The Spectre of the Khmer Rouge over Cambodia
After 27 years of international amnesia over bringing the Khmer Rouge to justice, and following six years of intense negotiations between the United Nations and the Government of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge tribunal, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), was established in 2006. The tribunal is a UN-assisted national court, with international participation of prosecutors and judges.
Flaws in the Financial System: Socializing Risk, Privatizing Profit
On 30 October 2008, six eminent economists and sociologists at an Interactive Panel on the Global Financial Crisis, convened at UN Headquarters by the President of the sixty-third General Assembly session, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, spoke of the unfolding financial crisis and its macroeconomic and social impacts.
Biofuels Are No Villain
Food security has always been at the top of my agenda. Upon taking office, my government launched a major domestic programme aimed at eliminating -- not just alleviating -- hunger at home. In 2003, the pioneering Zero Hunger programme has allowed millions of extremely poor Brazilians to have three square meals a day. Its success has encouraged me to believe that similar goals can be achieved at the global level, where millions fall victim to hunger every year.
Bailing Out Humankind From Its Social Insensitivity
A host of world leaders met at UN Headquarters in New York on 12 and 13 November 2008 for an inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue on a Culture of Peace, at the initiative of King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
Scaling Up Development Efforts for Africa: A Global Partnership for Development is Vital for the Region
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) constitute a shared vision of global partnership based on mutual accountability. Developing countries have the primary responsibility for achieving these Goals.
Financing for Development to Reach the MDGs: The Experience in the Arab Region
Across the Arab region, progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been uneven. Arab countries with higher income per capita stand with better prospects for achieving the Goals than their low-income counterparts.
The MDGs in the African Region: Efforts Need to Be Scaled Up to Accelerate Development
The midpoint to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) -- the time-bound and quantified targets, agreed by world leaders at the 2000 Millennium Summit, for improving the human condition and ensuring gender equality and environmental sustainability -- was reached in September 2007.
Tackling Poverty Reduction: The Role of the Islamic Development Bank
Poverty reduction is the greatest challenge facing humanity today. An ideological commitment to reduce or eradicate this phenomenon should be contemplated as part and parcel of social moral responsibility and shared human values across countries and generations. Failure to do so will have unprecedented repercussions on human development.
The MDGs in Asia and the Pacific: Regional Partnerships Are Key to Addressing Gaps in Implementation
Progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Asian and Pacific region is uneven. We achieved success in some, but faltered in others. Even in areas of success, in-country and intra-country disparities persist. The pace of progress is too slow.
The MDGs in the Western Asian Region: Regional Cooperation and Policies Needed to Promote Development
As the world marks the midpoint between the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 and the target date for their achievement in 2015, an assessment of the Arab region's progress on these is both timely and essential.
The MDGs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Employment Remains a Challenge for Poverty Reduction
There is no doubt that Latin America is on track to meeting its commitment to halve the 1990 extreme poverty rate by the 2015 target deadline. The most recent estimates by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) show that some 14 million Latin Americans escaped from poverty in 2006 and another 10 million are no longer destitute.
The MDGs in the European Region and Beyond: A Holistic Approach Needed to Correct Uneven Progress
The regions covered by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) -- the whole European continent, North America and Central Asia -- are characterized by a tremendous diversity in levels of economic development. While most countries of Western Europe and North America have levels of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita well above $20,000, for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) and South Eastern Europe (SEE), the level is below $10,000.
The Millennium Campaign: Successes and Challenges in Mobilizing Support for the MDGs
It was the best news for decades, when in 2000 world leaders acknowledged that the most urgent matter at the dawn of the new century was to put an end to poverty, and that the world has the resources and the know-how to do so.
Indigenous Peoples and the MDGs: Inclusive and Culturally Sensitive Solutions
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summarize the development targets agreed to at international conferences and world summits during the 1990s. At the end of the last century, world leaders distilled the key goals and targets in the Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000.
Ahead of the Curve: A series on Development Pioneers at the United Nations
A new series in the UN Chronicle will highlight the major intellectual contributions and policy consequences of work undertaken by major researchers who worked with the United Nations system during their careers.