Compassion Speaks: “The World We Want”

by M. Doretta Cornell, RDC

A World without Poverty?  Is it possible?   That’s the “world we want’ described in the report released on Thursday by the United Nations Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.  An ambitious goal, yes, but one the Panel believes is achievable.  The title says it all: a New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustainable Development.  

Too often all we hear about the United Nations is military and political– the work of preserving peace, according to the UN Charter, though much of it seems highly politicized and military. But the United Nations is much more than that. Early in its history, the member nations realized that peace would never be possible until all peoples had what they needed to live decent lives.  And so the United Nations is also the primary venue for international cooperation for the improvement of all peoples.  Essentially, this is the work of justice and compassion.

Millennium Development Goals 2000-2015
In 2000, all the nations of the world agreed to cooperation to achieve a set of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed at reducing poverty and raising the standards of living of the world’s poorest people by 2015.  Today, less than two years from the 2015 date, many of the Goals have been achieved or on track to be achieved by 2015.  Most amazingly, the primary goal – of reducing by half the number of people living in extreme poverty (less than the equivalent of $1.25 a day) – was accomplished two years early!  The MDG website will let you see the progress toward each Goal and its sub-goals (“targets”).

The After-2015 Panel
Last summer, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon commissioned a Panel of Eminent Persons to begin research for continuing this work after 2015.  Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia;  Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and Nobel Prize winner; and David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, chair the twenty-seven member Panel, which was given the task of surveying all sectors of the world to develop some strategic recommendations to continue the work of the MDGs.  

On Thursday, the Panel reported to Secretary-General Ban a broad outline for the next 15 years, saying, “We transmit our recommendations to you with a feeling of great optimism that a transformation to end poverty through sustainable development is possible within our generation.”  Citing the success of the MDGs in creating “fastest reduction in poverty in human history,“ they laid out five “transformative shifts” that can make this goal possible:

The Five Transformational Shifts
     1. Leave no one behind.  “After 2015 we should move from reducing to ending extreme poverty, in all its forms. We should ensure that no person – regardless of ethnicity, gender, geography, disability, race or other status – is denied universal human rights and basic economic  opportunities”  (part of the full statement).
 
     2. Put sustainable development at the core. “This is a universal challenge, for every country and every person on earth. This will require structural change, with new solutions, and will offer new opportunities.”

     3. Transform economies for jobs and inclusive growth.  “We call for a quantum leap forward in economic opportunities and a profound economic transformation to end extreme poverty and improve livelihoods.”

     4. Build peace and effective, open and accountable institutions for all. “Freedom from fear, conflict and violence is the most fundamental human right, and the essential foundation for building peaceful and prosperous societies.”

     5. Forge a new global partnership.  “Perhaps the most important transformative shift is towards a new spirit of solidarity, cooperation, and mutual accountability that must underpin the post-2015 agenda.  A new partnership should be based on a common understanding of our shared humanity, underpinning mutual respect and mutual benefit in a shrinking world.”

From these broad outlines, a new set of more specific goals will be created.  Let us begin to think of how we make this “World We Want” a reality!  

To follow developments of this ambitious project, go to Trends and Outcomes.  You can watch Friday’s discussion of the Report and add your own comments.