- Home
- A-Z Publications
- UN Chronicle
- Previous Issues
- Volume 44, Issue 4, 2007
UN Chronicle - Volume 44, Issue 4, 2007
Volume 44, Issue 4, 2007
A must-read for every concerned world citizen, the United Nations Chronicle is a quarterly, easy-to-read report on the work of the United Nations and its agencies. Produced by the United Nations Department of Public Information, every issue covers a wide range United Nations related activities: from fighting the drug war to fighting racial discrimination, from relief and development to nuclear disarmament, terrorism, and the world-wide environmental crisis. Written in English and French, this issue is devoted to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
-
-
The Importance of the MDGs
Author: Asha-Rose MigiroThe Millennium Development Goals are the international community’s most broadly shared, comprehensive and focused framework for reducing poverty. Drawn from the Millennium Declaration, adopted and agreed to by all Governments in 2000, the MDGs represent the commitments of United Nations Member States to reduce extreme poverty and its many manifestations: hunger, disease, gender inequality, lack of education and access to basic infrastructure, and environmental degradation.
-
-
-
A prehistory of the Millennium Development Goals
Author: Peter JacksonWhen the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000, the goals and targets it set in the section on development ultimately became known as the Millennium Development Goals. However, the MDGs were not part of a new agenda, but an attempt to refocus years of debate, efforts and struggle to advance the economic and social development of the world’s poorest nations.
-
-
-
Our aspirations must become achievements
Author: Tarja HalonenIn March 2000, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan published his report, ‘We the Peoples’: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century, listing the major challenges in the world. The report presented an action plan that included halving the relative amount of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, guaranteeing basic education to all children and reducing HIV-infection rates by 25 per cent by 2010. The key message of the Secretary-General’s Millennium Report was that the welfare of the world’s people is our shared responsibility. In an interdependent world, no nation is an island and people’s fortunes are interlinked. The current situation, in which the majority of the global population lives in poverty while the minority lives in abundance, is not only wrong; in the long run, it is unsustainable.
-
-
-
From the Millennium Summit to 2015
Author: Sam NujomaWhen Heads of State and Government met at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 8 September 2000, we reflected on many previous resolutions and declarations made at the international, continental, as well as regional levels. We realized then, and we know now, that almost all of them centred on the now famous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were the core of the UN Millennium Declaration. During the Summit, we agreed to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty”. We further committed ourselves to “making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire race from want”.
-
-
-
Devising a shared global strategy for the MDGs
Author: Sha ZukangSeven years on and halfway towards 2015—the deadline set for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals—success is still possible. The MDGs, which set quantitative benchmarks to halve extreme poverty in all its forms, are achievable if countries implement national development strategies and receive adequate support from the international community.
-
-
-
Food security and the challenge of the MDGs
Author: Sha ZukangIn their solemn Millennium Declaration of 2000, world leaders committed themselves to spare no effort to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the world’s people who suffer from poverty and hunger. Just seven years remain for us to meet that momentous challenge. Having passed the halfway mark in the race against hunger, the most important lesson we have learned is that it can still be won; however, a much greater and more sustained effort will be required of us.
-
-
-
Breaking the cycle of poverty in achieving the MDGs
Author: Thoraya Ahmed ObaidA bold and ambitious agenda was set forth in the Millennium Development Goals to raise the quality of life of all individuals and promote human development. The MDGs represent our collective aspirations for a better life and provide a minimum road map on how to get there. However, they can only be achieved if Governments, civil society and international agencies work together to address population issues as a development priority, in particular to secure the reproductive health and rights of people, especially the poor and particularly women. This vision is contained in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which was adopted by 179 Governments in 1979. The ICPD goal of universal access to reproductive health by 2015 is a target in the MDG monitoring framework, under MDG 5 to improve maternal health. Access to reproductive health can have a powerful impact on development, not only to improve maternal health but also to achieve all the MDGs.
-
-
-
Promoting the MDGs
Author: Juan SomaviaThe 2000 UN Millennium Declaration, from which the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) emerged, focuses on development and poverty eradication, through peace and security, human rights, democracy and good governance. It identifies the fundamental values of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility. Through the Declaration, UN Member States pledge to ensure greater coherence in policies across the international system towards common development goals. The Declaration builds on earlier international commitments, such as productive and freely chosen employment, which were the outcome of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen.
-
-
-
Ending poverty through education
Author: Koïchiro MatsuuraThe world made a determined statement when it adopted the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000. These goals represent a common vision for dramatically reducing poverty by 2015 and provide clear objectives for significant improvement in the quality of people’s lives.
