Millennium apathy

The UN Millennium Development Goals Summit was a tired and disappointing affair, says Mohsen Zahran*

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Attended by nearly 140 presidents, kings and cabinet ministers, the summit was convened on 20-22 September 2010 in order to review the global situation and achievements in fulfilling the MDGs during the last 10 years, and five years before the target date in 2015.

During the summit in 1990 in Rio de Janeiro, it was agreed that the world summit would meet in New York City at the UN headquarters prior to the 65th annual Meeting of the General Assembly 10 years hence, in order to review the progress achieved by the UN member states in the implementation of those goals.

These goals are spearheaded by cutting extreme poverty by half, especially for the more than one billion people living on less than $1.25 per day, as declared by Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary general in his address. In addition, other primary goals include ensuring universal primary education, eradicating illiteracy, halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, reducing maternal mortality at birth by 75 per cent and child mortality before age five by 65 per cent. The eight MDG targets also include empowerment of women, and environmental sustainability.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick, heads of states and NGOs expressed their disappointment at the minimal accomplishments. As indicated in the country reports, the limited achievements realised thus far are limited to 30 nations, with scarce external funding. Some leaders blamed the global economic slowdown. Others voiced their concern at the alarming deterioration of conditions in certain regions around the world, especially the horrible genocide acts and terrible massacres in the Congo, Burundi, Uganda, South Africa and Somalia, in addition to dislocation and migration due to natural causes as in Pakistan and Nigeria, or due to national strife, violence and wars.

International experts as well as concerned officials and humanitarians have stressed the urgent need to confront the causes of those sufferings, deprivation and misery in concert with MDGs.

Although a glimmer of hope was announced at the progress achieved in the goal to half extreme poverty by 2015, as well as in the health sector, especially in fighting HIV/AIDS and malaria, coupled with combating illiteracy and improvement of primary schools in the education sector, it was stressed by UN officials that further progress requires $42 billion annually in order to achieve those goals during the next five years.

Despite declarations of a few leaders of the developed world to raise the funds needed, especially for the countries in the developing world suffering from extreme poverty and underdevelopment, many concurred that the slow pace of implementation and intolerable stagnation during the last 10 years gives little hope that the Millennium Goals can barely be achieved by 2015.

Judging from previous world summits, especially the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen last December, it seems that such summits have little use, and are often arenas for political manoeuvres, unfulfilled pledges and empty slogans. They only reaffirmed the despair, hopelessness and helplessness of the world community in confronting global problems, global threats and global crises. Unfortunately, except for strategic resolutions favouring Western interests, world forums and UN resolutions have been, by and large, fruitless, empty, fragile, lame and impotent.

Any achievement of such cardinal goals as combating poverty must start with the national will and a solid commitment to achieve those goals. International subsidies or support can only help, provided nations have development plans and budgets prudently adopted in phases at all levels, regions localities and sectors.

* The writer is professor of planning at the University of Alexandria.