Are the United Nations SDGs reproducing colonial practices in Cape Verde in the name of development?

The focus of this research will be on discourse of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed by the United Nations and the discourse of its implementation in Cape Verde. These goals have been globally established with the ambition of improving the lives of human beings. During the colonial era, indigenous ways of living were violated and erased. Africans were forced to adapt to other forms of living alien to their own. In addition, the extraction of raw materials and their devaluation, became synonymous to colonial practices given that profit was the primary goal. In order to achieve these practices, notions of development were developed and promoted by colonizers. Given that the United Nations was founded upon European law and built on concepts such as development and the improvement of lives, this research analyzed how these discourses are present in SDGs documents in Cape Verde. SDGs 8,9,12 and 15 were analyzed, these goals also stimulate development on the islands given the extra challenges they face due to their isolated geographical position. Accordingly, the discourse of 5 additional Cape Verdean governmental documents were analyzed. The Cape Verdean goals are based on the United Nations SDGs. These were analyzed in an attempt to showcase whether colonial legacy is present in Cape Verde. Within these documents the focus was on colonial discourse, such as development and extraction. The results showed that humanitarianism via the UN discourse is being reproduced by the Cape Verdean government in the form of national goals and practices.