http://www.millenniumdeclaration.org/

Millennium Declaration Report

"I am pleased that the Declaration...has such a broad range of commitments,

and the specificity of the language and the time scales mean that

we can and will be held accountable for delivery."

Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister of Ireland

Millennium Summit,
6 September 2000

Report on a selection of commitments in the
1996 World Food Summit Declaration and

2000 Millennium Declaration,
reaffirmed by national leaders in 2005 and 2013.

What are our governments committed to?

What have they achieved?
If governments or intergovernmental organisations mislead
on the pledges, does that violate the human
rights of the poor? The rich?

Main 2015 UN hunger report makes "Millennium" targets easier again

Update 13 July 2015: Possible solution to a mystery.
Why does the MDG water target have no 1990 baseline in the official list?
A September 2001 document from the richer countries' organisation, the OECD,

was prepared for the OECD committee which asked UN agencies in April 2001 to create the MDGs.
The document stated that the MDG target on drinking water has a baseline of 2000.

Wrong impression that Declaration baseline is 1990 given by:

The Lancet

Reuters

New York Times

The Economist

BBC
Financial Times

The Guardian
Sydney Morning Herald

Scientific American

Hunger

Data source:
http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ess/foodsecurity/Food_Security_Indicators.xlsx

Presentation of these data does not imply acceptance of the method or reliability.

More detail:

Main 2015 UN hunger report makes "Millennium" targets easier again

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Water

Progress on Millennium Declaration pledge

Progress on the Millennium Declaration pledge on safe and affordable water is unknown.

The official statistics on "improved sources" are not a good indication of safety or affordability as the Millennium Declaration required.

Contrary to an impression which might be given, the official statistics are nowhere near meeting the pledge if it is (wrongly) counted as halving the proportion of people without "improved" sources.

MDG target 7c - is it really 1990-2015?

I have wondered about the fact that the drinking-water target in the official MDG list does not have a baseline.

I am unaware of any commentator having pointed this out.

According to an OECD document from the same month the MDGs were announced, it has a baseline of 2000.

http://www.mofat.go.kr/webmodule/common/download.jsp?boardid=106&tablename=TYPE_DATABOARD&seqno=075ffcfdafa0fa2ff1fd103b&fileseq=05b06bfb1fd504dfa303b07b

It is a pdf document with no extension, so it needs to be renamed adding .pdf .

Is this a human rights violation?

Millennium Declaration:
"We…resolve...by the year 2015...

dollar a day…
hunger…
to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and
under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates"

"Targets (from the Millennium Declaration)…
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day…
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger...
Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate...
Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio…"
"targets come from the Millennium Declaration"

Official list of Millennium Development Goals 2003

Current list effective from 2008

un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Indicators/OfficialList2003.pdf
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=indicators/officiallist.htm

Note: The World Bank figures do not even support the above interpretation of progress on the Millennium Declaration pledge using a relevant baseline.

The leaders' pledges are not for "developing regions". The latter is easier due to population growth rates.

See "hunger" chart using UN undernourishment figures above for a parallel example. It clearly shows the trend from around 1990 is steeper using the non-existent "developing regions" "pledge".

Official list of MDG indicators does not mention "developing regions" targets either.

The World Bank figures may include a made-up number, "imputed income", for living in your own home, and a made-up number for the value of what you produce and eat yourselves.

The value of different accommodation in villages, cities, in different times and different countries is subjective.

……………………………………………………….

"Let us resolve therefore: - To halve, by the time this century is 15 years old, the proportion of the world’s people (currently 22 per cent) whose income is less than one dollar a day."

Secretary-General, Millennium Report 2000

"The world has reduced extreme poverty by half...in developing regions....to 22 per cent"

UN MDG Report 2014

............................................................................

"target of halving...extreme poverty, and so lifting more than 1 billion people out of it."

Secretary-General, Millennium Report 2000

"The world has reduced extreme poverty by half...people living in extreme poverty by 700 million"

UN MDG Report 2014

………….……………..………….…………..…………..………….

Organisations which have failed to correct their errors about the Millenium Declaration baseline after they were pointed out include:

BBC, New York Times, Financial Times, Reuters, Lancet, Economist.

BBC Head of Editorial Complaints fails to respond for a year

The BBC has broadcast and published a large range of misleading material over many years concerning the Millennium Declaration and relevant statistics.

On 3 March 2012 the World Service broadcast an edition of "More or Less" which claimed that the World Bank used a "basket of essential goods" since "a couple of decades ago"
to judge poverty. This is not true. The truth is that the World Bank is the other side of the debate. Other people criticise it for not looking at poor people's prices. On 9 March 2012 the BBC
published a web page, which was the BBC Editor's Choice for poverty. This contained the same error, claiming that the World Bank used a "basket of food".
After a complaint, the BBC ignored it three times.
The complainant gave up on the official complaints procedure and contacted the presenter. The BBC removed one example of one word, "essential", from that web page. But they left it in the podcast and the Spanish page, and left the "basket of food" and other misleading material. They left the page as "last updated 9 March 2012" when the truth is that it was last updated in November. They then said the same thing again in a new page..

On 10 March 2012 the BBC again broadcast More or Less to poorer countries. They gave an impression that world leaders agreed an easier "MDG" baseline for the Declaration's targets. The 1990 baseline is not in the Declaration.
World leaders did not agree eight goals, or MDGs, in 2000. Also, there is no1990 baseline for the water target in the official MDG list.

