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| | Disappointing World Summit Offers Glimmers of Hope for the Poor
The United Nations' "World Summit on the Millennium Development Goals" was convened last week at UN headquarters, originally to address the desperate situation of global poverty. Five years ago, at the dawn of the new millennium, world leaders embraced eight "Millennium Development Goals" to eliminate poverty in our time. They pledged, by the year 2015, to:
- Reduce by half the number of people living on less than a dollar a day
- Reduce by half the number of people without safe drinking water
- Achieve primary education for all children
- Reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria
- Cut the child mortality rate by two-thirds
Unfortunately the Summit became largely about other worthy goals — primarily security, terrorism, and reforming the United Nations — and hence, focus was removed from the plight of the world's 3 billion poor. They were pushed to the back of the agenda.
It was an historic opportunity, squandered. Nearly 200 representatives from UN member countries finally reached agreement on a watered-down outcomes document outlining steps to reform the United Nations. The Millennium Development Goals were affirmed with general language yet specific measurements of progress and opportunities to move the goals forward were curiously absent.
The goal of significantly reducing global poverty sounds pie-in-the-sky, but has been demonstrated to be a realistic one, given the appropriate application of global will and resources. Jeffrey Sachs, the internationally-recognised economist who directed the UN Millennium Project and wrote the recently published book, The End of Poverty, notes that with a modest, well-directed increase in aid the world could achieve these goals. For example, for US$7 billion annually — what Europeans spend on perfume, and a fraction of the projected cost of Hurricane Katrina recovery — we could provide clean drinking water to the 2.6 billion people who now lack it.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his wish that stronger language originally proposed could have been retained in the document, but as ambassadors of more than 30 nations met to finalize the reform plan, which was later adopted by the full 191-nation General Assembly on its 60th anniversary, they stripped the document of some of its more contentious specifics.
While the 35-page document includes substantive plans for UN reform and commitments from the world's wealthier nations to aid less developed countries, Annan said the blueprint fell short of his vision of freedom from hunger, persecution and war. "The big item missing is non-proliferation and disarmament," Annan said. "This is a real disgrace ... when we are all concerned with weapons of mass destruction and that they may get into the wrong hands."
Despite the overall discouraging news from the Summit, there were some quiet victories made possible by the faithfulness of World Vision supporters:
- The original draft outcome document included no mention of children whatsoever. But thanks to Ruth Kahurananga, World Vision's UN-based child rights advocate, 12 references to children were inserted in the final document. Ruth, who represented World Vision and other humanitarian agencies committed to children, successfully helped place children at the center of the world's development agenda.
- On HIV/AIDS, the Summit adopted language very similar to what World Vision had proposed. Government leaders recommitted their nations to treatment of orphans and vulnerable children, to universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment and to improved investment in national health systems.
- As the Summit concluded, World Vision President Rich Stearns attended an inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, a two-day conference convened by the former US president. At this conference, in the presence of many of the signatories of the Summit's final outcomes document, Stearns had an opportunity to place renewed emphasis on the pressing global battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Our efforts to address poverty will be wasted if we cannot turn the tide against AIDS.
We are grateful for your support for this ministry and what is says about your concern for the plight of impoverished children and families throughout the world. With your help we are making modest strides forward in the battle to place children first and address the causes of poverty. |
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1-888-511-6548 : P.O. Box 9716
Federal Way, WA 98063-9716
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Who Is World Vision? World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
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