Global Policy Forum

By Jack Freeman

The Millennium Summit of the United Nations--the largest meeting of government leaders in the history of the world, being held here starting Wednesday--will put poverty and development issues "back on the front burner." That prediction was made by UN Deputy Secretary General Louise Frechette on the eve of the Summit.

Interviewed by The Earth Times in her office on the 38th floor of the UN Secretariat Building, Frechette said the Summit was being convened by the UN for the purpose of receiving from the leaders of its member states "fresh direction on what goals we should be pursuing."

She said between 150 and 160 heads of state or government are expected to attend the Summit. The largest such gathering until now, the UN's 50th anniversary celebration in 1995, was attended by 128 national leaders.

Frechette, who has played a key role in preparations for the Summit, stressed the importance of Secretary General Kofi Annan's Millennium Report, titled "We the Peoples," in setting its tone.

In that report, released last April, the Secretary General calls on the leaders attending the Summit to deal specifically with the problems of economic globalization, poverty, illiteracy and the environment.

Annan asked the world leaders to commit to a number of specific targets, including reducing by half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and providing basic education for all boys and girls by the year 2015.

"I would expect the leaders to agree to specific target dates," Annan said, "and identify issues on which we are going to bring our collective influence to bear and try to resolve in the next 10 to 15 years." He added: "So it is a message of hope, a message of 'Yes, we can do something about it' and a message of 'Let's work together and do it.'"

There is no question but that a lot of such work will be necessary. According to the report "A Better World for All," produced jointly by the UN, the World Bank, the IMF and the OECD and released during the Social Summit+5 meeting held in Geneva this past June:

Some 1.3 billion people on the planet (22 out of every 100) are living on $1 a day or less;

Each year more than half a million women die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 99 percent of those deaths occur in the developing countries;

Each year 11 million children die from preventable diseases.

The statistics go on and on: More than 150 million workers unemployed. More than 100 million school-age children out of school. More than one billion people lacking safe drinking water.

The Secretary General's Millennium Report also calls attention to the need for environmental action to ensure "a sustainable future." It calls on the UN's member states to act decisively to deal with the problems of climate change, water supply, food security issues and the preservation of forests, fisheries and biodiversity.

The focus of the UN has shifted considerably in the 55 years of its existence, Frechette told The Earth Times, as times and issues have changed. But, she added, in some ways "we are still sorting out problems left over from the cold war era." This, she said, is a particularly timely occasion for refocusing the UN's priorities. She cited the need to deal with new issues raised by the technical revolution and the challenges posed by economic globalization.

Although the UN has always been committed to dealing with economic and social issues as well as security, she said, "What we've seen in the past 10 years or so was diminishing interest in those issues, particularly on the part of the rich countries, as they put more reliance on market forces." Market forces, she added, are "an important engine of economic growth, but they are not enough. To reduce inequality and to reduce poverty there must be a commitment of leaders to make the elimination of poverty a priority."

Still, she cautioned against expecting too much from the Summit, which she said "is, by definition, a political event" rather than a technical meeting. "Don't look for it to produce detailed prescriptions."

The Millennium Summit of heads of government is the centerpiece of a number of other international meetings being held in at the UN and elsewhere in New York. They included a World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, a meeting of parliamentary leaders sponsored by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and an NGO Forum sponsored by the UN's Division of Public Information, all held last week. A "Forum 2000," sponsored by the State of the World Forum (which is headed by Mikhail Gorbachev), is being held at the New York Hilton through September 10.

Over the years, Frechette said, the UN has become more inclusive, providing access to nongovernmental organizations and other elements of "civil society." And it has held a variety of conferences aimed at dealing with specific sectors. But ultimately, she said, the commitments must come from the "top leaders," and at a Summit such this one.

"Many problems require a holistic approach," she said, "and there is a need for governments to put all the sectors together. Only leaders can do that, and they can do it nowhere else--only in the United Nations."

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.