On Friday July 9, the Dutch foundation KidsRights organizes the KidsRights Millennium Development Goals Conference in Johannesburg. The purpose of this conference is to put the Millennium Goals, which have to be achieved by 2015, back on the top of the international agenda. A significant proportion of these goals is focused on improving the situation of children worldwide. During the conference the themes of Poverty, Health and Education will be discussed. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President F.W. de Klerk will jointly chair the conference.
Graça Machel-Mandela is invited to speak, together with representatives of the United Nations (UN), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and many other experts and dignitaries. Three winners of the International Children's Peace Prize will also speak on behalf of the future generations. In the concluding session, well- known professional footballers emphasize the final message.
The initiative has been neatly timed at the end of the summit for political leaders organized by the South African president Zuma on July 7, and will serve as an opener to the UN-world summit in September on this topic.
Says Marc Dullaert, founder of KidsRights and initiator of the Kids Rights Millennium Development Goals Conference, about the initiative's positive snowball effect: "Large international organizations have now aligned themselves with us, including the global 1Goal: Education for All campaign, The Tutu Foundation, FW de Klerk Foundation and the World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize winners. A real chain reaction has occurred. It makes us even more encouraged, as a relatively small organization, to turn this unique moment into a moment which has a positive impact on children worldwide. The chain reaction should eventually reach the World Summit in September which will be meeting in the context of the Millennium Goals."
Call for action: a renewed focus on achieving 'old' targets
In 2000, the 189 countries that are part of the UN, agreed that the world's major problems have to be tackled by 2015. They are expressed as eight concrete goals: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, there is still much work to do to actually achieve them. "With the conference and its results we are striving towards a 'Call for Action' which helps to put the Millennium Development Goals back on the agenda of all world leaders. With this conference we expect to turn the words into deeds, so that the planned developments gain momentum. Children are the future, they deserve a good future and have the right to develop the great potential they possess."
Poverty, Health and Education considered by top experts
At the conference - two days before the World Cup finals, also in Johannesburg - the direct and indirect impact of the MDGs on the situation of children will be on the agenda. Poverty, Health and Education are the three main themes. Top experts speak on each of these themes. The full programme including the speakers can be viewed at:
www.kidsrightsmdgsconference.com
"About 143 million children under the age of five years suffer from malnutrition. It seems that the MDG to halve this number by 2015 is not going to be reached. Another goal is that by 2015 all children, boys and girls, will have access to primary education. Unfortunately, at this point at least 75 million children worldwide still do not attend school, the actual number is even estimated at 93 million. It is important that malnutrition, education and other issues the MDGs address are high on the agenda of all 189 UN countries again. Many of them are suffering from the economic and financial crisis, but this should not be the reason that these objectives are not realized. Children in developing countries should not become the victims of mistakes made in rich countries."
The Millennium Goals
1. By 2015, extreme hunger and poverty eradicated
2. By 2015, all boys and girls go to school
3. By 2015, all men and women have equal rights
4. By 2015, infant mortality has fallen sharply
5. By 2015, fewer women die from pregnancy
6. By 2015, the spread of diseases like AIDS and malaria is stopped
7. By 2015, more people live in a sustainable environment
8. By 2015, more fair trade, debt relief and aid