Further evidence and complaints to BBC MDG targets on survival, water, sanitation, hunger and economics are not the pledges of 2000 BBC misled over years that targets proposed in 2001 are the harder targets world leaders pledged in the 2000 Declaration * Pledges have harder 2000 baseline, not 1990 * Pledges use global proportions – harder due to population growth in some countries * General Assembly reaffirmed Declaration in 2005 Matt Berkley 12 August 2014 "Baseline year – 1990 or 2000? ...[The Declaration text] 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." UN Development Group, Guidance Note to country representatives, October 2001 http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/2356-English.doc Please see notes at the end of this document for context, and Appendix for history of the change in baseline from 2000 to 1990. Examples of BBC reference and educational output Material for children's education Geography "In 2000 (sic), the United Nations agreed on some Millennium Goals. Every country...agreed to these. The aim was to achieve them (sic) by 2015." http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/geography/interdependence/development/revision/5 Note: The reference to 2015 indicates that the text is referring not just to the undated goals themselves but to, or including a reference to, the time-bound targets. These were not agreed by UN member states in 2000. Modern Studies "In September 2000, 190 countries signed up to a range of goals and targets ...These (sic) are known as the Millennium Goals..." http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/modern/int_issues/development_africa/revision/9/ In the case of educational items it may seem particularly appropriate for the BBC to review related material intended for future re-broadcast. Examples of BBC reference material Any BBC output may be used by journalists or others in or outside the BBC as reference material. Millennium Development Goals website http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1112_mdg/ "In September 2000, the Millennium Declaration was ratified by 189 heads of state at the United Nations Millennium Summit. The Declaration outlines eight (sic) broad goals. Within these (sic) are eighteen targets - most set for 2015 using 1990 as a benchmark (sic) - and forty-eight indicators. These Millennium Development Goals represent a global commitment (sic) by all nations who signed the Declaration..." ?2004 Linked to by More or Less article in 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20255904 and Health Check in 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01hf94f Key Players in Development "It was at a United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 that world leaders agreed to a set of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and 18 targets for combating poverty" "Each year the United Nations General Assembly produces an annual report on the progress towards implementing the Millennium Declaration" http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1146_key_players/ Guide to Development Speak "'Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) A set of eight goals, together with specific, quantifiable and time bound targets, that were agreed and adopted by 189 countries at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000." 2004 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/916_dev_speak/page11.shtml Millennium goals: in statistics "The United Nations agreed a set of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, with a view to tackling global poverty. They include improving living standards...by 2015. ...people living on less than $1 a day ...down from 1.25 billion in 1990. ...Target: Reduce the maternal mortality rate by three-quarters between 1990 (sic) and 2015. ...Target: Between 1990 and 2005, reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds." 5 September 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6943975.stm Learning English | News English - Words in the News http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/030709_witn.shtml "Do you remember the Millennium Goals? When world leaders celebrated the year 2000 with a solemn pledge (sic) to reduce poverty and hunger, check the spread of AIDS, get boys and girls into school, and improve health and sanitation, all by 2015?" Other BBC output "Em 2015, chega-se a data-limite para os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio – metas de desenvolvimento com as quais muitos países se compremeteram frente a ONU e cujo cumprimento deve ser avaliado. Com isso, se abrirá espaço para o estabelecimento de novas metas nessa área." http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2014/07/140722_idh_brasil_ru.shtml "a adoção dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio, em 2000" "Segundo os pesquisadores, o ritmo do declínio global no número de mortes e infecções das três doenças passou a ser mais forte a partir de 2000, com a adoção dos Objetivos do Milênio por governos ao redor do mundo....O prazo para o cumprimento dos objetivos vai até 2015. "A única coisa que acho que o Brasil não irá cumprir é em relação a mortalidade materna", diz Lotufo. "(Dos outros Objetivos do Milênio) O Brasil está alcançando tudo. O que significa que está cumprindo com a obrigação. Nada mais que isso." http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2014/07/140721_brasil_hiv_aids_ac_kb.shtml "Social content from BBC Media Action" "Fourteen years ago this month, prime minister Jean Chrétien helped launch the Millennium Development Goals in New York " [quoting from linked article from a non-BBC newspaper] http://unjobs.org/items/489717674369638400 Links to: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/make-press-freedom-a-un-development-goal/article19629923/ which reads, "The MDGs, remember those? More than 100 heads of state and government joined Mr. Chrétien at the United Nations to adopt, with great fanfare, the declaration that would become eight international development goals to be reached by 2015." July 2014 "Os oito Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio foram firmados em 2000... Eles ...se desdobram em metas concretas, como reduzir em dois terços a mortalidade de crianças menores de cinco anos...O prazo para o cumprimento das metas é 2015..." Brasil lidera racha polêmico sobre novos objetivos do milênio da ONU http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2014/06/140627_objetivos_onu_ms.shtml "Criados no ano 2000, os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio...as metas enfrentam críticas quanto a sua concepção e há dificuldades para seu cumprimento até o prazo final, em 2015. Os Objetivos do Milênio foram definidos por todos os países na Conferência do Milênio da ONU. ....Os oito objetivos, concretos e mensuráveis, subdividem-se em diferentes metas. Uma das metas prioritárias dos Objetivos do Milênio da ONU, a redução pela metade no número de pessoas que vivem em extrema pobreza, foi alcançada cinco anos antes do fim do prazo." Objetivos do Milênio trouxeram avanços, mas são alvo de críticas http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2014/06/140627_objetivos_milenio_balanco_lab.shtml "todos os países devem conseguir cumprir as metas dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio, um conjunto de compromissos adotados em 2000 para melhorar o destino da humanidade. Um deles se referia à saúde da mulher e estipulava uma diminuição de 75% entre 1990 e 2015 na taxa de mortalidade de mulheres durante gravidez ou parto." http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2014/05/140506_queda_mortalidade_materna_lgb.shtml Children's BBC Newsround "World leaders had previously pledged...The pledges were part of the Millennium Development Goals (sic) that several countries all over the world signed up to - these are promises..." (sic) January 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/25935185 "Bill and Melinda Gates have said ...They said new MDGs - which are pledges (sic) set by UN member countries to increase living standards in poorer parts of the world - would be made once the current ones expire in 2015." 