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In his Millennium Report, the Secretary-General identifies pressing
challenges faced by the world's peoples and proposes a number of priorities
for Member States to consider at the Millennium Summit. He also recommends
several immediate steps that can be taken at the Summit itself. Outlined
below are the new initiatives he is proposing, followed by targets and
recommendations he has outlined for consideration by Heads of State.
The Secretary-General has announced four new initiatives in the report:
A volunteer corps, called the
United Nations Information Technology Service ('UNITeS'), to train groups
in developing countries in the uses and opportunities of the Internet
and information technology.
A Health InterNetwork, to establish
10,000 on-line sites in hospitals and clinics in developing countries
to provide access to up-to-date medical information. This initiative
is supported by WHO, the United Nations Foundation
and other partners.
A disaster response initiative, "First
on the Ground", which will provide mobile and satellite
telephones as well as microwave links for humanitarian relief workers
in areas affected by natural disasters and emergencies. This project
will be led by the communications company Ericsson, with United Nations
partners and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies.
A global policy network to
explore viable new approaches to the problem of youth employment. This
high-level group, to be convened jointly with the heads of the World
Bank and the ILO, and to include private sector and civil society leaders,
will make recommendations to Governments within a year.
'FREEDOM FROM WANT': the Development Agenda
Heads of State or Government are urged to take action in the following
areas:
Poverty: To halve, by 2015, the
proportion of the world's people (currently 22 per cent) whose income
is less than one dollar a day.
Water: To halve, by 2015, the proportion
of people who do not have access to safe drinking water (currently 20
per cent).
Education: To narrow the gender
gap in primary and secondary education by 2005; and to ensure that,
by 2015, all children complete a full course of primary education.
HIV/AIDS: To halt, and begin to
reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015 by:
- adopting as an explicit goal the reduction of HIV infection rates
in persons 15 to 24 years of age – by 25 percent within the
most affected countries before the year 2005, and by 25 percent
globally before 2010.
- setting explicit prevention targets: by 2005 at least 90 percent,
and by 2010 at least 95 percent, of young men and women must have
access to the HIV-preventive information and services.
- urging every seriously affected country to have a national plan
of action in place within one year of the Summit.
Clearing the Slums: to endorse and
act upon the 'Cities Without Slums' plan launched by the World Bank
and United Nations to improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers
by 2020.
Youth Employment: to develop strategies
to reduce joblessness among youth.
Building Digital Bridges: to review
their policies in order to remove regulatory and pricing impediments
to Internet access, to make sure people are not denied the opportunities
offered by the digital revolution.
Private Sector: to develop strong partnerships with the private sector,
at both national and international levels, to combat poverty in all
its aspects.
Developed countries in particular are urged:
Trade Access: to grant free access
to their markets for goods produced in poor countries -- and, as a first
step, to be prepared to adopt a policy of duty-free and quota-free access
for essentially all exports from the least-developed countries at the
UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries in March 2001.
Debt Relief: to implement the expansion
of the debt relief program for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries agreed
last year without
further delay, and to be prepared to cancel all official debts of the
heavily indebted poor countries, in return for those countries
making demonstrable commitments to poverty reduction.
ODA: to grant more generous development
assistance, particularly to those countries that are genuinely applying
their resources
to poverty reduction.
HIV/AIDS: To work with the pharmaceutical
industry and other partners to develop an effective and affordable vaccine
against
HIV; and to make HIV-related drugs more widely accessible in developing
countries.
Africa: to make special provision
for the needs of Africa, and to fully support Africans in their struggle
to overcome the
continent's problems. Specifically, experts and foundations are urged
to tackle the problem of low agricultural productivity in
Africa.
'FREEDOM FROM FEAR': The Security Agenda
Heads of State or Government are urged:
International Law: To strengthen
respect for international law, and in particular the agreed provisions
of treaties on the control of armaments and of international humanitarian
and human rights law. Special facilities will be provided at the Millennium
Summit for Heads of State or Government to add their signatures to any
treaty or convention of which the Secretary-General is the depository.
Peace Operations: To strengthen
the capacity of the United Nations to conduct peace operations. The
Secretary-General has established a high-level panel to review all aspects
of peace operations and suggest ways forward; the panel's report is
expected to be completed in time for consideration by the Millennium
Assembly.
Targeting Sanctions: To agree on
measures to make economic sanctions adopted by the Security Council
inpact less harshly on innocent populations, and more effective in bringing
pressure to bear on target regimes.
Small Arms: To curb the illegal
traffic in small arms, notably by:
- Creating greater transparency in arms transfers.
- Supporting regional disarmament measures, such as the Moratorium
on the importing, exporting and manufacturing of light weapons in
West Africa.
- Extending to other areas – especially post-conflict situations
– the 'weapons for goods' programs that have worked well in
Mozambique, Panama, El Salvador and Albania.
Nuclear Weapons: To examine the
possibility of convening a major international conference to identify
ways of eliminating nuclear dangers.
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: The Environmental
Agenda
Heads of State or Government are urged to adopt a new ethic of conservation
and stewardship; and, as first steps:
Climate Change: To adopt and ratify
the Kyoto Protocol, so that it can enter into force by 2002, and to
ensure that its goals are met, as a step towards reducing emission of
greenhouse gases.
Green Accounting: To consider incorporating
the United Nations system of "green accounting" into their
own national accounts, in order to integrate environmental issues into
mainstream economic policy.
Ecosystem Assessment: To provide
financial support for, and become actively engaged in, the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, a major international collaborative effort to
map the health of the planet.
Earth Summit +10: To prepare
the ground for the adoption of concrete and meaningful actions by
the world's leaders at the ten-year follow-up to the Earth Summit
in 2002.
RENEWING THE UNITED NATIONS
To make the United Nations a more effective instrument in the hands
of the world's peoples, Heads of State or Government are urged:
- To reform the Security Council, in a way that both enables it
to carry out its responsibilities more effectively and gives it
greater legitimacy in the eyes of all the world's peoples.
- To ensure that the Organization is given the necessary resources
to carry out its mandates.
- To ensure that the Secretariat makes best use of those resources
in the interests of all Member States, by allowing it to adopt the
best management practices and technologies available, and to concentrate
on those tasks that reflect the current priorities of Member States.
- To give full opportunities to non-governmental organizations
and other non-state actors to make their indispensable contribution
to the Organization's work.
Published by the United Nations Department of Public
Information
Printed on recycled paper by the United Nations Reproduction Section
DPI/2108 – March 2000- 1M
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