In a New Year message declaring that the war in Iraq had distracted efforts in 2003 to deal with threats that are more real to most people, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan Wednesday appealed to world leaders to make 2004 the year when “we begin to turn the tide” against ills that kill millions annually.
– I mean the threats of extreme poverty and hunger, unsafe drinking water, environmental degradation, and endemic or infectious disease, Mr. Annan said. – These dangers stalk large parts of our planet. They kill millions and millions of people every year. They destroy societies. They fuel division and desperation.
Noting that the past year had seen war in Iraq and the deep divisions it sparked as well as the 19 August bomb attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad in which “we lost some of our best and most beloved colleagues,” he said the time had come to give poor countries real opportunity to develop and to save the resources of our planet.
– Yes, we have to fight terrorism. Yes, we must prevent the spread of deadly weapons, the Secretary-General declared. – But let us also say yes to development. Let us bring hope into the lives of those who suffer. Without development and hope, there will be no peace.
Recalling that just three years ago at the Millennium Summit, the worlds leaders set forth precise, time-bound targets – the Millennium Development Goals – such as halving extreme poverty by 2015, he said: – To meet these Goals would cost only a fraction of what our world spends on weapons of war. Yet it would bring hope to billions, and greater security to us all.
– But in 2003 we did not live up to these promises. We let ourselves be swept along by the tide of war and division, he added. – 2004 must be different. It must be the year when we begin to turn the tide, he pointed out.
The tide can be turned against HIV-AIDS by global action among rich and poor countries, governments and the private sector on the so-called three-by-five initiative – the UN World Health Organizations plan to get three million people on anti-retroviral treatment by 2005.
The tide can be turned against hunger by granting access to existing food stocks to hungry people everywhere. And it can be turned in world trade, if governments do as they promised and make the current round of negotiations a true development round.
– We do not need any more promises. We need to start keeping the promises we already made, Mr. Annan concluded. – Let us all make that our New Years resolution.
Kilde: FNs Nyhedstjeneste
