Written Answers. - UN Summits.
Joan Burton
Question:
118
Ms Burton
asked the
Minister for Foreign Affairs
the proportion of the commitments made at the Johannesburg conference of the UN, and the Monterrey conference on Millennium Development Goals which have been committed or delivered; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[9830/03]
In September 2000, at the UN Millennium Summit in New York, Heads of State and Government adopted eight over-arching millennium development goals to be achieved by 2015. The millennium development goals focus on fundamental development issues such as poverty eradication, health, education, maternal mortality, HIV-AIDS and international partnership. The overarching goal is to reduce by half the number of people, currently 1.2 billion, living in extreme poverty, less than $1 per day, by 2015.
The International Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey, Mexico in April 2002 focused on mobilising funding in support of the millennium development goals. The outcome of the conference, the Monterrey Consensus, deals with all aspects of development finance including the mobilisation of domestic resources, trade, investment, overseas development assistance and debt. At the conference the EU announced that it would increase average EU ODA from 0.33% of EU GNP to 0.39% of EU GNP by 2006. EU member states also announced that each member state would devote a minimum of 0.33% of GNP to ODA by 2006. The EU Commission is, at present, carrying out an analysis of how EU member states intend to deliver on the Monterrey commitment. Ireland's ODA, 0.41% of GNP in 2002, is already above the EU target announced at Monterrey.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002 focused on the achievement of the MDGs through sustainable development with particular reference to water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity. Johannesburg put the promotion of poverty eradication through sustainable development at the heart of its work and was the first major summit to treat all aspects of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – in a coherent and integrated way. Johannesburg confirmed the millennium development goals and agreed a number of additional commitments, including the goal of universal access to sanitation by 2015.
Within the EU, the Council has initiated work on the implementation of the Johannesburg Programme of Action in the member states. The Johannesburg commitments in areas such as water, sanitation, energy, chemicals, forests and biodiversity are being integrated into EU strategies and work-programmes under the overall direction of the European Council.
In 2005 the UN Secretary General will present the first comprehensive global report on progress towards the MDGs since their adoption at the summit in 2000. This report, which will be prepared in collaboration with the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO, will give the international community a clear picture of how the commitments made at the summit, and at the succeeding conferences, have contributed to eradicating poverty. The discussion by the UN General Assembly of this report will provide the international community with an opportunity to take stock of progress towards the achievement of the millennium development goals and the extent to which UN member states have lived up to the commitments that were made at the UN Millennium Summit and the succeeding conferences.
