Social Justice in an Open World: The Role of the United Nations
Development Goals. However, no follow-up action was taken, either in Geneva in 2000 or at the meeting of the Commission for Social Development in 2005, to determine what kind of progress had been made towards meeting the World Summit targets. There is widespread scepticism surrounding target-setting, which experience would suggest is completely justified. Nonetheless, the Forum was willing to suspend judgment with regard to the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals. Perhaps the exceptional political atmosphere of enthusiastic consensus that has guided and sustained this process from the outset and the demonstrated willingness to undertake the necessary monitoring and follow-up will prove sufficient to ensure the realization of the targeted objectives. It is the political impact of targets that matters most, as little can be achieved without a strong political will. The Forum had two more fundamental criticisms of the approach to poverty reflected in the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals. First, these texts offer no real indication of the kinds of national and international policies that would be required to reduce extreme poverty by half by 2015. The Millennium Declaration emphasizes the need create an environment at all levels that is "conducive to development and to the elimination of poverty" (para. 12); no specifics are provided, though it is noted that the meeting of these objectives "depends, inter alia, on good governance within each country" (para. 13). No mention is made of social policies or of fiscal, monetary or other economic policies that might stimulate growth. This approach stands in sharp contrast to that reflected in the texts of the World Summit for Social Development. In the Copenhagen Declaration, reference is made (in Commitment 2, paras. (b)-(e))to policies that would "address the root causes of poverty"; policies to ensure that those living in poverty "have access to productive resources, including credit, land, education and training, technology, knowledge and information, as well as to public services, and participation in decisionmaking"; policies for the creation of "a regulatory environment that would enable [the poor] to benefit from expanding employment and economic opportunities"; policies aimed at ensuring that "all people have adequate economic and social protection during unemployment, ill health, maternity, child-rearing, widowhood, disability and old age"; and policies to ensure that "national budgets are oriented, as necessary, to meeting basic needs, reducing inequalities and targeting poverty, as a strategic objective". Paragraph (e) of Commitment 9 emphasizes the crucial importance of ensuring that "in accordance with national priorities and policies, taxation systems are fair, progressive and economically efficient [and are] cognizant of sustainable development concerns".34The Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development, which "outlines policies, actions and measures to implement the principles and fulfil the Commitments enunciated in the Copenhagen Declaration" (para. 1), includes a number of important observations, including