The Millenium Development Goals African Steering Group, por PET – iREL UnB
1. Objeto de análise:
No contexto de aproximação da data-limite para a realização das Metas de Desenvolvimento do Milênio, o Secretário-Geral das Nações Unidas, Ban Ki-Moon, organiza reunião para efetivar a ajuda necessária ao continente africano para que este possa alcançar as metas até 2015.
2. Informações de referência:
2.1 Palavras-chave:
– Metas de Desenvolvimento do Milênio;
– Desenvolvimento;
– África;
– Mortalidade Infantil.
2.2 Cronologia:
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Setembro de 2000: Na Cúpula do Milênio, o maior número de líderes mundiais na história adota a Declaração do Milênio, um compromisso de 189 nações e 147 chefes de Estado e governo a uma nova parceria para reduzir a pobreza, bem como uma série de outras metas até a data-limite de 2015. As oito metas ficaram conhecidas como Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) e são metas mundiais cujo conteúdo é quantificável e medido por meio de indicadores, de forma a permitir melhor acompanhamento e avaliação.
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2001: O Secretário Geral das Nações Unidas (SGNU), Kofi Annan, em resposta aos líderes mundiais, apresenta o “Mapa do Caminho” rumo à implementação da Declaração do Milênio, contendo um panorama integrado da situação e um esboço de potenciais estratégias de ação para alcançar as metas. Desde então, esta prática tem sido seguida e consubstanciada nos relatórios anuais.
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22 de março de 2002: Conferência Internacional sobre Financiamento para o Desenvolvimento, realizada em Monterrey, no México, em que estavam presentes mais de 50 chefes de Estado e seus ministros de finanças, relações exteriores e comércio, bem como o Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI), Banco Mundial e Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC). O “Consenso de Monterrey”, hoje a maior referência no que concerne cooperação para desenvolvimento internacional, possui seis áreas de financiamento ao desenvolvimento: (1) mobilização de recursos financeiros domésticos e (2) internacionais, como investimento estrangeiro direto e investimento privado; (3) comércio internacional e (3) cooperação técnica e financeira; (4) dívida externa e (5) manutenção da coerência e consistência dos sistemas econômicos internacionais.
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10 e 11 de junho de 2005: Na Cúpula do G-8 em Gleneagles, na Escócia, decidiu-se dobrar a ajuda ao desenvolvimento em 2010 e liberar os países mais pobres de seus débitos. Entretanto, de acordo com a Organização para Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômicos (OCDE), seus 30 membros endereçaram menos de 5% em ajuda ao desenvolvimento no ano de 2006 do que no anterior. A Itália reduziu 30% das contribuições e os EUA, o maior contribuidor, 20%.
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Janeiro de 2006: Estabelecimento do Grupo de Suporte às MDGs, designado para mobilizar suporte através dos sistemas das Nações Unidas e do UNDP para ajudar os governos dos países em desenvolvimento a atingir as MDGs. O financiamento, sem o qual estes planos não são viáveis ou realistas, depende do cumprimento da contribuição de 0,7% do Produto Nacional Bruto (PNB) por parte dos países desenvolvidos, o que, apesar de inúmeros compromissos firmados, tem-se mostrado vacilante.
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13 de setembro de 2006: Pesquisa do Group for Child Mortality Estimation, composto por agências das Nações Unidas, Banco Mundial e outros, apresenta que, pela primeira vez, a mortalidade infantil alcança índice anual abaixo de 10 milhões. O recorde é de 9,7 milhões perante 13 milhões de mortes de menores de cinco anos, na década de 1990. Segundo a mesma pesquisa, os principais diferenciais foram a disponibilidade de fundos e as campanhas realizadas, como: elevação do índice infantil de imunização, distribuição de vitamina A e de telas de mosquitos tratadas com inseticida, orientação para realizar amamentação durante os primeiros seis meses, tratamentos com remédios para crianças infectadas com HIV.
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14 de setembro de 2006: Sessão inaugural do grupo para sustentar a implementação dos MDGs na África. O grupo reafirma comprometimento em não medir esforços e trabalhar em cooperação, cujos parceiros são União Africana, União Européia, Banco de Desenvolvimento Africano, Banco de Desenvolvimento Islâmico, Fundo Monetário Internacional e Banco Mundial.
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O Grupo enfocará três eixos: (1) fortalecimento dos mecanismos internacionais para implementação nas cinco áreas de saúde, educação, agricultura e segurança alimentar, infra-estrutura e sistemas estatísticos; (2) melhora da previsibilidade do financiamento internacional, de forma a possibilitar um planejamento a longo prazo para os países beneficiados, bem como acompanhamento regular; (3) fortalecimento da coordenação a nível nacional. Para tanto, criou-se um Grupo de Trabalho para desenvolver o trabalho operacional, o qual se reunirá em 20 de setembro com líderes das organizações supra citadas, bem como delegações dos 30 membros da Organização para Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômico (OCDE).
