UNITED NATIONS

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The United Nations the Millennium Development
Goals
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What is the United Nations?

• United Nations (UN) is an international
  organization dedicated to promoting peace and
  security around the world.
• UN was founded on October 24, 1945 by original 51
  member states.
• UN logo symbolizes the world held in the olive
  branch.

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Aims of the United Nations

• Maintain peace throughout the world
• Promote better living standard for everyone
• Eliminate poverty, hunger, disease, and
  illiteracy
• Encourage human rights and freedom
• Prevent and stop environmental destruction
• Assist countries in need

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Where is the UN located?

• United Nations headquarters is located in New
  York City.
• The UN European Headquarters is in the Palais des
  Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
• The United Nations has its own flag, its own post
  office and its own postage stamps.

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Quick Facts

• The six official languages of United Nations are
  Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and
  Spanish.
• The head of the UN Secretariat is the
  Secretary-General.
• The current UN Secretary-General is Ban Ki-moon
  of South Korea.

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Member States of the UN

• Member states Nations that have joined the UN.
• 192 independent nations are members of the UN.
• The Big 5 China, France, Russia, United
  Kingdom, and United States. (5 Permanent Members
  on the Security Council)

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Main Bodies of the UN
Secretariat International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) General Assembly (GA)
Security Council (SC) Security Council (SC)
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Quick Facts 2 General Assembly

• The General Assembly is the only main organ which
  represents all member states.
• Each nation has one vote in the General Assembly.
  
• 2/3 majority in the General Assembly is required
  to pass a resolution, solutions to a given
  problem that has been debated on.

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Specialized Agencies of the UN

• United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
• United Nations Educations, Scientific, and
  Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• United Nations Development Fund for Women
  (UNIFEM)
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

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Questions

• What does the term millennium mean?
• What is meant by the phrase global goals ?
• How can we measure the achievement
• of these goals? (establish targets)

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Millennium Defined

• Millennium Period of 1000 years
• Since there is no year 0 in the transition from
  BC (years Before Christ) to AD (years Anno
  Domini or after Christs birth), the 1st
  millennium AD spans year 1-1000.
• The 2nd millennium is 1001-2000.
• The 3rd Millennium began January 1, 2001.

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Millennium Goals Defined

• Goal An objective or the purpose toward which
  an endeavor is directed
• Thus, the Millennium Goals are objectives to be
  achieved by the United Nations between 2000-2015.

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Millennium Goals

• Established at the Millennium Summit in September
  2000.
• The Millennium Declaration defines specific
  goals.
• Specific objectives or targets are identified
  with deadlines and development criteria.
• These goals form a blueprint agreed to by all the
  nations and global leading development
  institutions.

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What do you think are the most pressing global
problems today?
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• Brainstorming
• Can you identify the global issues
• that you believe to be the most in
• need of attention?

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Responsibility

• What is the responsibility that comes along with
  knowledge about these situations?
• Who is ultimately responsible for the worlds
  problems?

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1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

• Reduce by half the proportion of people living on
  less than a dollar a day.
• -1.1 billion in all developing
• countries 2001 46.4 of people
• living in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Reduce by half the proportion of people who
  suffer from hunger.
• -Every 3.6 seconds one person dies
• of starvation. Usually it is a child
• under the age of 5.

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2. Achieve Universal Primary Education

• Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full
  course of primary schooling.
• -More than 100 million children around the
  world do not have access to primary school
  education.

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Facts

• Universal primary education would cost 10
  billion a year - that's half what Americans spend
  on ice cream.
• Out-of-school children in developing countries
  are especially vulnerable to poverty, hunger,
  violence, exploitation and disease, contributing
  to future generations of people with limited life
  chances and almost certain poverty.

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3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and
  secondary education preferably by 2005, and at
  all levels by 2015.
• -Nineteen countries have failed to achieve
  gender parity in primary education and
  twenty-four countries have failed to alleviate
  the gender gap in secondary education.

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4. Reduce Child Mortality

• Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among
  children under five
• -The world child mortality rate was cut
  almost in half from 1960 to 1990, and then was
  reduced by another 11 percent in the 1990s as a
  result of carefully targeted efforts by
  experienced international agencies.

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5. Improve Maternal Health

• Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality
  ratio
• -It is estimated that around 529,000 women
  die each year from maternal causes. For every
  woman who dies, nearly 20 more suffer injuries,
  infection and disabilities in pregnancy/childbir
  th. This means at least 10 million women a year
  incur this type of damage.

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6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases

• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
• -About 36.3 million persons of working age are
  now living with HIV/AIDS a majority in
  sub-Saharan Africa.
• Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of
  malaria and other major diseases.
• -According to the World Health Organization,
  malaria is the most expensive diseasethe world's
  greatest single cause of disablement.

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7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability

• Integrate the principles of sustainable
  development into country policies and programs
  reverse loss of environmental resources.
• Reduce by half the proportion of people without
  sustainable access to safe drinking water.

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8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development

• Develop further an open trading and financial
  system that is rule-based, predictable and
  non-discriminatory with a commitment to good
  governance, development and poverty reduction
  nationally/internationally.
• Address the least developed countries' special
  needs.

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8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development
contd.

• Deal comprehensively with developing countries'
  debt problems.
• In cooperation with the developing countries,
  develop decent and productive work for youth.
• Work with pharmaceutical companies, provide
  access to affordable essential drugs in
  developing countries.
• With support of the private sector, make
  available the benefits of new technologies.

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What can you do?

• How do the Millennium Goals compare to those you
  came up with?
• What are the issues that you care about?
• How can you get involved to do something?
• Are there ways to think globally, while acting
  locally?