UN chief demands support for millennium goals of more education and less poverty

Global poverty has been cut in half since 2000, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said as he marked the 500 days left until the Millennium Development Goals deadline.

Speaking on Monday alongside Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai, who became an advocate for education after surviving a Taliban attack, Ban said: “Quietly yet cumulatively, against the predictions of cynics, the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals] have helped unite, inspire and transform.”

The eight goals, agreed by world leaders in 2000, are a 15-year plan to fight poverty, hunger and disease, protect the environment and expand education, basic health and women’s empowerment.

Ban said that, parallel to worldwide “fires,” the UN also has to focus on the young people among the “millions [who] still struggle against extreme poverty and inequality."

He added: “But there also burns a flame of hope – encouraging progress in the global drive to improve the lives of the world’s poorest through the Millennium Development Goals.”

Ban highlighted four areas where action is urgently needed: investment in health, education, energy and sanitation; focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable countries; keeping the UN’s financial promises; and “deepening cooperation” between governments, civil society and the private sector.

The secretary general added that the fight against diseases like malaria and tuberculosis is continuing.

While accepting that “challenges are daunting,” Ban hailed the MDGs as “the most successful global anti-poverty push in history.”