Social Justice in an Open World: The Role of the United Nations
to eradicate poverty has become the centrepiece of international cooperation. In the introductory paragraph of Commitment 2 of the Copenhagen Declaration, poverty eradication is referred to as "an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind". The Millennium Declaration emphasizes the need to "free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty" (para. 11), and both the Declaration and the associated Millennium Development Goals incorporate concrete targets for achieving this objective. Specifically, as stated in the Declaration, efforts are to be made "to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water" (para. 19);these and a number of related and equally precise objectives pertainingto education, health, and urban conditions make up the targets for the first six Millennium Development Goals. As mentioned previously, Goal 7 relates to environmental protection and Goal 8 to building a partnership for development. The argument is put forward that the World Summit for Social Development laid the groundwork and defined the core objectives for what would become the Millennium Development Goals. Frorn this perspective, it has fulfilled its role, which was to pave the way for the formulation of an essential component of the strategy of the United Nations, and of the world community as a whole, for the first part of the twenty-first century. To assert that the tenth anniversary of the Copenhagen Summit marks a decade of neglect, and to draw negative political conclusions therefrom, is to ignore the essential fact that issues that are directly relevant and matter most to people have assumed a prominent place on the international agenda. The reduction and elimination of poverty is a goal that encompasses all the dreams and aspirations of the world's people, Governments, and international bodies; ultimately, it represents the raison d'gtre of public institutions and policies. Is there a better way to put people at the centre of national and international policies, as recommended by the Summit, than to fight poverty? The Forum was made aware of additional arguments in support of this position, including the following: The Millennium Development Goals, in particular the target of reducing poverty by half before 2015, have prompted the unprecedented mobilization and cooperation of international organizations, Governments, and civil society. In all countries, from the strongest to the poorest and weakest, the Goals are known, debated and acted upon. There is no better proof of the validity of a policy than such widespread support from public and private agencies around the world and across national and institutional traditions, ideologies and political orientations. The Millennium Development Goals come from the United Nations, an organization that enjoys virtually universal membership and represents the closest approximation of an international democracy. In this case, the United Nations has