The World Service Trust, now BBC Media Action, has said it aims to help media be more accurate and accountable in poor countries.
In 2004 they produced an "MDG website" making the false claim that the Declaration has the generally easier 1990 baseline.
Unsurprisingly, a BBC programme team in 2013 – Health Check – linked to it in 2013.

The Head of Editorial Complaints was informed of the basic error on 6 February 2014.

The information is in a document which his department was bound to consider by the BBC complaints procedure.

He failed to answer, and meanwhile the BBC has broadcast and published more false information about the baseline.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1112_mdg/index.shtml

Contrary to the BBC claims:

The Millennium Declaration in fact contains no reference to the generally easier "1990" baseline, or "proportions in developing regions".

The phrase "Millennium Development Goals" was not used at all in 2000.

The Declaration does not contain eight goals or 18 targets.

The global commitment is in fact broader than "development", covering for example human rights.

How can citizens take part in the democratic process if they don't know what governments are committed to?

..................................................................…..........................…

Is this a human rights violation?

September 2000: "We, heads of State and Government…resolve...by the year 2015...dollar a day...hunger...water…
...to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates"
Millennium Declaration

December 2000: "Reduce...extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015. …
child mortality rates by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. ...
maternal mortality ratios by three-fourths between 1990 and 2015...
The goals are included in the recent United Nations Millennium Declaration"
Senior statisticians including from World Bank, IMF
IMF External Relations Department publication

2001: "under-five mortality decreased from 94 to 81 ...between 1990 and 2000"
Secretary-General, Report on Implementation of the Millennium Declaration

2002: "...Declaration’s goals. Our hopes of reaching those goals…
...goals set out in the Millennium Declaration express the resolve of the world’s political leaders…
...the world has committed itself to reducing child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015."
Secretary-General, Report on Implementation of Declaration

2003 and 2008: "...Targets (from the Millennium Declaration)...
Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate ...
The Millennium Development Goals and targets come from the Millennium Declaration"
Millennium Development Goals official list

2004: "In 2000, as part of the Millennium Development Goals, world governments pledged that by 2015 they will have reduced the 1990 under-five mortality rate by two thirds – from 93 children of every 1,000 in 1990.. to 31"
UNICEF

2005: "We, Heads of State and Government…reaffirm the United Nations Millennium Declaration"

References:

un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/12/gupta.htm
un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf
un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2002.pdf
mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Indicators/OfficialList2003.pdf
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=indicators/officiallist.htm
unicef.org/progressforchildren/2004v1/childSurvival.php
mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Indicators/ares60_1_2005summit_eng.pdf

……………………………………………………………………………………….

"Baseline year – 1990 or 2000?
...In two cases - maternal mortality and under-five mortality - the term "current rates" is used, directly specifying a 2000 baseline. For the remainder, the targets are stated in the form of "to halve by 2015…" This would imply a 2000 baseline year of the Millennium Declaration. After discussions within the UN system and with other partners, the issues have been resolved in favour of 1990 serving as the baseline year."
Guidance Note sent by heads of UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP to country offices
October 2001
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english/MDG%20Country %20Reports/MDG%20Reporting%20Guidelines/1.%20English.pdf

"under-five mortality decreased from 94 to 81 per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2000"
Secretary-General, 2001
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf

"This, the first such annual report, focuses on commitments made in all chapters of the Declaration...
The development goals set out in the Millennium Declaration express the resolve of the world’s political leaders...
Most horrific of all are the statistics for child mortality.
...the world has committed itself to reducing child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015."
Report of the Secretary-General
Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit
Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration
31 July 2002
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2002.pdf

Child mortality: UNICEF misleads

"In 2000, as part of the Millennium Development Goals, world governments pledged that by 2015 they will have reduced the 1990 under-five mortality rate by two thirds – from 93 children of every 1,000 in 1990 dying before they were five to 31 of every 1,000 in 2015."
UNICEF. Child Survival: Global Trends 2004
http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2004v1/childSurvival.php

"UNICEF publishes yearly reports on child survival to track progress, promote accountability for global commitments made to children..."
Executive Summary ...
In 2000, the world made a promise to children: to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015."
UNICEF
Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed
Progress Report 2014
http://data.unicef.org/corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/APR-2014- 17Oct14-web_194.pdf

"Key commitments, targets and timetables of the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development [held in Johannesburg 2002]...
Reduce, by 2015, mortality rates for infants and children under 5 by two thirds, and maternal mortality rates by three quarters, of the prevailing rate in 2000 (reaffirmation of millennium development goal)"

World Summit on Sustainable Development and its possible implications for the work of the Statistical Commission
Note by the Secretary-General
30 November 2002
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/717/57/PDF/N0271757.pdf

...…………………………………………………………………………

Water

"Specifically, I urge the Summit to adopt the target of reducing by half, between now and 2015, the proportion of people who lack sustainable access to adequate sources of affordable and safe water."
Secretary-General
Millennium Report
27 March 2000
http://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/We_The_Peoples.pdf
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan000923.pdf

Chart from We the Children
Secretary-General
May 2001
http://www.unicef.org/specialsession/documentation/documents/a-s-27-3e.doc

…………………………………………………………………………

Hunger: FAO, IFAD, WFP mislead

"In 2000, the Millennium Declaration (MD) recognized the value of hunger and poverty reduction by setting the MDG target of "halving, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger" (target 1.C). ...
Such estimates...are presented annually in the State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI) report."
Food security methodology.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-fs/fs-methods/fs-methods1/en/

"For the developing regions as a whole, the target to reduce the proportion of the world’s hungry by 50 percent by 2015 was missed by a small margin. ….
In 1990, world leaders met and adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
They set out eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including the first one to halve the proportion of hungry people and the rate of poverty, reflecting the world’s commitment…72 countries have already reached the MDG hunger target…"
[charts cite 1990-2 to 2014-16]
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
International Fund for Agricultural Development;
World Food Programme.
State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 In Brief
http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4671e.pdf

"In 2000, world leaders met and adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration. Later, eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were set out, including the first one on halving hunger and extreme poverty rates, reflecting the world’s commitment..."

