We know these MDGs which regard compromises for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, ensure environmental sustainability, reducing child mortality and combatting HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases, quoting just ones of them.

In September of 2000, the 192 member countries of the U.N. accepted the commitment to take the first step for achieving all eight MDGs by 2015. The Secretary-General of that time, Kofi Annan said: “No one today is unaware of the divide between the worlds’s rich and poor. Today’s real borders are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated.”

The Conference, as we approach the midpoint to the goals achievement, looked at what had been done and discussed the possibility of failing to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

Two ideas of Nicholas Kristof, journalist of The New York Times, struck me. The first, to consider the 19th century as a time of struggle against slavery; the 20th century as a time for overcoming totalitarianisms, and the 21st as a time to eliminate human trafficking, especially women and girls. The second is a spark of hope Kristof launched in his book that made him the Pulitzer prize-winner: turning oppression into opportunity. And eventually he made this the title of his book: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

Examples given are just an indication: you can buy a girl for $20, The Bank of the Poor and also a note of hope.  Really the situation even today is dramatic but we can’t disavow the short step already taken: on 1960 the children who died, without reason, were 20 million; today’s rate of population that would be 50 million. Instead, during 2010 there were only 8 million.

Interesting information arose from the reports: people basically do not know what their governments do. A recent research study showed that North American people believe they are giving adequately for the struggle against poverty, that is, 10% of their GNP. Instead, the US, as almost all the countries of the world, do not respect even the compromise of 0, 7 per 1000/GNP  as financial aid in favor of the poor countries.

A corner-stone idea was put on the table by Mary Ellen McNish, President of the Hunger Project: today it is possible to eliminate poverty, but not if we go on with the actual policy in economic affairs. There are rich even in poor countries, and poor in rich countries, but the actual economic system prevents an effective fight against poverty. 

Some examples presented by others speakers were illuminating. Every year, 1 million people die from malaria. Malaria is said to be responsible for 1 billion dollars lost of Africa production. The cure of malaria is less than $10 per person. How can we hope to overcome poverty without such simple gestures of charity?

The most important issue of the conference was the interrelationship established between the different goals of the Millennium: poverty with diseases, education with equal gender opportunities, global development with environmental sustainability, child mortality rate with maternal health. How many women giving birth, die even nowadays without any reasonable cause? 

The greater goal of these conferences is to be aware of the problems we have to face, take the courage in searching for solutions, and educate for action and collaboration, since the MDGs are in the interest of all.

Two useful links for understanding the mechanisms of poverty are: www.teachun.org, and for Spanish speaking people,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlelJa79Juo&t=0m22s. 

John Paul

New York, January 21th 2011