25 September 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24277516 (Are the goals or MDG targets pledges? Surely the actual pledges are in the Declaration - the resolution of 2000. In 2005 the General Assembly reaffirmed the Declaration, so it is difficult to see how MDG targets agreed in 2002 could override related pledges of 2000.) Democracy Live "In September 2000, 189 countries made a promise...Commitments (sic) made to attaining the MDGs will expire in 2015." 24 October 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/house-of-lords-24643510 Health Check World Service 2 Oct 2013 15 minutes 0 sec in podcast: Kofi Annan: "some countries are going to meet all the eight goals; others will meet one or two..." Presenter: "...progress towards meeting the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals - a fifteen-year programme instigated at the turn of the century" (sic) which set goals" (seems to imply that MDG targets were set in 2000). Health Check "In 2000 the UN introduced the Millennium Development Goals – a set of eight targets – to increase living standards for the world's poorest and to eradicate different areas of human suffering by 2015." (Web page text) October 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01hf94f "Related links" include "The Millennium Development Goals" which reads: "In September 2000, the Millennium Declaration was ratified by 189 heads of state at the United Nations Millennium Summit. The Declaration outlines eight broad goals. (sic). Within these are eighteen targets - most set for 2015 using 1990 as a benchmark (sic) - and forty-eight indicators. These Millennium Development Goals represent a global commitment (sic) by all nations who signed the Declaration..." Millennium Development Goals http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1112_mdg/ Democracy Live "The Millennium Declaration, which set out the MDGs, was ratified at a UN summit in 2000 and sets out eight broad goals to reduce poverty around the world by 2015." 13 June 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/europe-22885530 BBC Media Action "The original Millennium Declaration agreed in 2000 – which articulated the Millennium Development Goals due to expire in 2015" "That Declaration has tended to be forgotten, however. Instead, it is the eight Goals it laid that have galvanised international attention in the interim years." 5 June 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcmediaaction/posts/What-would-a-post-2015-development-goal-on-free-media-mean- Comment: The Declaration did, in a way, "articulate" the MDGs – most of the undated aims. However, the article is talking about "goals" which expire in 2015 and galvanised attention. The article seems to refer not simply to the undated goals but to, or to what includes, the time-limited targets, and so seems to mislead. The likelihood of this, as elsewhere, is increased by the fact that journalists and others often refer to the targets with end dates of 2015 as "goals". "The millennium development goals, designed to be completed by 2015 (sic - appears to refer to targets), are pledges (sic) by UN member countries....The first of them - reducing poverty among some of the very poorest - has been achieved" (The pledge on a dollar a day, which is in the Declaration of 2000, had clearly not been officially achieved as the BBC appears to claim. What was officially met was the easier target with a baseline of 1990, not the pledge without that backdated baseline. Second, progress towards the goal, "Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger", officially requires data from the FAO, UNICEF and ILO, not just the World Bank. Only the World Bank has made the claim about its target. The Research Director of the World Bank has made inaccurate statements that the "goal" has been achieved. However, in reality not only is the goal "eradicate extreme poverty and hunger" but also, a) no agency has claimed that there are data from the four agencies indicating that the Goal's 2015 targets have as a whole been achieved; b) no agency can sensibly claim that any of the global poverty "pledges" of 2000 in the sense of the individual targets – which do not have the easier baseline of 1990 – were achieved. (neither the goal nor the pledge has been met, and the easier targets for MDG1 have not been met as a whole either. Progress on the goal is monitored officially by the FAO, ILO and UNICEF – not just the World Bank, which is the only organisation to announce that any MDG1 target has been met) David Cameron calls on UN to end 'extreme poverty' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21288823 Last updated July 2013 according to an anonymous email from News Online Complaints detailing several significant corrections. Reads incorrectly "Last updated 1 February". BBC Media Action "the key MDGs of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters and reducing the deaths of children under five from preventable causes by two thirds...The 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals....Eight international development goals along with measurable targets were established at the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000." February 2013 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/policybriefing/bbc_media_action_health_on_the_move.pdf Democracy Live "The millennium development goals, designed to be completed (sic) by 2015, are pledges (sic) by UN member countries to increase living standards in poorer parts of the world. The first of them - reducing poverty among some of the very poorest - has been achieved" (sic – not a goal; nor have the intermediate targets as a whole for Goal 1 (with the easier 1990 baselines) been officially met. But nor was the pledge of 2000 on a dollar a day.) ".... But attempts to reach other goals have been less successful." EU Development Commissioner insists global poverty can be eradicated Democracy Live 27 February 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/europe-21601064 Question: How can you have democracy if the media mislead the public on governments' commitments? "The eight goals, which cover "halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/Aids and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015", were initially widely supported by the governments of the 189 countries that adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000." 21 January 2013 http://www.bbc.com/news/business-21088042 The programme page for the Why poverty? debate on 24 November 2012 includes a link to the Dollar Benchmark article of 9 March 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010n7vq "...objectifs de développement du Millénaire OMD. Ces objectifs établis en 2000 sont les engagements pris par les pays membres de l'ONU, pour améliorer le niveau de vie dans les régions pauvres du monde. Le premier d'entre eux qui était de réduire la pauvreté parmi les plus pauvres, a été atteint" (sic) http://www.bbc.co.uk/afrique/monde/2012/11/121101_cameron_poverty_un.shtml More or Less article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20255904 11 November 2012 links to: Millennium Development Goals http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1112_mdg/ which reads, "In September 2000, the Millennium Declaration was ratified by 189 heads of state at the United Nations Millennium Summit. The Declaration outlines eight broad goals (sic). Within these are eighteen targets - most set for 2015 using 1990 as a benchmark (sic) - and forty-eight indicators. These Millennium Development Goals represent a global commitment (sic) by all nations who signed the Declaration..." "The Millennium Development Goals, set to be completed (sic) by 2015, are pledges by UN member countries (sic - the pledges of 2000 are in several cases different) to increase living standards in poorer parts of the world. The first of them (sic) - reducing poverty among some of the very poorest - has been achieved (sic)... ...Analysis ...International development correspondent, BBC News ...The UN says that for the first time the number of people living in extreme poverty is falling in every region of the world but the first MDG (sic), cutting in half (sic) the proportion of people living in poverty (sic), has been reached (sic)..." 