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
International Fund for Agricultural Development;
World Food Programme
State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015
http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4646e.pdf

"In 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed to eight specific and measurable development goals - now called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - to be achieved by 2015."

International Monetary Fund
Factsheet: The IMF and the Millennium Development Goals
April 15, 2015
http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/mdg.htm

………………………………………………………………………………………..

millenniumdeclaration.org is independent of government organisations.

This selection of evidence, and the analysis, on the baseline and a change from "proportions of the world's population" to the easier "proportions in developing regions" follows observations by Thomas Pogge that the Declaration mentions "current rates" and not 1990, and that the "proportions" were changed.

He has raised such points for over ten years, for example:

Millions Killed by Clever Dilution of Our Promise
Thomas Pogge, 2010
http://www.crop.org/viewfile.aspx?id=218

………………………………………………………………………………….

Official list of Millennium Development Goals:

"Goals and Targets (from the Millennium Declaration)…
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day…
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger...
Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate...
Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio…"

"The Millennium Development Goals and targets come from the Millennium Declaration,
signed by 189 countries, including 147 heads of State and Government, in September 2000 (http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm) and from further agreement by member states at the 2005 World Summit (Resolution adopted by the General Assembly - A/RES/60/1, http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/RES/60/1). "

List effective now, of 2008.
The previous list of 2003 made the same false statement about the Declaration.
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=indicators/officiallist.htm
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Indicators/OfficialList2003.pdf

Do the MDG Goals and targets "come from the Millennium Declaration"?

The four well-known targets above with 1990 baselines do not.

Nor do the drinking-water target or the slum-dwellers target, if they are interpreted as having 1990 baselines.

The 1990 baseline is not in the Declaration, or the Secretary-General's recommendation to the Summit, or as far as I know in any of the speeches at the Summit.

un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/We_The_Peoples.pdf
un.org/ga/55/pvlista55.htm

The MDG structure and baselines have more in common with the list originated by the donor club, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, in 1996.

These were listed in June 2000 by the heads of OECD, UN, World Bank and IMF - strangely after the Secretary-General had already proposed in March the more ambitious targets for the Summit which countries ended up approving, as:

"The seven international development goals

Reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015.
Enroll all children in primary school by 2015.
Make progress toward gender equality and the empowerment of women by eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005.
Reduce infant and child mortality rates by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.
Reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-fourths between 1990 and 2015.
By 2015, provide access to reproductive health services to all who need them.
Implement national strategies for sustainable development by 2005 so as to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015."

http://www.paris21.org/sites/default/files/bwa_e.pdf

An ex-chief economist of USAID, Colin Bradford, wrote:

"The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)...was the source in 1996 of the seven International Development Goals, now the MDGs".

The Millennium Development Goals: Raising the Resources to Tackle World Poverty, edited by Fantu Cheru and Colin Bradford, 2005, Palgrave, page 222.

A website to which he has contributed states:

"From 1994 to 1998, Bradford was chief economist of the United States Agency for International Development where he served as a presidential appointee in the Clinton administration. In this capacity, he played a key role in initiating a set of international development goals agreed to by all donor countries which eventually became the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."

https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/colin_bradford.pdf

……………………………….

Extracts from the Millennium Declaration:

"We, heads of State and Government…

...recognize that...we have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level. As leaders we have a duty therefore to all the world’s people, especially the most vulnerable and, in particular, the children...

6. We consider certain fundamental values to be essential to international relations in the twenty-first century. These include:

Freedom. Men and women have the right to live their lives and raise their children in dignity….
Democratic and participatory governance based on the will of the people best assures these rights. …

11. We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty….
We are committed to making the right to development a reality for everyone...

12. We resolve therefore to create an environment – at the national and global levels alike – which is conducive to development and to the elimination of poverty.

13. Success in meeting these objectives depends, inter alia, on good governance within each country. It also depends on good governance at the international level and on transparency in the financial, monetary and trading systems. We are committed to an open, equitable, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading and financial system.

19. We resolve further:

To halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water. …

By the same date, to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates. ...

To ensure that the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies, in conformity with recommendations contained in the ECOSOC 2000 Ministerial Declaration, are available to all.

V. Human rights, democracy and good governance

24. We will spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development.

25. We resolve therefore:

- To respect fully and uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

- To strive for the full protection and promotion in all our countries of civil, political, economic,social and cultural rights for all. …

- To work collectively for more inclusive political processes, allowing genuine participation by all citizens in all our countries.

- To strengthen the capacity of all our countries to implement the principles and practices of democracy and respect for human rights…

- To ensure the freedom of the media to perform their essential role and the right of the public to have access to information. ...

We request the General Assembly to review on a regular basis the progress made in implementing the provisions of this Declaration...

We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these common objectives and our determination to achieve them."

un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

……………………………………………………………….

2005 World Summit Outcome

"We, Heads of State and Government…reaffirm the United Nations Millennium Declaration…

We therefore resolve...to undertake concrete measures to continue finding ways to implement the outcome of the Millennium Summit and the other major United Nations conferences and summits...

