| Civil society groups rally ahead of MDG review |
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“We are working to try and push governments across the world meet their commitments to end extreme poverty by 2015,” said Rajiv Joshi of Global Call to Action Against Poverty, the event's organiser. Leaders of major human rights organisations met on Thursday at a conference at the Ford Foundation hosted by Amnesty International and Realising Rights, calling for the greater inclusion of human rights within strategies to achieve the MDGs. “Human rights principles and approaches are vital in making more rapid and lasting progress on these critical development goals,” said Realising Rights president Mary Robinson. Richard Morgan of the United Nations Development Group MDG task force warned that focusing on the achievement of the MDGs while ignoring human rights could lead to “a statistical victory and a moral failure”. Participants at the conference stressed that economic indicators often ignore the issue of inequality, and allow disadvantaged groups to suffer. They urged that the MDGs be amended to include the right of all people to have access to a legal system and justice, as strengthening legal institutions would provide a strategy for change for those who have had their rights violated. Meanwhile, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a “concrete action agenda” to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the MDGs, in the form of a 58-page study titled 'What will it take to achieve the Millennium Development Goals?'. The report analyses progress and obstacles to achievement in 50 countries, and identifies key success stories to be learnt from. Among the successful strategies it notes: “the abolition of primary school fees leading to a surge in enrolment in Ethiopia; the construction of health clinics in Afghanistan which helped reduce under-five child mortality; and Ghana's nationwide fertiliser subsidy programme that increased food production by 40 percent and reduced hunger by nine percent between 2003 and 2005.” However, the UNDP estimates that following the effects of three devastating crises — “food, fuel and finance” — this year an additional 15 million and 19 million people will fall into poverty measured at 1.25 dollars per day and 2.0 dollars per day, respectively. You can download the UNDP report ‘What Will It Take to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals? — An International Assessment’ here. Sources:
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Ahead of the UN high level Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) review summit in New York in September, civil society groups are rallying together to step up pressure for ambitious action in the final five years before the 2015 deadline. Informal hearings took place last week at the U.N. General Assembly, and over 100 anti-poverty activists participated in an outdoor demonstration.