1 November 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20163840 Click World Service Web page: "the Millennium development goals, a set of objectives set way back in 2000 by the UN" 08/08/2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00w7pyl "UN Millennium Development Goal 4 set in 2000 (sic) - which calls for the reduction of young child deaths by two-thirds in 2015. " 2 May 2012 http://www.bbc.com/news/health-17905969 Religion/Ethics: Sunday, Radio 4 "The Millennium Development Goals were launched by the United Nations in 2000 (sic) with the noble aims of among other things halving the number (sic) of people suffering from hunger .... target date... 2015" 8 April 2012 11 mins 30 seconds into programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01fhnst "The Overseas Development Institute finds that of all the United Nations' millennium development goals, the fifth - to reduce maternal mortality - is doing the worst, with figures worsening since the targets were agreed in 2000." (sic) 25 March 2012 http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-17438514 More or Less World Service 10 March 2012 "we've been investigating another vital statistic ...this is a really important goal. - Yes, the Millennium Development Goals were agreed by all the countries of the United Nations and the big aid agencies in the year 2000 (sic). ...the whole goal's about halving the proportion.... between 1990 and 2015." "we scrutinised the goal of halving the proportion of those living on less than a dollar a day in our last edition" (That edition, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00p34zj , had stated "There we are - the target's been met" (several years early); web page states "...assesses how global poverty is measured, as the World Bank releases the latest figures on the number of people living on less than a dollar a day. What progress has been made...?" More or Less article Dollar benchmark: The rise of the $1-a-day statistic "goal to "halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day". This high-profile target was agreed by the UN General Assembly (sic) ... Ten days ago, the World Bank declared the goal had been met early." 9 March 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17312819 also Spanish translation at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2012/03/120309_economia_politica_un_dolar_bd.shtml "fourth and fifth Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)...goals to dramatically reduce deaths by 2015...The targets were set by world leaders in 2000." Misleading. "MDG4 aims to reduce the death rate for children aged under five by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015." True, but in context, contributes to misleading conflation. First, the world leaders did not merely set targets. They "resolved" to achieve them. Second, the BBC implies that the commitment in the Declaration of 2000 had a baseline of 1990, which is not true. Millennium Development Goals on health 'will not be met' 20 September 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14974145 www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/scienceandtech/2011/09/110919_millenium_health_goals.shtml Business Daily, World Service (web page text) "Two of the Millennium Development Goals, announced at a summit attended by 189 world leaders in May 2000, related to the most basic of human needs: clean water and sanitation. The objective was to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the world's population who existed without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation." 18 November 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15552967 "Back in 2000, world leaders set a target of cutting child mortality by two thirds, by 2015 (one of the Millennium Development Goals)" http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/thereporters/ferguswalsh/2011/01/_vanessa_is_struggling_to.html Business Daily, World Service 1 Nov 2011 Web page: "to mark the passing of the millennium there was the great gathering of word leaders. The summit was attended by 189 world leaders - the largest meeting of leaders in history - and, to mark this august occasion, the leaders promised to work together to improve...The leaders signed up to a series of eight Millennium Development Goals." http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ldwyj "the goals, or targets, the United Nations set in the year 2000 (sic) ...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 Malloch-Brown, former Head of the United Nations Development Programme: "It does need...a complete break from business as usual – a hundred and eighty governments meeting at the Millennium General Assembly (sic) solemnly adopted these simple straightforward eight goals (sic) and as it happens 2015 will pretty much coincide with the end of my, sort of, active years in development so 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." (The guest appears to be referring to targets as goals, since there was no expectation of the actual goals being met. It is then at least unclear why he was referring to the "goals" as being "solemnly adopted" by 180 governments when the General Assembly in fact reaffirmed the Declaration itself in 2005.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/indonesia/mobile/bahasa_inggris/2011/01/101221_ebyr_worldxtra16.shtml "Sólo 7% de los países en desarrollo cumplirán con el compromiso (sic) de reducir las muertes infantiles y maternas establecido en 2000 (sic) en las Metas de Desarrollo del Milenio establecidas por Naciones Unidas. Mortalidad infantil no se reduce al ritmo necesario para cumplir las Metas del Milenio" http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/ultimas_noticias/2011/09/110919_ultnot_mortalidad_infantil_milenio_cch.shtml "Dünya liderlerinin 2000 yilinda, yeni binyila iliskin vizyonlari dogrultusunda belirledigi hedeflerden dördüncüsü, 2015 yilinda bes yes alti çocuk ölümlerinin 1990 rakamlarina göre üçte iki düsürülmesini öngörüyordu." BBC Turkce - Haberler - Anne-çocuk sagligi hedefleri tutturulamadi http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkce/haberler/2011/09/110920_mortality.shtml "Malengo hayo yalifikiwa na viongozi duniani mwaka 2000. MDG4 ina dhamira ya kupunguza idadi ya watoto wanaofariki dunia wenye umri wa chini ya miaka mitano kwa robo tatu kati ya mwaka 1990 na 2015. MDG5 inaelezea kuwa na nia ya kufuta vifo miongoni mwa wanawake wajawazito kwa kiwango cha robo tatu katika kipindi hicho hicho. Habari - Mataifa mengi 'hayatofikia malengo'" http://www.bbc.co.uk/swahili/habari/2011/09/110916_utafiti_wanawake_watoto.shtml BBC World 20 January 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/9368626.stm Video, 2m 42s: "Ten years ago ...world leaders signed up to a new partnership, linking rich and poor nations in an agreement to halve the number (sic - proportion) "of people living in extreme poverty or hunger It was the first of eight Millennium Development Goals" (sic – misleading. It was a resolution which is in some cases more ambitious than the Goal's targets) "...Globally..." (sic – the official statistics now reported are usually on the proportion in the "developing world" which is slightly easier to reduce than the global proportion due to population growth rates) "...there's been a big fall in the number of people living in extreme poverty from 42% back in the base year of 1990" (sic – there was no "base year of 1990" for what "world leaders signed up to" "ten years ago" in an "agreement") "to around 18% today." (Are these numbers well-sourced even if we ignore the error about the targets being the same as the pledges, and the blind acceptance of the official line?) One Planet, World Service Web page: "Ten years in progress, five years to go - time is running out for the world to achieve its Millennium Development Goals." Kofi Annan on broken promises (sic) and social unrest 26 September 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009sjt0 "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)....The goals, created in 2000, aim to reduce poverty and hunger, and improve health standards around the world. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has insisted the goals can be achieved....He said...much more to do if they were to be met by the 2015 deadline." 21 September 2010 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-11380539 From Our Own Correspondent Web page text: "world leaders...They'll be taking stock of promises (sic) made a decade ago (sic) - in the form of the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs. (sic) The plan was to cut global poverty in half by twenty-fifteen.... Bridget Kendall has tracked the last ten years of debate" 18/09/2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ts097 "Ban Ki-moon has hailed progress on the Millennium Development Goals, but warned that "the clock is ticking" if they are to be met by the 2015 deadline. The UN secretary general's comments came as he addressed world leaders meeting in New York for a summit to review the targets. The eight goals, set 10 years ago, aim to reduce poverty and hunger and to improve health standards around the world." Ban Ki-moon: 'Clock ticking' on UN development goals 20 September 2010 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11377109 "The United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals were set out in 2000 with the aim of being reached by 2015" Sep 21, 2010 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11378604 "The goals, created in 2000... much more to do if they were to be met by the 2015 deadline." Sep 21, 2010 www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11380539 Have Your Say: How can global poverty and hunger be reduced? "The eight goals, established 10 years ago , have a deadline of 2015 . The United Nations agrees that the aims of halving poverty and hunger, and cutting in half the number of people without clean water will be met." 20 September 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/haveyoursay/2010/09/how_can_global_poverty_and_hun.html "Africa's struggle to meet UN Millennium Development Goals ... if targets are to be met on the continent by the 2015 deadline. Created in 2000, the eight goals aim to reduce poverty and hunger" Sep 20, 2010 www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11378583 "Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed "anger" at the failure of rich nations to honour pledges (sic) to combat global poverty. The United Nations' eight Millennium Development Goals were set out in 2000 with the aim of being reached by 2015." (sic - clearly referring to targets, some of which are different in MDGs) "I'm angry because we made commitments (sic) that we would meet these (sic) Millennium Development Goals," he told the BBC at a meeting to review progress towards them. "I think rich countries have not done enough to honour the promises (sic) that we made." He added that it was "too easy sometimes for the governments to say something else has come up, some other thing has changed our view". (sic) Mr Brown, who was UK chancellor at the time the pledges (sic) were made, said the governments of wealthy nations needed to face continuing public pressure to ensure they stuck to their pledges." (sic) Brown angry at slow work to meet UN poverty goals 21 September 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11378604 "Drawn up in 2000, with the aim of being reached by 2015, they ... "We now have five years to deliver on the promises (sic) we made in the year 2000 (sic) .." Nick Clegg says rich nations must stick to aid pledges (sic) Sep 23, 2010 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11386861 BBC World television MDG Conference Preview September 2010 Newsreader: "Ten years ago world leaders pledged to drastically cut poverty and set themselves eight Millennium Development Goals. They're meeting again now at the United Nations to take stock...." UN correspondent: "Ten years after world leaders pledged to dramatically reduce poverty [the Secretary General]'s invited them back to the UN to hold them to their promise" "most of the Millennium Development Goals are not on target to meet the 2015 deadline" (The Secretary-General was actually comparing performance to the MDG targets, not the pledges of "ten years ago") "if the Millennium Development Goals are to be met in the next five" (referring to targets as goals, which makes it more likely that newsreader's statement will be taken by audience to refer to targets) First 40 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6kTW0u4sYg "The Millennium Development Goals can still be met if enough work is done, the UN secretary general has said. ... insisting they could be achieved by 2015. ...Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News The aim this week is to reinvigorate the whole process, and to persuade governments to meet obligations... (sic) ...they have already entered into. Progress on the narrower goals of maternal health, child mortality and education has been made and must be sustained. ...Created in 2000, the eight goals aim to reduce poverty and hunger and improve health standards around the world. The UN itself concedes that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to meet some of the targets." Ban Ki-moon says UN millennium goals 'can be met' 20 September 2010 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-11375847 BBC World television Millennium Development Goals: What's Holding Us Back? September 22, 2010 2 mins 35: International development correspondent: "leaders' promises....Ten years ago at the dawn of a new millennium world leaders signed up to a new partnership.... agreement to halve the number (sic) of people living in extreme poverty or hunger. It (sic) was the first of eight Millennium Development Goals..." (using the word "goal" to refer to target, which is different from the pledge) Globally there's been a big fall in the number of people living in extreme poverty from 42% back in the base year of 1990 to around 18% today." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pqRcTcwXbU "With only five years left to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (sic), can Africa really halve the numbers (sic) of people living in extreme poverty by the 2015 deadline? ...UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged delegates to stick to the task to reach 2015 targets At the summit in the year 2000, cutting child mortality rates, providing universal primary education and improving maternal health were all part of the eight goals placed on the agenda." BBC World Service - Africa - Are the Millennium Development Goals really achievable?" 20 September 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/2010/09/100920_mdg_douane.shtml Business Daily, World Service article 17 September 2010 "Millennium Development Goals...Some progress has been made on the goals, agreed by governments around the world in September 2000, but many of the targets are way behind schedule." Hidden hunger: victims of a failed millennium promise http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11297290 Today Radio 4 11 September 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8990000/8990502.stm Audio: "The world changed in 2000 - at least, that was the intention: the Millennium Development Goals were set. By 2015 the developing countries would be lifted out of the grinding poverty that made life miserable for billions of people..." (in context, implies the time-bound targets, not just the undated goals, were set at summit of 2000 - "world changed") "progress towards those goals [will be assessed at forthcoming summit]" (implies in context that progress towards targets agreed at summit of 2000 will be assessed) "First, our international development correspondent....the goals were (in context, implies asking about what was set in 2000) what, exactly?" International development correspondent: "Well there were eight goals in all, I mean the main one and the key one was cutting in half (BBC is using "goal" to refer to target) the number