17. We strongly reiterate our determination to ensure the timely and full realization of the development goals and objectives agreed at the major United Nations conferences and summits, including those agreed at the Millennium Summit that are described as the Millennium Development Goals [? - "timely and full" suggests leaders' pledges for 2015, which are not properly "described as the [MDGs]"]...

20. We reaffirm our commitment to the global partnership for development set out in the Millennium Declaration…

22. ...we resolve: …
To adopt, by 2006, and implement comprehensive national development strategies to achieve the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals…

43. We emphasize the critical role of both formal and informal education in the achievement of poverty eradication and other development goals as envisaged in the Millennium Declaration…

56. ... we further resolve: ...
To assist developing countries' efforts ... to provide access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation in accordance with the Millennium Declaration and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, including halving by 2015 the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water...

[note: The words "or afford" are in the Declaration but not the MDG framework]

57... we commit ourselves to...integrating this [reproductive health] goal in strategies to attain the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, aimed at reducing maternal mortality, improving maternal health, reducing child mortality... and eradicating poverty …

58. ...We reaffirm ...[the Fourth World Conference on Women's]...essential contribution to...achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration…

We call for strengthened cooperation between the United Nations and...parliaments, in particular through the Inter-Parliamentary Union, with a view to furthering all aspects of the Millennium Declaration..."

16 September 2005
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Indicators/ares60_1_2005summit_eng.pdf

………………………………………………………………………………………

"We resolve therefore:..To ensure... the right of the public to have access to information."

Millennium Declaration
8 September 2000
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm

"Ever since I became Secretary-General I have tried to open up the Organization. I have tried to create transparency within our own house ...
Of course, we will also continue to be more open ourselves. ...
I think the effort to shine a light on who is doing what and who is not doing what they promised to do may also help us forge ahead."
Press conference at the Millennium Summit
5 September 2000
http://www.un.org/press/en/2000/20000905.sgsm7525.doc.html

"We, heads of State and Government...have a duty therefore to...in particular, the children...
We resolve...by the year 2015...to have reduced ...under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates. ...
We request the General Assembly to review on a regular basis the progress made in implementing the provisions of this Declaration...
We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these common objectives and our determination to achieve them."

Millennium Declaration
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm

In the distributed version of a speech of February 2001 at a conference about child poverty, Gordon Brown talked of

"the 2015 development targets", "we have made a pledge" and "the goals set by all of us"

but not of world leaders or the Summit.

Instead he refers to "the international development targets" agreed by civil servants.

The "International Development Targets" agreed by four unelected civil servants have the easier baselines.

These, also known as "International Development Goals", had been devised by the OECD in 1996.

They were agreed by four civil servants from the OECD, UN, World Bank and IMF in June 2000.

That document stated:

"This report has been prepared by the staff of the four institutions and does not necessarily represent the views of their member countries".

http://www.paris21.org/sites/default/files/bwa_e.pdf

In the same speech Mr Brown said, "Too often, we have set targets, reset them, and reset them again…"

and referred to

"accountability".

"Horst Kohler and James Wolfensohn...leaders who...have, along with Kofi Annan, the United Nations, Unicef, and UNDP, committed themselves to...work together to meet the 2015 development targets, not least:
- halving the number of people living in poverty…
- and reducing by two thirds infant and child mortality rates.
...the purpose of this conference today is to examine the detailed means of reaching these goals. …
Too often, the world has set goals like the international development targets of 2015 and failed to meet them. Too often, we have set targets, reset them, and reset them again …
So it is not enough that we have made a pledge.
...the accountability we all must demand of ourselves and demand of one another. For if the sum of our actions amounts to no more than its parts, we will be fated to ask ourselves, in the year 2015, ''why did we fail"...
...our shared responsibility does not diminish our individual accountability…
And so as the UK Government we make this declaration: that as we discuss with all of you how to meet these 2015 goals...the actions of each of us make possible the attainment of the goals set by all of us. …
...our thoughts are on and our inspiration drawn from the needs of children...so that we will achieve our goal, the goal of decent minded people everywhere in the world, that no child is left behind."

"HM Treasury
Attached is the text of the speech given by the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer at the International Action Against Child Poverty conference, London.
26 Feb 2001
Check against delivery"
http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news- 1.nsf/54e6de9e0c383719802572b9005141ed/16a74d7ded390bff802572ab004b3d19? OpenDocument

"Millennium Development Goals...
The proposed formulation of the 8 goals, 18 targets and 40+ indicators are listed below. ...
...the normal baseline year for the targets will be 1990"

Report of the Secretary-General: Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration
6 September 2001
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf

"6 November 2001
The International Development Goals (IDGs) and the development goals contained in the Millennium Declaration have recently been merged under the designation of "Millennium Development Goals" (MDGs). They have been agreed by the United Nations system, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and OECD/DAC. ...
The Guidance Note is attached.…
Yours sincerely,
Mark Malloch Brown Administrator UNDP
Carol Bellamy Executive Director UNICEF
Catherine Bertini Executive Director WFP
Thoraya Obaid Executive Director UNFPA"
http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/1607-MDGs_-_letter_-_MDGs_-_letter.pdf

"The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)…
For the purpose of monitoring progress, the normal baseline year for the targets will be 1990... ...the Secretary-General is to report annually to the General Assembly on progress towards a sub-set of the MDGs…"
"Baseline year – 1990 or 2000?
...In two cases - maternal mortality and under-five mortality - the term "current rates" is used, directly specifying a 2000 baseline. For the remainder, the targets are stated in the form of "to halve by 2015…" This would imply a 2000 baseline year of the Millennium Declaration. After discussions within the UN system and with other partners, the issues have been resolved in favour of 1990 serving as the baseline year."

