General Assembly Topic 2: The Role of Developed Countries to Assist Less Developed Countries Realize the Millennium Development Goals
In September 2000,
the United Nations approved the Millennium Declaration at its Millennium Summit
in New York. The Millennium Declaration followed nearly a decade of work and
research on the subject of global development. A series of eight goals that
came to be known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were to be
universally realized by 2015.
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
The Millennium
Development Goals Report of 2010 indicated that while some goals had been or
were close to being met in some regions, others still fell drastically short of
meeting the 2015 target figures. As the UN Millenium Project reports:
Between 1990 and
2002 average overall incomes increased by approximately 21 percent. The number
of people in extreme poverty declined by an estimated 130 million 1. Child
mortality rates fell from 103 deaths per 1,000 live births a year to 88. Life
expectancy rose from 63 years to nearly 65 years. An additional 8 percent of
the developing world's people received access to water. And an additional 15
percent acquired access to improved sanitation services.[i]
Successes in
some regions contrasted with shortcomings in other regions have led to
criticism that the MDGs were only structured to work in certain environments. While
a politically stable, yet economically poor state would understandably respond
positively to economic aid, the framework did not foresee problems posed by
politically unstable environments or regions with relatively poor infrastructures.
In many cases short-term aid has not contributed to long-term success when a
state was unfit to use the assistance effectively.
A prime example
can be found in analyzing the recent famine in Somalia and related emergency
food shortages in Ethiopia and Kenya. Over 70% of the Somali labor force
participates in the agricultural sector and it is estimated that some 10
million have been adversely affected by the drought. These short-term
emergencies have long-term effects. Other regions of the world are also meeting
with mixed success.
Balance is
necessary in addressing this and many other international developmental issues,
but an answer is rarely straightforward. In order to reach the MDGs by the 2015
deadline certain questions must be addressed and alterations made. Questions
your government should consider might include:
Questions to be considered from your state's point
of view:
- What steps must be taken to ensure that
the Millennium Development Goals are reached by the target date of 2015?
- How effective is short-term aid to a
state that does not have the means or the infrastructure to fully take
advantage of it?
- What steps can be taken by Developed Countries
to improve the infrastructure of Less Developed Countries? How does this change
if a government is unwilling to comply?
- How can foreign aid be effectively
delivered to those in need when the affected government is ultimately
unwillingly to fully cooperate?
- Given the economic problems of Developed
Countries, is it fair to ask them to help Less Developed Countries when they
are currently having trouble meeting their own needs?
- Has your country met the Millennium
Development Goals? If not, why not and what is it doing to try and do so?
Resources:
Darcy, James. "The MDGs and the
Humanitarian-Development Divide." ODI Opinions 111 (2008). Overseas Development Institute. 29 July 2011.
"Millennium Development Goals." United Nations. http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/
‘Somalia: The
World Factbook.’ CIA.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. 29 July 2011. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html
"UN Declares Somalia Famine in
Bakool and Lower Shabelle." BBC News. BBC, 20 July 2011. 29 July
2011.
“What Are the Millennium Development
Goals?” UNDP.org. United Nations Development Programme. 2 Aug 2011.
[i] UN Millenium Project http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/index.htm (Accessed August 1, 2011)
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