3. Contextualização e repercussão:
3.1 Globais:
– As Metas de Desenvolvimento do Milênio representaram, quando da aprovação da Declaração do Milênio, um compromisso sem precedentes de todos os países-membros das Nações Unidas com o desenvolvimento global. A Declaração pode ser considerada assim um aprofundamento do multilateralismo das Nações Unidas em direção ao que seria uma consciência cosmopolita, responsabilizando todos os países do sistema pelo desenvolvimento do grupo menos favorecido.
- A iniciativa do Secretário-Geral Ki-Moon de organizar tal grupo, inédito dentro das iniciativas das Nações Unidas, é uma das poucas tomadas de posição política que ele realizou até agora. Segue em grande parte as linhas gerais estabelecidas pelo último ocupante do cargo, e é ousada na medida em que deve encontrar grande resistência por parte dos países desenvolvidos para ser efetivada, como tem acontecido até agora.
- Reafirmação da responsabilidade dos países desenvolvidos em cumprir os acordos do Consenso de Monterrey (que estabelece a meta de doação de 0,7% do PIB por parte dos países desenvolvidos com ajuda oficial externa).
3.2 Regionais:
– Responsabilidade dos países africanos em estabelecer bons padrões de governabilidade e diminuição da corrupção para uso correto da ajuda internacional.
3.3 Locais:
- Importância das metas em consonância com a diplomacia do governo Lula, e das linhas gerais mais tradicionais da política externa brasileira: desenvolvimento como direito, e responsabilidade internacional pela erradicação da fome e pobreza mundiais.
4. Cenários:
– Desde a aprovação da Declaração, já era apontado as grandes dificuldades de se conseguir com que estas metas fossem realizadas até a data estabelecida. Apesar da iniciativa do SGNU denotar mais uma pressão sobre a comunidade internacional no sentido de fortalecer uma consciência cosmopolita sobre a erradicação da fome e da pobreza, tais iniciativas acabam sempre indo de encontro a poderosos interesses nacionais que dificultam sua efetivação da forma como originalmente estabelecidas nos fóruns multilaterais.
5. Leituras sugeridas:
As Metas de Desenvolvimento do Milênio e estatísticas
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Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty |
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Target 1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day |
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Indicators |
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Target 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger |
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Indicators |
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Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education |
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Target 3. Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling |
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Indicators |
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Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women |
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Target 4. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015 |
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Indicators |
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Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality |
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Target 5. Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate |
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Indicators |
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Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health |
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Target 6. Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio |
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Indicators |
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Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases |
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Target 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS |
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Indicators |
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Target 8. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases |
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Indicators |
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Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability |
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Target 9. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources |
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Indicators |
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Target 10. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation |
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Indicators |
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Target 11. Have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers |
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Indicators |
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Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development |
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Target 12. Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system (includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction?both nationally and internationally) |
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Target 13. Address the special needs of the Least Developed Countries (includes tariff- and quota-free access for Least Developed Countries? exports, enhanced program of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries [HIPCs] and cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction) |
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Target 14. Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing states (through the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and 22nd General Assembly provisions) |
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Target 15. Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term |
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Indicators Market access |
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Some of the indicators listed below are monitored separately for the least developed countries, Africa, landlocked developing countries, and small island developing states |
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Target 16. In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth |
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Indicators |
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Target 17. In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries |
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Indicators |
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Target 18. In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications technologie |
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Indicators |
New multilateral push aims to cut African poverty
Sat 15 Sep 2007, 7:29 GMT
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – With Africa lagging behind in global development goals and rich countries cutting aid, leaders of multilateral financial institutions decided on Friday it was time to mobilize resources to reduce extreme poverty on the continent.
Organized by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, officials gathered from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Union, the African Development Bank, the European Commission, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and a number of U.N. agencies.
“We know that rapid progress is possible, and will work with other world leaders to use all the tools, resources and commitments available to support African countries in halving extreme poverty by 2015,” the group said in a statement.
At issue are the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), proposed by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan and approved by world leaders in 2000. They include cutting extreme poverty in half, ensuring universal primary education, and stemming the AIDS pandemic, all by 2015.
No one country in Africa will meet all the goals and the continent as a whole lags far behind, Ban said. “That is the only region in the world where not even a single country is on track,” he told reporters.
Yet World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the news was not all bleak. Some 17 countries, with a third of the continent’s population, have averaged about 5.5. percent economic growth over the past decade.