Guidance Note sent by heads of UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP to country offices
United Nations Development Group
Reporting on the Millennium Development Goals at the Country Level
October 2001
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english/MDG%20Country %20Reports/MDG%20Reporting%20Guidelines/1.%20English.pdf

14 December 2001
"The General Assembly…
Requests the Secretary-General to prepare an annual report and a comprehensive report every five years on progress …towards implementing the Millennium Declaration, drawing upon the "road map" and in accordance with resolution 55/162, and requests that… quinquennial comprehensive reports examine progress achieved towards implementing all the commitments made in the Declaration…
Invites the United Nations system, in cooperation with Member States, to adopt specific measures to give widespread publicity to the Millennium Declaration and to increase the dissemination of information on the Declaration"
Resolution 56/95
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/56/95&Lang=E

"Something must be done to galvanize the global political will for an accelerated drive to meet the Millennium Declaration targets. …
I am convinced that the UN Millennium Declaration points the way forward."
Han Seung-soo
President of the General Assembly of the United Nations
International Conference on Financing For Development, Monterrey, Mexico
March 2002
http://www.un.org/ffd/statements/gaunE.htm

"In its resolutions 55/162 of 14 December 2000 and 56/95 of 14 December 2001, the General Assembly requested that I prepare an annual report on progress achieved by the United Nations system and Member States towards implementing the Millennium Declaration.
This, the first such annual report, focuses on commitments made in all chapters of the Declaration …
It contains a statistical annex that tracks the progress made in achieving the Millennium development goals, starting from a common baseline.
...long way to go towards fulfilling the Declaration’s goals. Our hopes of reaching those goals rest, more than ever, on the ability of Member States to take sustained individual and united action. In the paragraphs below I describe how far we have come,
The development goals set out in the Millennium Declaration express the resolve of the world’s political leaders...
...the world has committed itself to reducing child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015."

Report of the Secretary-General
Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit
Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration
General Assembly 31 July 2002
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2002

"In 2000...world governments pledged that by 2015 they will have reduced the 1990 under-five mortality rate by two thirds"

UNICEF
http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2004v1/childSurvival.php

"In 2000, the world made a promise to children: to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015."

Progress Report 2014
Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed
UNICEF
http://data.unicef.org/corecode/uploads/document6/uploaded_pdfs/corecode/APR-2014- 17Oct14-web_194.pdf

"John: Hello. Today, we’re going to meet Mark Malloch-Brown, former Head of the United Nations Development Programme to talk about poverty. And the goals, or targets, the United Nations set in the year 2000 to try and tackle it. .…
John: There have been many international goals or targets against poverty that have not been met in the past. So, will these eight goals be any different?
Mark:.....a hundred and eighty governments meeting at the Millennium General Assembly solemnly adopted these simple straightforward eight goals…
I’ll either go out with a big gold watch having met the goals or presumably will be driven off into a humiliated retirement somewhere."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/indonesia/mobile/bahasa_inggris/2011/01/101221_ebyr_worldxtra16.shtml

"Millennium Declaration, which….set out a series of time-bound targets – with a deadline of 2015 – that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals."
Resources for Speakers on Global Issues
Millennium Summit
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/mdgs/

"Resources for Speakers on Global Issues
The United Nations deals with the world's major problems. .…
Less well-known is its work ....to provide dependable statistics on global economic issues."
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/index.shtml

"Between now and 2015, we must make sure that promises made become promises kept. The consequences of doing otherwise are profound: death, illness and despair, needless suffering, lost opportunities for millions upon millions of people.
We must hold each other accountable.
The UN system and I personally will do our utmost to promote accountability on all sides. ..."

As delivered
The Secretary-General
Closing remarks at High Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals
New York, 22 September 2010

"I am pleased that the Declaration we are about to adopt at this Summit has such a broad range of commitments, and the specificity of the language and the time scales mean that we can and will be held accountable for delivery."

Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister of Ireland at the Millennium Summit
6 September 2000

"...let us be honest at this Millennium Summit, too many times we have set new deadlines to reach old goals."

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
8 September 2000
http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/55/PV.7&Lang=E

"This Summit embodies the commitment of the world's political leaders to strengthen the foundations of the United Nations…In the international arena, there is no alternative to strong, multilateral institutions based on impeccable democratic legitimacy. Decisions and procedures must be transparent. Civil society must be more directly involved."

Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, 8 September 2000

"Our leaders endorsed this new vision in their Summit Declaration. But if we have truly come to the understanding that security means more than protecting borders, we must now act to turn last week’s good intentions into effective action. This means taking responsibility to.... increase transparency and accountability to make a tangible difference for the people we represent. It also means responsible, accountable global behaviour..."

Lloyd Axworthy, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada.
General Assembly 14 September 2000.

"The Millennium Declaration, which we all adopted on 8 September, shows us the way forward. The implementation of this Declaration should be a main focus of the consultations of this and future sessions of the General Assembly. …
The Millennium Declaration points the way ahead. …
We must therefore muster the strength to resolutely implement the Millennium Declaration."

Joschka Fischer, Deputy Chancellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany.
(spoke in German; English text furnished by the delegation)
14 September 2000
http://www.un.org/ga/webcast/statements/germanyE.htm

"His Millennium Report...offers concrete, accomplishable and far-sighted recommendations.
Austria welcomes this roadmap for the future course of UN activities and will follow its guidelines."

Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs Benita Ferrero-Waldner
http://www.un.org/ga/webcast/statements/austriaE.htm

"Gordon Brown has expressed "anger" at the failure of rich nations to honour pledges to combat global poverty. The United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals were set out in 2000 with the aim of being reached by 2015. …
"I'm angry because we made commitments that we would meet these Millennium Development Goals," he told the BBC....
"I think rich countries have not done enough to honour the promises that we made." …
Mr Brown, who was UK chancellor at the time the pledges were made, said the governments of wealthy nations needed to face continuing public pressure to ensure they stuck to their pledges…
Target:..between 1990 and 2015…
Target:...between 1990 and 2015."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11378604 21 September 2010

………………………..…………………………………..

"Let us resolve...To halve, by the time this century is 15 years old, the proportion of the world’s people (currently 22 per cent) whose income is less than one dollar a day"

Secretary-General, Millennium Report 2000

"The world has reduced extreme poverty by half...in developing regions....to 22 per cent by 2010"

United Nations MDG Report 2014

............................................................................

"Several MDG targets have been met
The world has reduced extreme poverty by half
In 1990, almost half of the population in developing regions lived on less than $1.25 a day. This rate dropped to 22 per cent by 2010, reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty by 700 million."

United Nations, MDG Report 2014
mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2014/English2014.pdf

"I call on...Heads of State and Government convened at the Millennium Summit - to adopt the target of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, and so lifting more than 1 billion people out of it, by 2015."

Kofi Annan, Millennium Report 27 March 2000
un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/We_The_Peoples.pdf

"The Clinton Administration strongly supports Secretary General Kofi Annan's call to action on poverty alleviation, on economic and social development"
U.S. Efforts on the Millennium Report "Call To Action" on Poverty and Economic Development Issues
The White House
September 7, 2000
http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/new/html/Wed_Oct_4_132349_2000.html

"President Clinton is strongly committed to working with the United Nations and the United States' international partners to strengthen environmental protections worldwide and to meet the vision of a sustainable future outlined in the Secretary General's Millennium Report."
The White House
September 7, 2000
http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/new/html/Wed_Oct_4_133235_2000.html

[New York Times quoting Ambassador Bolton:]
" "Quite some time ago the president [George W. Bush] said unequivocally we support the development goals in the millennium summit declaration," Mr. Bolton told reporters. "Now that's different from the goals that were actually written by the secretariat. There is no backing away by the United States in the support for the millennium summit declaration."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/international/01nations.html

"Charter of this United Nations....Universal Declaration of Human Rights…a decade ago, at the dawn of a new millennium, we set concrete goals to free our fellow men, women and children from the injustice of extreme poverty.
These are the standards that we set."
Remarks by the President at the Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York, 2010
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/22/remarks-president-millennium-development-goals-summit-new-york-new-york

"We, heads of State and Government....at the dawn of a new millennium....resolve...
To halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water.…
By the same date, to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates."
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm

"In 2000, 189 U.N. members agreed to the Millennium Development Goals, an ambitious agenda that included halving the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day"
How ambitious the world?
By John Podesta…
John Podesta is the chairman of the Center for American Progress. He served as chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, 1998-2001."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/25/us-how-ambitious-the-world- idUSBRE98O0QX20130925

"The Millennium Report calls for one billion people to be lifted out of poverty by the year 2015."
Mr Douglas, Dominica at the Millennium Summit

"the Secretary-General has placed before us an enormous challenge: a 50 per cent reduction in the number... living in extreme poverty between now and the year 2015. This represents almost a billion people. Everyone agrees that this result…"
President Guelleh of Djibouti at the Millennium Summit.
There is no obvious sign of any objection to the English version.

"...halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 - which means a billion people being lifted out of poverty between 1990-2015."
Clare Short, UK Secretary of State for International Development
September 26 2000
http://www.clareshort.co.uk/speeches/DFID/DFID%20Speech%20Sept%202000.pdf

Note: The mention of 1990 in the post-Declaration period is rare.

Likewise, the UK Government White Paper of December 2000, "Eliminating World Poverty..."

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ +/http:/www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/publications/whitepaper2000.pdf

bizarrely reaffirms commitments to the goals with the easier 1990 baselines, rather than what Mr Blair had recently pledged at the Summit:

"we strongly reaffirm the UK Government’s commitment to the International Development Targets set out in our first White Paper."

The 2000 White Paper says it was

"Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for International Development by Command of Her Majesty".

The Queen commanded Clare Short to present easier commitments than Mr Blair agreed in September?

Did the Government tell the Queen these were the same targets?

"...Millennium Report serves as an excellent reference for checking whether our homework has been properly done."

Mr Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden
Millennium Summit

....................................................................................................

"The commitment by world leaders at this month's United Nations Millennium Summit to halve global poverty and hunger …
These and other goals that the world signed up to are...best-case scenarios…
...might be called a "stretch target."

Mark Malloch Brown
Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
September 21, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/21/opinion/21iht-edbrown.t_0.html

"...the Summit is a unique, symbolic moment. The Summit Declaration ...will guide our work....for years to come. …
The Declaration will constitute an authoritative mandate for our work.…
It will be the responsibility of the General Assembly to...put into practice the political commitment of our Heads of State or Government. The General Assembly and its Main Committees ...must reflect the results of the Summit in their work. We need to avoid a business as-usual mentality. …"

Harri Holkeri, President of the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session

"…this historic Millennium Summit…
We cannot, therefore, afford to go back home from here and continue business as usual."

The Co-Chairperson (Namibia)
8 September 2000

"[MDG] targets ….are the projections to 2015 based on the global trends in the 60s, 70s and 80s."