of people in the world ... dollar twenty-five...." (Several problems here. Target 1A, like the pledge, in fact refers to the easier target of the proportion. The MDG target as reported is also slightly easier because it is taken to refer to the proportion in "developing" countries, not in "the world" which was the pledge's formulation. It was not set "in 2000" in the sense that the audience would take the BBC to mean). Lord Malloch Brown, unchallenged: "...we are actually going to halve poverty (sic - goal is on extreme poverty) in the world" (A contributor says targets were set using previous "global trends". But the pledges of 2000, which is what the BBC gave the impression were being discussed, were more ambitious. That is perhaps why the UN Secretariat changed the baseline from what the world leaders pledged.) "O relatório traz dados sobre o cumprimento das Metas do Milênio, estabelecidas pelas Nações Unidas em 2000. Elas preveem melhoras em vários indicadores até 2015." http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2010/04/100420_pobreza_bird_brasil_ac_np.shtml "...le Fonds Monétaire International et la Banque Mondiale estiment que “l’Afrique ne pourra pas tenir le premier Objectif du Millénaire pour le Développement”, à savoir la réduction de moitié de l’extrême pauvreté d’ici 2015 par rapport à ses niveaux de 1990. Les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement ont été fixés en l’an 2000 (sic), lors d’un sommet international que l’ONU avait organisé à son siège à New York (sic). "En Afrique, la mortalité maternelle à l’accouchement est de 9 pour 1000, bien au-dessus de l’objectif du Millénaire en la matière qui vise un taux de 2,3 pour 1000." (sic - the pledges on mortality agreed in 2000 in New York have different targets because of the different baselines) http://www.bbc.co.uk/french/news/story/2009/04/printable/090424_bm_omd_report.shtml Hardtalk 18 September 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8262634.stm Web page: "In September 2000, the Millennium Declaration was ratified. One hundred and eighty nine nations committed themselves to the Millennium Development Goals - a plan to reduce poverty, tackle hunger and improve education and healthcare by 2015." Comment: Misleading. The MDGs' "plan" – the targets and indicators – are not as ambitious as what "one hundred and eighty nine nations committed themselves" to in the Declaration mentioned in the previous sentence. It is clear that the BBC has conflated the Declaration's pledges for 2015 with the MDG targets for 2015, some of which are watered down. Correspondents look ahead to 2009 30 December 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7785262.stm "What are you looking forward to least? Hearing empty rhetoric from any number of leaders. Worse still "pledges" to deliver at some time in the future ...or promises to deliver the Millennium Development Goals, unless those leaders can show conclusive evidence that they are on track to meet existing pledges." Comment: The contributor rightly identifies a serious problem. But the BBC has exacerbated that kind of problem. The BBC has helped leaders to get away with failing to make clear the discrepancies between Millennium Declaration pledges, or promises, on the one hand, and what is being reported on in BBC reports – the in some cases easier MDG targets proposed in 2001 – on the other. The words ""promises" and "existing pledges" mislead as in other content. Today, Radio 4 Millennium goals 'will not be met' Broadcast and online 25 September 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7634000/7634999.stm a) "the Millennium Development Goals...[what] they're all about is policies made by the rich countries in 2000 to help the poorest countries. The targets were set; 2015 was the date by which the promises (sic) were supposed to be kept...." ("promises" clearly refers to what countries "resolved" to do in the Millennium Declaration. That does not refer to an easier backdated start date of 1990 as in the later "MDG" formulation. The passage clearly implies, wrongly, that the MDG targets now used were the same as the Declaration's promises of 2000.) b) "The eight Millennium Development Goals were agreed here amidst much fanfare in 2000" (sic - not "here" in New York in 2000 as a group of eight; not with the targets proposed in 2001. The fanfare was not about including achievements in the 20th century but about promises for the 21st. Not duly accurate, especially given the use of the word "goals" to refer to targets (see below. The MDG targets were not all "agreed here" in 2000 in the sense of being agreed by countries at the UN General Assembly, as the BBC implies. The "MDG" targets, including the watered-down versions, were agreed by consensus at Monterrey in 2002.) c) "[The goals] range from halving (sic) the numbers (sic) living in extreme poverty by 2015..." d) "....to reducing the deaths of under five by two-thirds" (The Declaration referred to "current rates", not to the 1990 rates. Again, that latter MDG "goal" was not announced "amidst much fanfare in 2000".) "...not a single country in Africa is on track to meet all the goals" (sic) Text: "The Millennium Development Goals, a set of promises (sic) aimed at halving world poverty (sic) by 2015" Are the MDGs promises? There are promises in the Declaration. Today, Radio 4 24 July 2008 "...the archbishop warned that most of the Millennium Development Goals agreed by world leaders in 2000 (sic) to halve poverty by 2015 would ..." news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7522217.stm http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/canterbury//data/files/resources/688/20080724_abc_today_prog_mdgs.MP3 The BBC introduction conflates the harder pledges with the easier targets. "En l'an 2000, les Nations unies ont défini une série d'objectifs de développement pour le millénaire. D'après vous, que peuvent faire concrètement les ONG pour aider à la concrétisation de ce plan ambitieux ? Dr Mahamadou Tounkara : Au niveau de mon organisation, il y a un certain nombre de programmes que nous appuyons. Dans le cas du Bénin, nous avons un programme en huit points qui s'articule autour des huit objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement." BBCAfrique.com | Highlights | Les ONG, l'Afrique et les objectifs du Millénaire http://www.bbc.co.uk/french/highlights/story/2008/02/printable/080215_developmentgoals.shtml 15 Février, 2008 More or Less, Radio 4 3 December 2007 "when the politicians promise to lift half the world's poor above the dollar-a-day threshold" ("promise" would naturally be taken as referring to the MDG target, since that is what the BBC talked about usually. But the actual promise was in the Declaration. The UN resolution of 2005 was unquestionably a fudge in that it reaffirmed the Declaration (which did not talk about 1990 and mentioned reducing deaths from "current rates") and then went on to talk about the MDGs (some of whose targets were about reducing between 1990 and 2015). While some things were added in the "MDG" formulation, such as sanitation, some of the targets now used are easier than for governments to fulfil what they had "resolved" in 2000 to achieve. The implication of the BBC's words would be that a promise on the easier MDG targets was made in 2000, which is not true.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news/uk/audio/139000/nb/139227_au_nb.asx or http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7350000/newsid_7352600/7352691.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1 . When a dollar a day means 25 cents 2 December 2007 "The struggle to reduce the number of people living on "a dollar a day" tops the list of Millennium Development Goals and trips off the tongues of political leaders.....When politicians promise to lift the world's poor above the dollar a day thresholds, it sounds like a reasonable aim." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7122356.stm Millennium goals: in statistics "The United Nations agreed a set of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, with a view to tackling global poverty. They include improving living standards...by 2015. ...people living on less than $1 a day ...down from 1.25 billion in 1990. ...Target: Reduce the maternal mortality rate by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. ...Target: Between 1990 and 2005, reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds." 5 September 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6943975.stm Reith Lectures 2007 - Lecture 4: Economic Solidarity for a Crowded Planet http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2007/lecture4.shtml "...the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed goals set in the year 2000" Kind of true, but misleading. What is true is that the first seven at least of the undated Goals themselves can be found among what the Declaration calls "objectives". The Goals were not chosen as a group of eight in 2000, or given that name. More significantly, the 1990-2015 targets which people usually associate with the "MDGs" were not "set in 2000". The date is not what is important. What is important is the symbolism of the year 2000, and any implication which might be given that the Millennium Summit set the 1990-2015 targets, rather than what it actually committed the countries to. Reith Lectures 2007 - Lecture 5: Global Politics in a Complex Age http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2007/lecture5.shtml "Last came the Millennium Development Goals in September 2000, to slash extreme poverty, disease, and hunger by the year 2015. Taken together, I call these six commitments our Millennium Promises (sic) .... Our most basic task is to hold our governments, each other, and of course ourselves, accountable to our mutual commitments (sic) Yet most people haven't a clue as to what we've promised." (sic) "the bank's report said that countries including Senegal, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Uganda and Ghana were on course to meet the target of halving poverty by 2010 - five years ahead of schedule. The eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by 189 countries in New York in 2000 with a target date of 2015. " 30 October 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6099672.stm CBBC Newsround "making sure the so-called "millennium goals" are met. The goals, set by world leaders five years ago, include cutting poverty by 50% and reducing child deaths by 66%." Kids' mag calls on world leaders ?2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4220000/newsid_4223600/4223654.stm Objetivos do milênio O Relatório de Desenvolvimento Humano aponta que apesar de apenas 18 dos 177 países analisados terem apresentado uma regressão no IDH desde os anos 1990, o ritmo de desenvolvimento mundial está aquém das metas estabelecidas em 2000 pela Cúpula do Milênio da ONU. (sic) Os chamados Objetivos do Milênio, estabelecidos na cúpula, incluem cortar pela metade o número de pessoas vivendo abaixo da linha de pobreza, reduzir a mortalidade infantil em dois terços e atingir a universalização da educação até 2015." http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/reporterbbc/story/2005/09/printable/050907_idhrw.shtml "objetivos del Milenio, que pretendían recortar la pobreza mundial en un 50% para el año 2015. Estos objetivos, así como otros para reducir el hambre, las enfermedades y el analfabetismo, fueron consensuados en el año 2000 durante la optimista Cumbre del Milenio" (sic) La ONU pide más para metas del Milenio 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/international/newsid_4181000/4181031.stm Have Your Say "Can we eradicate extreme poverty in six years? In 2000 world leaders signed up to The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which intended to eradicate world poverty by 2015. Are we on track? " http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=7127&sortBy=2&edition=2&ttl=20140808001004 Panorama Dead Mum's Don't Cry June 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/4626963.stm "What follows is a transcript of Panorama's Dead Mum's Don't Cry, broadcast Sunday 26 June 2005, 22:15 BST on BBC One. Although taken from a script, this should be checked against transmission for accuracy and to ensure the clear identification of individual speakers. ...If a healthy woman dies in childbirth in Britain it would be a disaster. Tonight - we report from an African hospital where it can be a daily event. But where promises..." (sic) "...to help are being broken. Five years ago world leaders signed up to targets (sic) known as the Millennium Development Goals" "- targets for helping the world's poor" "Saving three quarters of those lives by Twenty Fifteen is Number Five of the eight Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goals were signed in New York five years ago by a hundred and eighty nine world leaders." (sic) Panorama Dead mums Don't Cry Web page text: "Cutting maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015 was one of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by 189 countries in 2000." Jun 26, 2005 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/4114674.stm Panorama 2005 "What are the MDGs? The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) were agreed by 189 countries in New York in 2000. These goals represent a commitment by rich and poor nations to expand social and economic progress in all regions of the world, as well as creating a global partnership for reducing levels of poverty and suffering in less developed areas by 2015." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/4119098.stm "The goals include pledges to halve extreme poverty..." Life 'worse for world's poorest' 7 September 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4222034.stm BBC Learning English "the millennium goals eight objectives set by the UN in 2000 to greatly improve life for the the world's poorest people by the year 2015" 18 November, 2005 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2005/11/051118_infosummit.shtml "One of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by world experts in 2000 was to reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio by 2015. " Women's health fuelling poverty 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4331996.stm Have Your Say Can life improve for the world's poorest? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/4220572.stm 14 September 2005 "Will the UN's Millennium Development Goals be achieved? The international community's "promise to the world's poor is being broken, "according to the United Nations. Five years ago, members of the UN pledged to tackle extreme poverty, disease and inequality by 2015." In Depth What will your world be like in 2015? "The goals are targets set by the UN in 2000 aimed at reducing ... " Mar 10, 2004 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/3522715.stm BBC Brasil "a meta de reduzir pela metade a pobreza no planeta até 2015, prevista na Declaração do Milênio – assinada por 189 países em 2000. (sic) "Se examinarmos as Metas do Milênio levando em consideração itens como educação, saúde, meio-ambiente, os direitos de meninas irem à escola e todo este tipo de coisas, vamos descobrir que o resultado é, na melhor das hipóteses, pouco claro. Não vamos atingir os objetivos que foram definidos na Assembléia do Milênio (em setembro de 2000)" (sic), disse o presidente do Banco Mundial, James Wolfensohn, nesta quinta-feira em Washington." http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/economia/story/2004/04/printable/040422_fmimileniorg.shtml Press Release World Service global online vote to assess public awareness of Millennium Development Goals 16.11.2004 "Five years ago world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit made a pledge to improve lives around the world by 2015, including reducing global poverty by half. The creation of eight Millennium Development Goals represented a global commitment to addressing issues of hunger, health, child mortality, gender equality, education, environmental sustainability and global partnerships. Next year the world will have only ten more years left to achieve these goals. But who knows about them? Could you name