-
-
-
Towards universal primary education
Author: Margaret Simwanza SittaThe Government of the United Republic of Tanzania recognizes the central role of education in achieving the overall development goal of improving the quality of life for its citizens. It considers the provision of quality universal primary education for all the most reliable way of building a sustainable future for the country. This is well articulated in the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty. Tanzania is also a signatory of several international agreements, including on Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
-
-
-
Gender equality is key to achieving the MDGs
Author: Joanne SandlerOne of nine children growing up from a small town in an African country, Meaza was told: “Oh, you’re so smart and have so much potential, it’s too bad you’re not a boy.” But her mother, who was illiterate, believed her children deserved better. “When I think of my mother, I think about how women are prevented from reaching their potential”, she says. “If you’re illiterate and send five kids to college, you must have a lot of unused potential.” Today, Meaza is a lawyer and a leader in legal advocacy to promote women’s rights.
-
-
-
Promoting gender equality in Muslim contexts
Author: Noeleen HeyzerA question that is sometimes posed is whether women in Muslim contexts are entitled to equal rights. Does their culture and religion oppose to women having equal rights? To answer this, let us recognize the fact that nearly all the countries with Muslim majorities are signatories to international agreements advancing women’s rights. These include the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and other relevant agreements.
-
-
-
Health and the MDGs
Author: Margaret ChanIn 2000, the international community endorsed the Millennium Declaration, which sets out an historic commitment to eradicate extreme poverty and improve the health of the world’s poorest people by 2015. The Declaration and the resulting internationally agreed targets for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) place health squarely at the centre of the international development agenda and champion it as a key driver of economic progress.
-
-
-
Education is key to reducing child mortality
Author: Ann M. VenemanIn 2006, for the first time in recent history, the total number of annual deaths among children under the age of five fell below 10 million, to 9.7 million. This represents a 60-per-cent drop in the rate of child mortality since 1960. Data compiled by the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation reveals that progress has been made in every region of the world. Since 1990, China’s under-five mortality rate has declined from 45 deaths for every 1,000 live births to 24 per 1,000, a reduction of 47 per cent; India’s rate declined by 34 per cent. The rates in six countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Eritrea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Nepal—fell by 50 per cent or more from 1990 to 2006, although under-five mortality rates in these countries remain high. Ethiopia achieved a nearly 40-per-cent reduction during the same period.
-
-
-
Keep the promise for mothers and children
Author: Francisco SonganeDespite the concerted efforts of many players, global progress in child survival has slowed compared to the advances of previous decades. Maternal mortality— deaths of women in pregnancy and childbirth—remains at almost the same level as 20 years ago. Halfway to 2015, the target set in 2000 by world leaders to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 on child and maternal health are furthest off track.
-
-
-
Combatting AIDS
Author: Peter PiotThe first disease to be the subject of debates in the United Nations, both in the Security Council and the General Assembly special sessions, AIDS is one of the top ten leading causes of death worldwide. A quarter of a century into the epidemic, it has become one of the defining issues of our time. According to the Human Development Report 2005, published by the United Nations Development Programme, it is responsible for “the single greatest reversal in human development”.
-
-
-
Poverty, malaria and the right to health
Author: Paul HuntMalaria is an extremely serious human rights issue. Six out of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) cannot be achieved without tackling this disease. It is both a cause and a consequence of poverty. Its impact is especially ferocious on the poorest: those least able to afford preventive measures and medical treatment. Malaria kills well over 1 million people every year, claiming a child’s life every 30 seconds. It impoverishes families, households and national economies, lowers worker productivity and discourages investment. It costs Africa $12 billion every year.
-
-
-
Clean drinking water and sanitation
Author: Habib N. El-HabrThe Arab region, for the most part, is characterized by dry, harsh climatic conditions and associated scarce water resources. The average annual rainfall is less than 250 mm in 70 per cent of the region and less than 100 mm in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The available water resources are estimated at 265 km3, with 225 km3 of this in the form of surface water and the remaining 40 km3 groundwater. Of these available resources, over 65 per cent originate outside the region—flowing into it via the Euphrates, Tigris and Nile rivers—a situation which gives rise to potential conflicts over shared water resources. Seven countries of the region rank among the ten most water-scarce in the world.
-
-
-
Supporting towns and cities to achieve the MDGs
Author: Anna TibaijukaIt has been eight years since world leaders made a commitment to eradicate extreme poverty through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These Goals are aimed at achieving universal primary education, empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and forging a new partnership for development.
-
Most Read This Month
Article
content/journals/15643913
Journal
10
5
false
en