President Barack Obama couldn’t be here in person, but he still joined the 2015 Global CItizen Festival from the White House. In the film shared on Center Stage he made the case for embracing the Global Goals.

For Obama, supporting the Goals comes down to a simple concept: dignity.

Every human has an innate right to live a dignified life. Far too often, this dignity is ruined by extreme poverty and inequality and all manner of injustices.

The good news is progress has been made to restore dignity around the world.

As Obama said, “We’ve saved millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. More children are going to school, more communities have clean water, and hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty.”

But a lot more has to be done.

“When so many families still live in extreme poverty and chronic hunger, when so many mothers still die from childbirth, when so many children still die from preventable diseases—that is a moral outrage. It is a profound injustice. We have come together, as one world, to realize the change that we seek.”

How has the world come together, exactly?

Through the Global Goals, the world’s roadmap for international development for the next 15 years.

17 Goals, 169 targets and 1 future that works for us all. For everyone to live a life of dignity, everyone and every country has to play an active role in accomplishing the Goals.

Check out more on the Global Goals here.

Go to TAKE ACTION NOW to make sure you're not a bystander as the Goals gain momentum!

Editorial

Demand Equity

President Obama says the inherent dignity of all people must be upheld

By Joe McCarthy