Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration report of the Secretary-General

This paper reviews the results achieved to date in the implementation of the Declaration in the areas of: peacekeeping and curbing transnational crime, the Millennium Development Goals, and the protection of the vulnerable. It argues that progress is possible and that the steps that need to be taken are well defined. In addition to knowledge, capacity and the political will to act and provide sufficient resources, the report adds that respect for the rule of law will also be necessary to the successful implementation of the Millennium Declaration.

In reviewing the progress of the MDGs, the paper finds that in four short years, the eight Millennium Development Goals derived from the Millennium Declaration have transformed the face of global development cooperation. Consensus around a set of clear, measurable and timebound development goals has generated unprecedented coordinated action, not only within the United Nations system, including the Bretton Woods institutions, but also within the wider donor community and, most importantly, within developing countries themselves.

Despite greater endorsement of the Millennium Development Goals and some encouraging regional and sub-regional trends, as a whole the world is not optimizing its performance. It finds that there are three broad groups in terms of their progress towards the Millennium Development Goals:

• the first group of countries, comprising most of Asia and Northern Africa, is largely on track to meet the target of halving extreme poverty by 2015 and to achieve many of the social targets of the Goals
• the second group of countries, mainly in West Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, has been making good progress towards some individual goals, such as achieving universal primary education, but has been less successful in reducing poverty
• the third group, largely comprising countries in sub-Saharan Africa but also least developed countries in other regions, are far from making adequate progress on most of the goals.

It warns that as the United Nations prepares for the five-year review of the Millennium Declaration, a major breakthrough is needed if the 2015 targets are to be met. Many sub-Saharan African countries in particular will need special support to accelerate progress sufficiently to catch up.

The paper argues that in order to make better progress towards the MDGs:

Developing countries: must fulfil their commitments, as set out in the Millennium Declaration and the Monterrey Consensus of the International Conference on Financing for Development to:

• reallocate and mobilise more domestic resources
• reform institutions to suit national priorities
• adopt effective, nationally owned economic and social policies that can provide a spur to economic growth
• additionally, it is important to follow up the broader commitments to democracy, human rights and sound, accountable governance.

Developed countries:must also fulfil their responsibilities by:

• increasing and improving development assistance
• concluding a new development-oriented trade round
• embracing wider and deeper debt relief
• fostering technology transfer