Despite slow progress, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan believes it is possible to achieve the organisation’s Millennium Development Goals by 2015 through cooperation, former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano said on Tuesday.
”What is needed is for us to work together. We all have a common interest to defend. There is a need to develop a just world where there is an equitable distribution of resources,” Chissano said.
He was speaking in his capacity as Annan’s special envoy to Africa at a meeting of the Civil Society of South Africa, convened in Pretoria by the Africa Institute of South Africa, the UN Development Programme and the South African Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition.
The eight development goals are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.
The goals have a common 2015 deadline.
”The media, governments, Parliaments and heads of state cannot be divided in this process. It is only through a coordinated effort that we can work together towards a better world,” Chissano said.
He said 147 heads of state will be meeting on September 5 at the UN headquarters in New York to review progress made since the goals were set in 2000.
He said it is Annan’s wish for his report titled In Larger Freedom towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All to be relayed not only to heads of state and ambassadors, but also to civil society groups such as those at Tuesday’s meeting.
Annan feels, Chissano said, that it is important to have heads of state closely follow the progress and dialogues arising from the report, and he also wants to make himself available during their reflections on it and give clarity on his intentions.
”We urge you to reach the people and convey the message of the report,” Chissano told the delegates.
”The UN Charter does not read, ‘We, the heads of state’; it reads, ‘We, the people of the world’. The people of the world are the UN.”
Annan’s report focuses on four areas — three freedoms and the strengthening of the UN.
”The first is achieving freedom from want, which means development. Achieving freedom from fear deals with security issues, and achieving freedom to live in dignity will concentrate on human rights issues,” said Chissano.
”The time for action is now, not tomorrow,” he said. ”We must see ourselves as responsible for making things happen and not point fingers.” — Sapa