What are the Millennium Development Goals?

In 2000, world leaders came together and made a commitment to measurable progress towards peace, security, disarmament, human rights, democracy and good governance.

They committed to halving poverty by 2015. This statement of both commitment and confidence in humanity was the Millennium Declaration. Out of this declaration arose the Millennium Development Goals (the MDGs). These are eight goals which are measurable and have a time limit. The goals address poverty, hunger, education, maternal and child health, the prevalence of diseases including HIV/AIDS, gender equality, the environment, debt, trade justice and aid. 

The MDGs focus on the alleviation of poverty for the poorest of the poor and for those in least developed countries.

The world leaders, in supporting these goals, were saying that despite all the conflict and poverty in the world there is hope and that ending poverty is a question of will. We, as global citizens, must want to ensure a more equitable and peaceful world. In the words of Kofi Annan: 

“We should never despair. Our problems are not beyond our power to meet them. But we cannot be content with incomplete success and we cannot make do with incremental responses to the shortcomings that have been revealed. Instead, we must come together to bring about far – reaching change.”

Kofi Annan, in his report to the General Assembly of the United Nations, in March 2005, makes the point that development, security and human rights go hand in hand. He calls this Larger Freedom: 

“Larger freedom implies that men and women everywhere have the right to be governed by their own consent, under law, in a society where all individuals can, without discrimination or retribution, speak, worship and associate freely. They must also be free from want – so that the death sentences of extreme poverty and infectious disease are lifted from their lives – and free from fear – so that their lives and livelihoods are not ripped apart by violence and war. Indeed, all people have the right to security and development.” (Kofi Annan, A/59/2005 page 5)

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