Zoellick said the bank in October would focus its annual report on agriculture, where overall poverty reduction has made more progress than in other sectors.
Eight countries, Zoellick said, have benefited from oil revenues and need help in how to spend them while another third of the African population is emerging from war and struggling to survive. “With the right leadership, the right programs, the right support, you can really be quite successful as Mozambique has been,” he said.
Mozambique has averaged 8 percent growth since it was ravaged by a civil war 20 years ago and Rwanda, where nearly a million people were killed in a genocide in 1994 has averaged 7 percent, U.N. figures show. Both countries eased regulations to attract private investors and built up their infrastructure.
RICH COUNTRIES NOT PAYING
Africa was the focus of a G-8 summit in 2005 in Gleneagles, Scotland, where the world’s leading industrialized nations pledged to double development aid by 2010 and to free the poorest countries of their debts.
But not even Britain is on track with its aid. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the 30 OECD member states collectively spent 5 percent less on development aid in 2006 than in the previous year. Italy had a 30 percent cut and the United States, still the largest contributor, reduced aid by 20 percent.
“Of course international support has not been forthcoming as promised and this has been one of our major concerns,” said Maxwell Mkwezalamba, the African Union’s economic commissioner.
“You look at the commitment commitments made since Monterrey (Mexico) in 2002, the Gleneagles summit in 2005 — we find that there is not much that has come to Africa.”
At the same time, Mkwezalamba said, “Africa has to take some initiatives of its own,” such as mobilizing domestic resources and those from the diaspora.
Murilo Portugal, the IMF deputy managing director, said implementation of financial pledges had been “broadly flat since 2003.”
If aid is to meet the $50 billion target, donors had to increase net disbursements, excluding debt relief grants, by more than 15 percent every year. But IMF projections indicate that aid by 2010 is expected to grow only 8 percent a year, Portugal said.
The group is focusing on agriculture, education, health, infrastructure and statistics to get reliable data, among other areas. Asha-Rose Migiro, the deputy U.N. secretary-general, has scheduled a working group meeting of all the financial institutions for September 20.
Ban Ki-moon launches ‘unprecedented’ group to boost Africa’s development
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Ban Ki-moon |
14 September 2007 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today convened international development leaders for the inaugural session of a new steering group to boost Africa’s as yet failing efforts to meet the ambitious goals the world has set itself to slash poverty, hunger, maternal and infant mortality, and other social ills, all by 2015.
This was an “unprecedented gathering,” Mr. Ban told reporters after chairing the meeting of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Africa Steering Group, bringing together top officials from the African Union, European Union, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
“We are concerned that many African countries are off track, particularly for the countries in sub-Saharan regions. That is the only region in the world where not even a single country is on the track. We must help those countries so that they can join on the track,” he added, noting that the Group had agreed to strengthen their collaboration to expedite the achievement of the MDGs adopted by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000.
The first of three challenges the Group resolved to address is to identify effective mechanisms for implementing the MDGs for health, education, agriculture and food security, infrastructure and statistical systems.
Five of the eight goals seek to cut by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and suffering from hunger; ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling; cut the mortality rate among children under five by two thirds; reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters; and halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
“Our organizations will work together to review international implementation mechanisms and support Governments in making the investments needed to achieve the MDGs,” the leaders said in a joint statement. “We will determine how these mechanisms can be strengthened where they are falling short, and where new ones need to be added.”
The second challenge they set themselves is to improve aid predictability. “Our organizations will make our own aid more predictable,” they said. “We will also work with other donors to help establish country-by-country schedules for official development assistance to rise to meet existing commitments, so that African Governments can plan effectively for the practical investments needed to achieve the MDGs.”
Thirdly they pledged to strengthen joint efforts at the country level. “Starting in a sub-set of African countries, we will launch an intensive collaboration among our organizations to support Governments in preparing and implementing strategies that are ambitious enough to achieve the MDGs,” they declared.
“Just past the midpoint to the target date of 2015, it is of paramount importance that we focus on practical steps to implement existing pledges,” they added. “With the launch of the MDG Africa Steering Group, we reaffirm our commitment to spare no effort in reaching the MDGs in Africa.”
The leaders pledged to mobilize their institutions in cooperation and partnership. “We know that rapid progress is possible, and will work with other world leaders to use all the tools, resources and commitments available to support African countries in halving extreme poverty by 2015, and in charting a path towards sustained economic growth.”
A MDG Africa Working Group, led by the Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, who was also present during today’s discussions, will meet on 20 September to launch operational work, brining together top leaders of the Group’s organizations plus other bodies such as the 30-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of industrialized, market-economy countries.