Yongyi Min, United Nations Statistics Division
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Capacity/manila/Presentations/S6_P6.2_2_MDG%20monitoring%20Post%202015%20rev.1.ppt

"Based on historical trends at the global level, we decided to take 1990 as the base year."

Taking the MDGs Beyond 2015: Hasten Slowly
Jan Vandemoortele, co-chair of civil servants' UN/OECD/IMF/World Bank group in 2001 setting MDG targets and indicators
May 2009
http://www.devstud.org.uk/downloads/4b9ea0272d30b_Vandemoortele_PAPER.pdf

"the [MDG] team determined that 1990 would be a more reasonable fit compared to historical trends, thereby lessening the pressures on world leaders for 2015."

The Origins of the Millennium Development Goals
johnmcarthur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/SAISreview2014mcarthur.pdf

"Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
...thank you all for ...having given us clear guidance. ....
I have read carefully the Declaration you have just adopted. …
You have said that your first priority is the eradication of extreme poverty.
You have set specific targets to that goal...
...we all know the targets can be reached."

Final words of Secretary-General at the Millennium Summit:

"It lies in your power, and therefore it is your responsibility, to reach the goals that you have defined. Only you can determine whether the United Nations rises to the challenge. For my part, I hereby rededicate myself as from today to carrying out your mandate. I know that the whole staff of the United Nations does the same.
Now let me wish you all a safe journey home. Thank you very much."

"The Co-Chairperson [Tarja Halonen, President of Finland] : This Summit has been a great success. The Millennium Declaration gives inspiration and guidance for the future of the United Nations."

"The Co-Chairperson [Sam Nujoma, President of Namibia]: We have come to the close of this historic Millennium Summit.…
We cannot, therefore, afford to go back home from here and continue business as usual. We, as heads of State or Government, have the mandate and the responsibility individually and collectively to take bold steps...We must act now by translating our commitments into action. It is time to combine our vision and our renewed commitment...We must fulfil our promises..."

[The following text of the co-chairperson Mr Nujoma's statement is from a press release,
http://www.un.org/press/en/2000/20000908.ga9758.doc.html ,
since the official record refers to a non-existent paragraph in the Declaration:]

"I ... call upon [the new President of the General Assembly, Harri Holkeri] to ensure the implementation of the Millennium Declaration and pay particular attention to paragraph 31."

Paragraph 31 of the Millennium Declaration reads:

"We request the General Assembly to review on a regular basis the progress made in implementing the provisions of this Declaration..."

"The General Assembly…
requests the Secretary-General to prepare a comprehensive report every five years, supplemented by an annual report on progress achieved towards implementing the Millennium Declaration, taking into account the following:

(a) The annual reports should reflect the broad array of specific goals and commitments enunciated in the Millennium Declaration…
(b) All reports should focus, in this respect, on the results and benchmarks achieved, identify gaps in implementation….

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
55/162 Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit
14 December 2000
http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/RES/55/162

Finance and Development: A quarterly magazine of the IMF
December 2000, Volume 37, Number 4
Progress Toward the International Development Goals:

"In 1996, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a report...in which it selected seven goals...

...Reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015. …
Reduce infant and child mortality rates by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.
Reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-fourths between 1990 and 2015. …

The goals are included in the recent United Nations Millennium Declaration by Heads of Government. ….
One of the great merits of the international development goals is that they address a specific set of objectives in a definite time period. "

The seven international development goals

1. Reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015.

2. Enroll all children in primary school by 2015.

3. Make progress toward gender equality and the empowerment of women by eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005.

4. Reduce infant and child mortality rates by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.

5. Reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-fourths between 1990 and 2015.

6. By 2015, provide access to reproductive health services to all who need them.

7. Implement national strategies for sustainable development by 2005 so as to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015.

[Note how the authors' false statement that the Declaration included the 1990-baseline goals affects the starting point for East Asia and the Pacific on their chart:]

[Note how their false statement about the Declaration has an effect on the child mortality baseline:]

"Eric Swanson is a Program Manager in the World Bank's Development Data Group; Sanjeev Gupta is Chief of the Expenditure Policy Division in the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department. Brian Hammond is Head of the Reporting Systems Division at the OECD Development Cooperation Directorate. Richard Leete is Manager of the Theme Group on Data Systems Including Indicators in the Technical and Policy Division at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)."

Finance and Development: A quarterly magazine of the IMF
December 2000, Volume 37, Number 4
Progress Toward the International Development Goals
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2000/12/gupta.htm

"The process to develop the ‘final’ MDG list ...was undertaken by an ad hoc group….
Key figures ...were the World Bank’s Eric Swanson, OECD-DAC’s Brian Hammond, and UNDP’s Jan Vandemoortele. All had worked together on the IDG monitoring document, 2000: A Better World For All published in June 2000. As Swanson reflected, this group had developed a sense of solidarity and camaraderie ... They found such joint work satisfying. The group was ready made to work on the MDGs, given their experience with the IDGs. Their task was to translate the MD’s development chapter into a list of targets and indicators that could be monitored and reported on annually. The main criteria were: to adhere as closely as possible to the wording of the MD to ensure the legitimacy of goals/targets/indicators….These individuals played a central role in MDG formulation…"

International Norm Dynamics and ‘the End of Poverty’:
Understanding the Millennium Development Goals
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, David Hulme
2009
http://www.bwpi.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/publications/working_papers/bwpi-wp-9609.pdf

Jan Vandemoortele, co-chair with Michael Doyle of the group setting the MDG targets:

"It was left to the group of UN experts to set the baseline year. The choice quickly fell on 1990, for two reasons. First, it proved unrealistic to reduce hunger, poverty and the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by half, infant and child mortality by two-thirds, and maternal mortality by three-quarters between 2000 and 2015. It was obvious that more time would be needed to achieve such ambitious targets.
...The Millennium Declaration refers to the baseline year only for the targets on maternal and child mortality. Moreover, the reference is indirect — i.e. ‘of their current rates’, which implies the year 2000 without saying so explicitly. The other targets are totally silent about the baseline year. The Declaration never refers to 1990.
...Once the title was agreed, the remaining step was to release the MDGs into the UN system. At the time, the ‘Road Map’ was being finalized — a report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on how to monitor the implementation of the Millennium Declaration (UN, 2001). The list of eight goals, eighteen targets and forty-eight indicators was annexed to that report and submitted to the General Assembly. In the relevant resolution, the ‘Assembly noted with appreciation the road map report’ (A/56/L.61).
Although no explicit mention was made of the MDGs, they got an implicit blessing from the UN member states. The US administration at the time took the view that the General Assembly never formally endorsed the MDGs; thereby questioning their legitimacy and authority. But since the targets were lifted verbatim from the Millennium Declaration, we argued that formal endorsement was redundant because member states had already agreed upon them earlier."

http://courses.arch.vt.edu/courses/wdunaway/gia5524/vandem11.pdf

"Notably, this Road Map [of September 2001, including Secretary-General's proposed MDG framework] was not formally endorsed by UN member states. Nonetheless, the UN continues to utilize a slightly adapted version of this framework to report on MDG progress.
...the Millennium Declaration measures development progress against a baseline year of 1990."

http://www.cgdev.org/files/1424377_file_Leo_MDG_Index_FINAL.pdf

UK Government linked to a) misleading news coverage from The Economist and
b) a page to which the BBC later applied several corrections after a complaint:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130531014355/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22719812

In its edition of April 11th 2015 The Economist printed letters responding to its coverage of March 28th and perhaps March 14th.

One letter wrongly claimed that several countries had met targets set in 2000:

"You suggest that the world is likely to fall far short of the ambitious targets that were set in 2000 of reducing child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015. In practice, however, the world will actually come far closer to achieving these goals than sceptics believed when they were adopted.
Many developing countries, including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Bangladesh, have met the child- mortality goal ahead of schedule..."

http://www.economist.com/news/letters/21647947-letters

The UN Statistics Division figures for 2000 and 2013 per 1000 live births are:

Bangladesh 88.1 reduced to 41.1
Ethiopia 145.5 to 64.4
Malawi 174.2 to 67.9
Tanzania 131.5 to 51.8

http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Data.aspx

Leaders resolved in 2000 to achieve 33% of "current rates".

While there may be argument as to whether they meant in each country or globally [and note Thomas Pogge's point that the Declaration is about global rates, the MDG reports are about "developing regions" and birth rates mean it is easier to achieve the MDG "global" targets for that reason also] that does not affect the claim of the correspondent. The above rates in 2013 are, as proportions of 2000 rates:

Bangladesh 46.7%
Ethiopia 44.3%
Malawi 39.0%
Tanzania 39.4%

So none of these countries achieved, according to UN figures, what the correspondent claims.

The correspondendent is from the Gates Foundation – as is the writer of an article published by the Lancet in 2015.

Another man, Ted Turner, has made a related wrong statement.

Times of India, December 30, 2005, page 30.

Many people failed to read the Millennium Declaration for many years while thinking they knew what they were talking about when it came to world poverty.

So did I.

Matt Berkley

"The road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration...outlines potential strategies for action that are designed to meet the goals and commitments made by the 147 heads of State and Government, and 189 Member States in total, who adopted the Millennium Declaration.
The report addresses fully each and every one of the goals and commitments contained in the Millennium Declaration…

"GOAL [quoting commitment in the Millennium Declaration]:
By the year 2015, to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds of their current rates…

...under-five mortality decreased from 94 to 81 per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2000. ...
Millennium development goals…
...consultations were held among members of the United Nations Secretariat and representatives of IMF, OECD and the World Bank in order to harmonize reporting on the development goals in the Millennium Declaration and the international development goals. The group discussed the respective targets and selected relevant indicators...

[Misleading. The civil servants selected the targets]

The list of millennium development goals does not undercut in any way agreements on other goals and targets reached at the global conferences of the 1990s.

[False. The MDG list greatly undercuts the World Food Summit pledge of 1996. Irrelevant – it undercuts the Millennium pledges.]

The eight goals represent a partnership between the developed countries and the developing countries determined, as the Millennium Declaration states, “to create an environment — at the national and global levels alike — which is conducive to development and the elimination of poverty”...
The proposed formulation of the eight goals, 18 targets...are listed below…
For the purpose of monitoring progress, the normal baseline year for the targets will be 1990…
Target 5. Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate..."

Road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration
Report of the Secretary-General, 6 September 2001
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf

"In its resolutions 55/162 of 14 December 2000 and 56/95 of 14 December 2001, the General Assembly requested that I prepare an annual report on progress ...towards implementing the Millennium Declaration. …
This, the first such annual report, focuses on commitments made in all chapters of the Declaration …
It contains a statistical annex that tracks the progress made in achieving the Millennium development goals, starting from a common baseline.
...long way to go towards fulfilling the Declaration’s goals. Our hopes of reaching those goals rest, more than ever, on....
...below I describe how far we have come….
The development goals set out in the Millennium Declaration express the resolve of the world’s political leaders...
...the world has committed itself to reducing child mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015."

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