them?" http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/11_november/16/development.shtml BBC Learning English "Do you remember the Millennium Goals? When world leaders celebrated the year 2000 (sic) with a solemn pledge (sic) to reduce poverty and hunger, check the spread of AIDS, get boys and girls into school, and improve health and sanitation, all by 2015? " http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/030709_witn.shtml 2003 "Nam 1990, dân sô´ Viê?t Nam co´ khoa?ng 60% nguo`i nghe`o, thê´ nhung 10 nam sau, con sô´ na`y da~ gia?m xuô´ng co`n khoa?ng 32%. Va` nê´u chiê´u theo chi? tiêu cu?a Thiên niên ky?, duo?c la~nh da?o cu?a hon 180 quô´c gia dô`ng y´ ta?i cuô?c ho?p thuo?ng di?nh tha´ng 9 nam 2000 ta?i Liên Hiê?p Quô´c, Viê?t Nam hâ`u nhu da~ di truo´c, hoa?c da~ hoa`n tâ´t chi? tiêu gia?m nghe`o - mu?c tiêu ha`nh dô?ng dâ`u tiên cu?a chuong tri`nh Thiên niên ky?." 2003 http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/newsaboutvietnam/030522_thiennienkyfeature.shtml Press release BBC World Service Trust looks to expand United Nations Millennium Development Goals project "An ambitious media project to stimulate global debate about the challenge of achieving the Millennium Development Goals will be showcased by BBC World Service Trust in Africa.... The project - 2015 where will we be?- aims to raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals through a series of radio programmes broadcast in a range of languages throughout the world. The Goals set targets for combating poverty, disease, illiteracy...World leaders agreed the Millennium Development Goals three years ago at the UN Millennium Summit. (sic) Notes to Editors 1. 2015 where will we be? was developed by BBC World Service Trust with funding from DfID, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF and the WHO. ..The UN Millennium Summit in 2000 set eight Millennium Goals..." http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/09_september/29/ws_millennium_trust.shtml "The Millennium Development Goals - agreed by UN member states three years ago (sic) - aim to cut child mortality by two thirds and maternal death rates by three quarters by 2015." 80 million could die needlessly http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3119664.stm 2003 "In September 2000, a UN summit set a series of targets to improve lives ... with specific targets mostly to be achieved by 2015 using 1990 as a benchmark." Future goals news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/africas_challenges/.../5.stm News Online environment correspondent The MDGs, agreed by the UN in 2000, aim to halve world poverty by 2015." World poverty fight 'in danger' news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3052918.stm Jul 8, 2003 Hardtalk 27 August, 2003 Working to end global poverty http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/3186137.stm Web page: "At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000, 147 world leaders agreed to eight specific goals to reduce global poverty. The Millennium Development Goals, as they became known, consist of targets for poverty reduction, social development and environmental regeneration to be met by 2015." In Depth What will your world be like in 2015? "...Millennium Development Goals. The goals are targets set by the UN in 2000" 10 March, 2004 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/3522715.stm News Online economics reporter 19 March, 2002 Fight against world poverty "Reducing global poverty, and improving health and education in poor countries, are the goals of a summit of world leaders that has opened in Monterrey, Mexico. The five-day meeting hopes to identify the resources needed to achieve these aims - and to meet the Millennium development goals (sic) agreed by the United Nations two years ago." World Learning series World Service 2003 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1644_world_learning/page2.shtml "Jim Clarke introduces the Millennium Development Goals and looks at some of the individuals and initiatives who are working to achieve them by 2015." http://web.archive.org/web/20060306211315/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/media/audio/millennium_wlearning1.ram The series conflated the Declaration with the MDG targets in the first minute. "In September 2000 the United Nations voted to adopt eight Millennium Goals. Member states pledged (sic) to try (sic) and fulfil these (sic) by the year 2015." The first sentence is sort of true. Most or all of the eight MDGs themselves were in the Declaration. So were other goals. The second sentence cannot be true. If "goals" means goals - such as MDG1, "eradicate extreme poverty and hunger", clearly there was no pledge to meet them by 2015. So it means "targets" for 2015, but that is not true either. Although the programme's conflation of goals and targets is less important on its own, the list of pledges for 2015 in the Declaration is different from not only the group of eight goals but also the MDG targets. There were 18 MDG targets in 2003, half of which had end dates of 2015. Also, world leaders resolved to achieve, not to try. In respect of MDG1 itself, they resolved to "spare no effort" to free everyone from want. They pledged to achieve the intermediate aims. ......................................................................... Notes How this material relates to previous communications to the BBC The material in this document a) adds to the as yet unanswered point made in comments of 6 February 2014 to the Editorial Complaints Unit on provisional response 1300394, and provides supporting evidence for b) the as yet unanswered complaint in an email of 28 May 2014 to the head of the ECU: "The BBC has often conflated easier MDG targets agreed in 2002 with more ambitious (if in some ways more limited) Millennium Declaration promises of 2000, and I know of no evidence that any BBC output has noted the difference..." c) the as yet unacknowledged complaint of 26 June 2014 submitted via the BBC Complaints web form concerning More or Less of 16 May 2014, which included the complaint: " "Agreed by [UN]" fails to correct easier "1990 baseline" Declaration pledge error." This is a specific complaint that the BBC failed to clarify the situation in a subsequent broadcast despite being informed of the error on 6 February 2014. The previous notification of the error had been about the same programme. d) the email of 3 August 2014 to the head of the ECU adding evidence from content published in June and July 2014. Why did I not complain much earlier? In 2012 when I complained about BBC coverage of global poverty reports, and on 10/11 July 2013 when I complained about further material (two cases resulted in BBC changes to web pages and the other complaints of 2012 were not answered) - I was unaware of this particular problem. Scope of this complaint The complaint previously submitted, "The BBC has often conflated..." and illustrated here is not limited to material mentioned. For reasons given below it seems unlikely that the erroneous impression has been limited to material easily available online now. Context I suggest the BBC assess this complaint in the light of the others I have made about global poverty coverage. Although I mention a few other problems below in passing, I do not wish to distract from understanding of the main issue of the present complaint. Blame For the avoidance of doubt, this complaint does not allocate blame to particular staff or teams. What are the differences between the pledges of 2000 and the MDG targets proposed in 2001? One difference between some of the pledges in General Assembly Resolution 55/2 of 2000 and on the other subsequent corresponding MDG targets proposed in 2001 is that the latter have easier baselines of 1990. Since the statistics looked better in 2000, the 1990 baselines are easier. Another difference is that the former are on global rates, whereas the latter are on rates in "developing countries". That also makes some of the targets slightly easier, in this case because of slower population growth in the other countries. Are you complaining about minor errors like