All those attending praised Mr. Ban’s move. “This is an excellent initiative,” World Bank President Robert Zoellick told reporters afterwards. “It is certainly a timely one.”
African Union Commissioner for Economic Affairs Maxwell Mkwezalamba noted that international support had not been forthcoming as promised. “This has been one of our major concerns. You look at the commitments made since Monterrey in 2002, the Gleneagles summit in 2005, we find that there is not much that has come to Africa,” he said, referring to major international economic conferences.
“And this indeed is something that needs to be addressed if Africa will attain the MDGs by the target date of 2015.”
European Union Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel stressed that not only would the donors have to fulfil their promised but the African countries also had to make every effort to reach the targets. Toward this end, he stressed the importance of trade.
“We have a special focus for aid for trade,” he said. “There cannot be a sustainable development in the developing countries without very strong support on trade, because trade can of course bring prosperity and jobs and also can give to the state the means they need in order to bring the basic services to the people.”
How close is the world to reaching the millennium development goals?
With Unicef saying that infant mortality is at an all-time low, how close is the world to achieving the UN’s millennium development goals?
September 14, 2007 1:34 PM
Unicef has released figures that suggest infant mortality is at a record low. Reducing infant mortality was one of the UN’s eight millennium development goals. But how much progress has been made on the other goals, and can we trust the figures, asks Ling Low.
A UN report earlier this year found uneven advances after seven years, almost halfway to the project’s end date of 2015.
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty:
The UN said the proportion of people living in poverty in developing regions had dropped from a third of the population in 1990 to less than a fifth in 2004. However, in sub-Saharan Africa the poverty rate had dropped by only a few per cent since 1990.
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education:
In the developing world, enrolment in primary education grew from 80% in 1991 to 88% in 2005. Sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest proportion of children in primary education, but was making rapid progress, the UN said. In former Soviet Republic countries and eastern Asia, however, growth in enrolment figures had stagnated or even reversed.
But enrolment figures do not reflect whether children attend school regularly. In addition, official figures are not usually available from countries in conflict or post-conflict situations. Had these countries been included, the primary education picture would be less rosy.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women:
The UN said there had been a slow increase in the number of women participating in politics. Some countries, such as Rwanda, were close to achieving equality in parliamentary seats, and recent years had seen women standing for political positions for the first time in Arab states such as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. However, there remained no clear positive trend that women were occupying the highest positions in government. In other areas of employment, too, the results were uneven.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality:
Unicef said infant mortality had been reduced to 10 million deaths per year, on track towards achieving the goal of reducing the rate by two-thirds. However, US experts raised concerns about the figures. UN organisations are required to use data provided by governments, which they said may not be entirely credible.
Goal 5: Improve maternal health:
The UN report said more than 500,000 women were still dying each year of preventable complications in pregnancy or childbirth.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases:
The number of people dying from Aids rose to 2.9 million in 2006, with 4.3 million becoming newly infected. The fastest infection rates were in eastern Asia and the former Soviet countries. Malaria interventions, such as the provision of mosquito nets treated with insecticide, had been effective, but increasing usage of these nets to the target of 80% by 2010 will require a lot more funding.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability:
On the hot topic of climate change, the UN report said emissions of carbon dioxide continued to outpace advances in sustainable development technology. In south-eastern Asia and northern Africa, these emissions more than doubled between 1990 and 2004. On a per capita basis, however, developed regions were still the bigger emitters.
Deforestation was continuing at an “alarming rate”, although the restoration of forests through planting trees had taken off in recent years, especially in North America and eastern Asia. The UN also said progress had been made on using cleaner energy and renewable energy. Half the developing world remained without basic sanitation, but a number of individual nations were on track to meet the target of halving the number of people in need of sanitation.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development:
According to both the UN report and an International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) report published yesterday, donor countries are not meeting their promises on aid. While assistance to developing countries was pledged to rise by £24bn a year by 2010, much of the aid has been concerned with the cancellation of debt in a few countries. Once debt relief is discounted, the rate of aid to Africa appears virtually static, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Instead, China has stepped in to provide the benefits previously offered by Western countries: aid, loans, debt relief, duty-free access for African products and contributions to infrastructure. In return, Africa has become a key supplier of oil, providing nearly a third of Chinese crude oil imports. But in 2006, the World Bank and the US treasury raised concerns that the unconditional loans proffered by the Chinese would undermine debt arrangements made with western donors and cause countries to get into excessive debt.
The statistics on progress towards meeting the millennium development goals do not show a consistent set of positive trends. But in several areas, such as the fight against malaria, initiatives put in place since 2000 are starting to pay off.
