Why in heaven’s name do we waste money on the United Nations? Surely it is an impossible dream. Why not stick to the G20 to solve the world’s financial problems and let regional trading partnerships develop where folks have common interests? After all, what do we really have in common with Paraguay or Lichtenstein?
Lord knows, the majority of the UN ambassadors are a puffed-up group of quasi-politicians who spend most of their time at cocktail parties, selling their countries’ votes in the General Assembly for promises of loans from the IMF.
The makeup of the Security Council is a holdover from the Second World War and it can’t agree on anything where their personal interests are in any way infringed. The latest debacle over Syria is just a repeat of a litany of impotent deliberations dating back to the first Soviet Union veto. The U.S. has followed suit and has accumulated more vetoes than the rest of the members of the Council combined.
The General Assembly is by and large impotent. They line up endless speeches by their countries’ leaders. Nobody takes notice except their domestic audience. Of course this is a popular pastime for presidents and prime ministers. They give a talk, hobnob with the world press corps and then go shopping at Trump Towers. Except, of course, our own prime minister who stopped for a photo op for Tim Hortons.
And yet. In 1990, the United Nations struck a set of Millennium Development Goals to be achieved in 25 years. Since then, the number of people living in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 per day) has dropped from 47 to 27 per cent and is on track for a reduction of 50 per cent by 2015.
The target of halving the proportion of people without access to potable water has been met, with over two billion people accessing improved drinking water. Universal education goals are progressing, with parity between girls and boys in primary education and 76 per cent of children in sub-Saharan Africa now in school. The number of deaths among children under five has decreased from 12 million to 7.6 million. Tuberculosis rates and global malarial deaths are falling and should be halved by 2015.
Some targets are behind or stalled. Maternal deaths were targeted to decrease by two-thirds. This is not happening. Efforts to stop the spread of AIDS and arrange for universal access to treatment are behind. Environmental sustainability is caught up in the rapid rise and energy demands of China, India and Brazil and the increased access to cheap natural gas everywhere. And lastly, the target of global partnerships in finance and trade remains a dream, although clearly we have a globally interdependent banking system that allows us to get access to instant cash just about anywhere and everybody seems to have a bit of Greek debt in their investment portfolios.
The hurdles facing the Millennium Developmental Goals – hunger, lack of sanitation, the trade-off between economic development and the environment – will make the next 25 years even more challenging.
But it does show that there is hope for the United Nations and to reach beyond our grasp.
Who knows, maybe continuing to build strong community partnerships and arranging universal public access to our Public Art Gallery in St. Albert are also achievable goals.
Alan Murdock is a local pediatrician.