calling goals "targets"? No – unless it makes a material difference. Often speakers or writers use the term "goal" when they are actually referring to one or more time-bound targets. If we were to ignore that context, some of the BBC statements about goals might seem unproblematic. The undated goals themselves are things like "eradicate extreme poverty and hunger". These can mostly be found among the many aims which the Declaration of 2000 calls "objectives". So saying the Goals were set in 2000 is not really a problem in itself. But it is a problem if journalists are also referring to the targets, with have specific baselines as "goals". Ignoring the context would seem unwise if we are interested in considering what impression the BBC is actually giving. It seems clear that audiences and readers would take, in many cases, what the BBC states about goals to refer to, or include reference to, the targets. A common example is where the BBC talks about "goals" having target dates of 2015. There is clearly no problem in some contexts from people talking about "goals" when they mean the time-bound "targets". Exceptions might include where an impression is given that, for example, one of eight goals has been achieved rather than one of 21 targets. More directly relevant to the present complaint are cases like this: a broadcast or article refers to "goals" being set in 2000 and in the same broadcast or article talks about a target date of 2015 in a way likely to give an impression that the MDG targets are the actual pledges. Availability of material I recognise that some broadcast material mentioned here appears only to be available on non-BBC websites. Even if some material is excluded from investigation, it would seem sensible for the BBC to take the general range of relevant output into account when considering remedial action. Coverage of summits needs to be sorted out before the next one It is clear, for example, that coverage of the 2010 summit contained many instances of the conflation. It would seem clear that action is necessary to ensure that the same mistakes are not made in, for example, coverage of the "post-2015" process. I am not saying every instance is a serious breach on its own. In view of the number of items listed, it is important that the complaint not be misinterpreted as making some kinds of unreasonable demands on the BBC. I am not saying that all the items should be investigated to the same extent. I provide this information not only as part of the complaints process but also for the BBC to learn from if it chooses. Clearly, some instances may just contribute to an impression, while others give an impression on their own. Why complain about old material? As I state above, any BBC material may be used as reference material. This may apply years after content is produced. For example, the Wikipedia page on poverty links to the More or Less article of 3 December 2007, which juxtaposes MDGs and "When politicians promise... ". Another factor may be that particular programme teams need to be made aware of problems in their own output even years before, partly so that the mistakes are not repeated. The risk may be much lessened with an appropriate - by which I mean appropriately remedial given the long history of this error - public correction. If I put "millennium development goals" into the BBC search engine, I get the old reference pages from around 2004. If I put "poverty" I get an "editor's choice" of the multi-error "Dollar Benchmark: Rise of the $1-a-day statistic" page last updated November 2012 after a complaint, but for some reason still dated "9 March". Probability of similar errors in other languages Self-evident. Probability of broadcast items with similar errors Often, the same BBC reporters in whose names articles appear also speak in broadcasts covering the same story. It therefore seems implausible to suggest a situation other than this: It is highly likely that material easily found online represents only a part of the BBC's misleading output on the pledges of 2000. I suggest appropriately prominent corrections. This is an institutional failure. ......................................................................... Appendix: History of the change in baseline March/April 2000: Secretary-General refers to halving rates that obtain "currently"...and "now"; and within the next 15 years". "Let us resolve therefore: - To halve, by the time this century is 15 years old, the proportion of the world’s people (currently [sic] 22 per cent) whose income is less than one dollar a day. - To halve, by the same date, the proportion of people (currently [sic] 20 per cent) who are unable to reach, or to afford, safe drinking water." "Specifically, I urge the Summit to adopt the target of reducing by half, between now (sic) and 2015, the proportion of people who lack sustainable access to adequate sources of affordable and safe water." www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/We_The_Peoples.pdf "My Report sets a series of targets...Within the next 15 years (sic), I believe we can halve the population of people living in extreme poverty...We need a much better informed public" Statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the General Assembly as he presented his Millennium Report, “We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century”. 3 April 2000 http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000403.sgsm7343.doc.html September 2000: World leaders "resolve" to achieve the mortality reductions from "current rates" "We resolve..by the year 2015...to have reduced ...under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates ...We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these common objectives and our determination to achieve them." (sic) http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm "19. Nous décidons également: • De réduire de moitié, d’ici (sic) à 2015, la proportion de la population mondiale dont le revenu est inférieur à un dollar par jour et celle des personnes qui souffrent de la faim et de réduire de moitié, d’ici à la même date, la proportion des personnes qui n’ont pas accès à l’eau potable ou qui n’ont pas les moyens de s’en procurer." http://www.un.org/french/millenaire/ares552f.pdf September 2001: Secretary-General quotes Declaration's "Goals" and then proposes list of "MDGs" and targets with the easier 1990 baselines at page 56: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf October 2001: UN agencies tell country representatives, in effect, that civil servants have changed the baseline: "Baseline year – 1990 or 2000? ...This would imply a 2000 (sic) 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." UN Development Group, Guidance Note to country representatives, October 2001 http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/2356-English.doc Sent out with letter signed by heads of UNDP, UNICEF, WFP and UNFPA, November 2001. http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/1607-MDGs_-_letter_-_MDGs_-_letter.pdf Did the General Assembly agree that the MDG targets supersede the pledges? Apparently not. 2005: Member states "reaffirm the United Nations Millennium Declaration" General Assembly Resolution 60/1, 2005 unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Indicators/ares60_1_2005summit_eng.pdf Again, the Declaration stated, "We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these (sic) common objectives and our determination to achieve them." (sic) The 2005 resolution says: "we further resolve:...To assist developing countries’ efforts to prepare integrated water... plans as part of their national development strategies and 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 and who do not have access to basic sanitation" Sounds like a commitment to the Declaration's target to me. [Note: I am very aware that some of the UN statistics and statements about them are dodgy] And "171. We call for strengthened cooperation between the United Nations and national and regional parliaments, in particular through the Inter-Parliamentary Union, with a view to furthering all aspects of the Millennium Declaration"