EarthAction

Millennium Development Goals: Progress and Further Development

Photo credits to ec.europa.eu 

 

In 2000 world leaders gathered at the United Nations to agree on a set of eight targets for international development. Since 2001, the United Nations agreed on a set of eight targets for international development, which they called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  They have become the single most important organizing principle of the international community’s fight against extreme poverty and disease.

As of April 2013, there were 1000 days left until the MDGs are meant to reach that goal.

On Friday, April 5th, over 70 organizations marked the 1000-day countdown with a 1000-minute “digital media relay.” to address the questions of how far we have come since the MDGs were first established, what is left to be addressed, and what the global community can do to help. Through Twitter and Facebook chats, Google Hangouts blog posts and more, millions of people came together from every corner of the globe to celebrate global progress in eradicating extreme poverty and disease and press world leaders toclose the gap for those MDGs that have yet to be achieved.

Some MDGs have already been met: reducing the number of people living on less than  $1.25/day by 50% was reached in 2005 – due especially to rapid economic growth in China and India.

The second MDG focuses on making education more accessible.  Primary education in developing regions reached 90 percent in 2010, up from 82% in 1999, which means more kids than ever are attending primary school.  Gender gaps in education are disappearing—there are now more girls enrolled in primary school than at any other time in human history.

In terms of health, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and TB are at the heart of MDG 6 while the fighting against deadly childhood illnesses like diarrhea, pneumonia and measles is at the heart of MDG 5.  The fight against these illnesses requires funding and an injection of new funds was needed.

The health related MDGs were the organizing principle around which these efforts coalesced. The results have been impressive. On Malaria, prevention strategies like indoor residual spraying and long lasting insecticide treated bed nets have decreased infections by 17% globally since 2000 and the amount of deaths has decreased by 25%. Access to HIV medicines in the developing world has also increased substantially to about half of all people in need today.  Nevertheless, there is still much to be done a the goal calls for universal access to HIV/AIDS medicines.

The set of goals that need the most help is related to maternal health and maternal mortality. MDG 5 sets a target of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters and achieving universal access to reproductive health. Both goals, sadly, are far from their targets, and in many ways these targets are the single most important of all the MDGs. Investing in women and girls can have profoundly positive economic and social results.

Surely, the experience over the last 13 years has demonstrated thatcombining some of the great moral challenges of our time with political and financial backing can yield impressive results. The UN system is now exploring ways to build on the successes of the MDGs and on the momentum of the next 1000 days to design a new global development agenda once the MDGs expire. 

 

Sources: http://www.diplomaticourier.com/news/topics/global-health/1453-sprinting-to-the-millennium-development-goals-finish-line

http://www.unfoundation.org/

Global Action on Military Spending

Did you know that in 2011, global military spending exceed US $1.74 trillion dollars? We believe it is time to spend that money on human needs instead.

Join the global movement to reduce Military Spending. People from all continents are joining together in actions to focus public, political, and media attention on the costs of military spending and the need for new priorities. We hope you will check out events near you and participate! You can also visit demilitarize.org for much more information on military spending. 

UN Adopts Landmark Treaty Regulating Global Arms Trade

-Image from the NYT

Washington Post - "The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the first international treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade Tuesday, after a more than decade-long campaign to keep weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, warlords, organized crime figures and human rights violators.

Man

 - An animation by Steve Cutts examining man's relationship with the natural world. Find more of Steve Cutts' work at his website.

MUSLIM STATES AGREE TO 'HISTORIC' UN STATEMENT ON WOMEN

Reposted from: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Sunday 17 March 2013

Last Update 16 March 2013 10:30 pm

UNITED NATIONS: Muslim and Western nations late Friday overcame deep divisions to agree a landmark United Nations declaration setting out a code of conduct for combatting violence against women and girls.

Iran, Libya, Sudan and other Muslim nations ended threats to block the declaration and agreed to language stating that violence against women could not be justified by “any custom, tradition or religious consideration.” Western nations, particularly from Scandinavia, toned down demands for references to gay rights and sexual health rights to secure the accord after two weeks of tense negotiations between the 193 UN member states.

Some 6,000 non-government groups were in New York for the Commission on the Status of Women meeting. Cheers and wild applause erupted when the accord was announced in the UN headquarters late Friday.

Michelle Bachelet, executive director of UN Women, said it had been an “historic” meeting. It was announced straight after that Bachelet would be leaving her post to return to Chile.

“People worldwide expected action, and we didn’t fail them. Yes — we did it,” Bachelet said.

UN leader Ban Ki-Moon said UN members had committed “to take action to prevent violence and provide justice and services to survivors” of violence against women, which he called a “global menace” and “moral outrage.” Iran, the Vatican and Russia and other Muslim states had formed what some diplomats had called “an unholy alliance” to weaken a statement calling for tough global standards on violence against women and girls. They had objected to references to abortion rights and language suggesting that rape includes forcible behavior by a woman’s husband or partner.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood had called the proposed UN document un-Islamic and warned it would lead to the “complete degradation of society.” But the chief Egyptian official at the meeting, Mervat Tallawy, head of the country’s National Women’s Council, backed the accord. She said the declaration was needed to counter “a global wave of conservatism, of repression against women.” With Norway and Denmark leading a European alliance with North America calling for tough language, right up to the final hours it had appeared that the meeting could end without an accord.

The last attempt by the UN commission to agree on a declaration on violence against women in 2003 ended in failure.

“The commission urges states to strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and girls and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination,” said the declaration.

