers have been known to subject women and girls from religious minorities and force them into subsequent marriages that might turn into domestic servitude. For example, owing to societal and cultural stigma, people with disabilities such as sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities lack access to social networks (Sharma et al., 2021). In addition, biases in the law happen as they are often subjected to unequal treatment by government service agencies and employers.
Obstacles to Consider When Addressing These Issues
Political and social issues
The leading political obstacle to serving vulnerable communities is healthcare which is the high cost of medical insurance and services. Despite the rules and regulations to reduce the cost of healthcare, medical insurance continues to remain out of reach for a lot of people. The ability to understand and follow basic healthcare information has also affected most vulnerable populations. Moreover, accessing quality medical services by these people has been impossible for them. For example, the lack of employment is another social obstacle affecting vulnerable communities (Sharma et al., 2021). Most of these people did not attend school to acquire the skills needed in the employment industry. Unemployment comes with low or no income hence facing the challenges of not having the means to provide for themselves.
Environmental and Economic issues
Degrading the environment and the inability to protect it is a significant environmental obstacle that vulnerable communities face. For instance, climate change has affected many places as their impacts are hefty (UN, 2022b). A region with rising sea levels faces many issues while trying to grow food. Moreover, a place with very high or low temperatures also faces many challenges, as crops cannot grow in such areas. As a result, people in those areas become vulnerable in society. On the other hand, poverty is an economic obstacle that affects vulnerable communities (Sharma et al., 2021). In many cases, poverty entails more than a lack of resources to enhance a sustainable livelihood or income. It also entails a lack of basic needs, social discrimination, hunger and malnutrition, and a lack of involvement in decision-making.
“Opportunities” in How to Improve Situation
There are various chances to improve the situations faced by vulnerable people in society. One of them is to improve the social determinants to enhance healthy living. The most popular health-related challenges are poor social support, lack of employment, illiteracy, food, and housing insecurity. Providing more employment opportunities also provides a chance to improve the issues faced by vulnerable communities. If people are employed, their living standards are more likely to improve, and their dependency rate will also reduce.
The first target of the UN is to eradicate poverty for all individuals all over the world. For example, this is currently measured by the fact that people live on less than 1.25 dollars daily (Sharma et al., 2021). An indicator of this is the part of people living under the poverty line by age, employment status, sex, and geographic location. For instance, the UN has made a lot of progress; they have ongoing programs that aim to eradicate poverty at all costs worldwide (UN, 2022b). The other target is that by 2030, the UN will ensure that all women and men have equal rights to economic resources and essential services (Sharma et al., 2021). The indicator is that a proportion of the population living in households has access to critical services. They have made progress by providing some basic food and healthcare services.
Entities Addressing Issue
Amnesty International is a non-governmental organization that provides valuable resources to protect vulnerable communities. They make sure that these people have access to a lot of healthcare services as well as basic needs in their regions. The objectives of the UN are that their sustainable development continues to achieve economic and social progress in ways that cannot exhaust the world’s finite natural resources (UN, 2022c). Therefore, they provide ways to meet their needs so that upcoming generations can live in an improved world.
United Nations Initiatives
Cooperation between the UN and other entities is significant as it helps achieve the organization’s purposes and goals that are laid out in the charter. The United Nations has five key initiatives that cover five main areas. They include protecting human rights, maintaining international peace and security, supporting sustainable development and climate action, upholding international law, and delivering humanitarian aid. For example, the United Nations has the initiative to maintain international peace and security after the devastations of the second world war (UN, 2022c). It can sustain this by helping parties that conflict with each other to make peace, uphold conditions that enhance peace, and work to avoid disputes between nations.
Local Initiatives Addressing These Issues
In addition, it can protect vulnerable communities by protecting their rights in every way possible. In a social setup, vulnerable people include those living in abusive families, immigrants, the homeless, and refugees. For example, some of the local initiatives that can be taken to ensure such people are protected include providing them access to quality healthcare services (UN, 2022c). However, unfortunately, most of these people cannot afford some of these services, so they will remain vulnerable. For instance, homeless people cannot afford or even access quality healthcare services (UN, 2022b). The UN works to make sure that they can access such services.
References
Sharma, H. B., Vanapalli, K. R., Samal, B., Cheela, V. S., Dubey, B. K., & Bhattacharya, J. (2021). Circular economy approach in solid waste management system to achieve UN-SDGs: Solutions for post-COVID recovery. Science of The Total Environment, 800, 149605.
UN. (2022a). Vulnerable groups. Web.
UN. (2022b). About small island developing states. Web.
UN. (2022c). The 17 goals. Web.