United States President George Bush and other world leaders have been speaking today, on the first day of the United Nations World Summit, about what the summit has achieved.
Leaders are saying that what was agreed in Scotland in July by the Group of Eight leaders has now been embraced by the 191 governments in the world. While this is true, it is a huge disappointment for millions around the world. We were calling for huge steps forward on reducing poverty, but all we have heard is just reiteration of existing commitments.
Included in the line-up of heads of state speaking at the UN summit are UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Bush, United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair and South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Over the next three days, each leader will have a chance to speak. Usually the leaders use this as an opportunity to talk about their achievements in office. All the real decisions will be made in the corridors as the leaders will meet about other issues. Any more substantive decisions about making progress to achieving the Millennium Development Goals won’t be made here.
The presidents and prime ministers were ushered with police escorts while helicopters flew overhead. The streets all around the UN summit were blocked off. We were going to take a taxi back to the Oxfam office, but decided against it because it would be faster to walk.
The police have been courteous and polite, but when you look around you on the streets, there are officers everywhere. There are even plainclothes officers trying unsuccessfully to blend into the crowd.
It seems like every organisation is protesting here. Thousands of Iranians showed up to protest against their president. Taiwanese want the UN to recognise their country as a member state, and the religious group Falun Gong was protesting against its treatment by the Chinese.
Today, I spent much of the day working with my Oxfam colleagues to understand more about all the things that this summit is about, looking at the document that leaders are going to sign on Friday.
Oxfam is part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty, a coalition made up of thousands of organisations all over the world, and we have been sharing information and office space with them. I will have more meetings with the coalition tomorrow.
Yesterday, Oxfam colleagues gave me flowers as a thank-you for coming to the summit and speaking of my experiences in Rwanda, but I felt privileged to be working with them. Most of them are young and work very hard.
Tomorrow, I will be turning 42, which most of them cannot believe. I never thought I would be celebrating my birthday in New York during a UN summit.
Grace Mukagabiro, from Rwanda, works for Oxfam and is reporting from the UN World Summit in New York
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M&G Online UN World Summit report