It added that states should “devote particular attention to abolishing practices and legislation that discriminate against women and girls, or perpetuate and condone violence against them.” Countries should “address and eliminate as a matter of priority domestic violence,” went on the declaration.

The conference had been made more emotive by the Taleban attack in October on 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai for her promotion of girls’ education in Pakistan and widely publicized gang rapes in India and South Africa.

The United States welcomed the accord. It was an important first step to ensure that women and girls “live productive and safe lives, free from the scourge of violence and abuse,” senior US envoy Terri Robl told the meeting.

But she added that “some important aspects” were omitted from the document and the United States believes the declaration should have clearly stated that it applied to lesbian women. “We regret that some delegations prevented this recognition explicitly,” Robl said.

Germany’s UN ambassador Peter Wittig said the document was “balanced and strong.” Wittig tweeted that the declaration “sends a much needed message to the women around the world: your rights are crucial.”

United Nations Appreciation of Languages!

Earlier this week (March 20, 2013) was the celebration of the International Day of Francophonie (Journée Internationale de la Francophonie).  The event was created in 1988 (introduced to the UN system in 2010) as a day celebrated by the French-speaking world to celebrate their common bond and embrace their diversity.  The French-speaking world today makes up about 220 million people across 33 countries and is the official language of 32 states (apart from France); this is a figure that will continue to grow with the advancement of globalization. 

United Nations (UN) officials pointed to the power of the French language to bring people together and emphasized its importance as a tool for mutual understanding and peace.  UN officials stress the importance of linguistic diversity to understand and respect the many cultures of the world. 

UNESCO emphasizes the importance of linguistic diversity as a condition for sincere and authentic international cooperation.  During the celebration, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received the Leopold Sear Senghor Medal, “le Grand Prix de la Francophonie,” awarded to the UN for its aid in developing the French language as an international tool.

Mr. Ban is expected to pay tribute to the place of French in international cooperation, including the need for more French-speaking staff in UN peacekeeping operations for crucial dialogue with local populations.

International language days were introduced to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity in the six official languages of the UN Organization (Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic).

 

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=228027

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44441&Cr=multilingualism&Cr1=#.UU9OfHaAKaJ

Arms Trade Treaty Negotiations (March 18—25)

- Photo Courtesy of RadioFreeBrighton
12 BILLION...
...the number of bullets produced each year. 

Thousands of people are killed, injured, raped, and forced to flee from their homes as a result of the unregulated global arms trade. The Control Arms campaign is a global civil society alliance calling for a bulletproof Arms Trade Treaty: a global, legally binding agreement that will ease the suffering caused by irresponsible transfers of conventional weapons and munitions.

Representatives from all countries will come together at the UN from March 18—25 to take the next step in developing a strong and effective global Arms Trade Treaty. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.

Click here for the Control Arms Campaign website. They have lots of resources and suggestions for taking action on this important issue.

Our friends at GlobalSolutions.org have lots of materials on their website for people who live in the U.S.A. Here’s a link to their Fact Sheet, and here’s a link to a great blog post, Getting Small Arms Out of the Wrong Hands, by Don Kraus, their Executive Director.

Learn more:

10 Killer Facts: the Global Weapons Trade, Amnesty International

Why do we need an arms trade treaty?, Amnesty International

5 Myths About Nuclear Weapons

- From Wikimedia Commons

Check out this NY Times op-ed by Ward Wilson, written Jan. 13, 2013, dispelling the myths of beneficial nuclear weapons. Follow the link here to read it. Also, click here to watch artist Isao Hashimoto's short film, showing 2,053 nuclear explosions in one video. 

April Action Alert: How would you spend 1.6 trillion dollars?

Grant a primary education to every child on Earth? Bring clean water and basic sanitation to the entire global population? Reduce maternal mortality rates by three quarters? Adequately treat every person living with HIV/AIDS? End armed conflict? All of the above?

Imagine the world we could live in if each of those dreams came true. Instead, global military spending in 2011 was equivalent to 1.6 trillion dollars. Every minute, the United States spends 2.1 million dollars in military spending. That means the money spent by the US government in just day could cut the spread of malaria worldwide by half, saving over 300,000 lives. 

On Tuesday, April 17th, 2012, concerned global citizens in locations around the world will be taking action to not just imagine but secure a world with less spending on militarization and more spending on human rights. This year marks the second Global day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS), founded by the International Peace Bureau and the Institute for Policy Studies. 

GDAMS urges global citizens to take action to focus political, public and media attention on global military spending, and to let our world leaders know that we’re watching. Something EarthAction can really get behind.

How to Participate in GDAMS:

Locally- visit Demilitarize.org to find an event being organized in a city near you. Events are already being organized in over 35 countries!

On the Web- Take a picture explaining what you would do with 1.6 trillion dollars. Post it to the GDAMS photo wall and on social media sites to show the world you’re interested in new priorities for the world’s biggest economies. Post your picture to EarthAction's Facebook Wall or tweet to @EarthAction to spread the word.

Tweet

Feeling motivated?- Gather some friends and fellow activists, find a busy street corner or a public space like a military base, capitol building or town hall and make signs articulating the true cost of military spending. GDAMS has effective tools for organizers incuding posters, quick facts and printable leafletts. Be sure to post your event to let others in your area join you! Tell your local radio station, newspaper, television station or other media agency that you’ll be out spreading the word about your government’s choice to fund bombs instead of books and warfare instead of healthcare.

More Information-
Official GDAMS website: demilitarize.org,
International Bureau for Peace fact sheet: http://ipb.org/i/pdf-files/Dont_Spend_Money_on_War_Use_it_for_Peace.pdf

EarthAction's Email Archive: Email Action Alert