United Nations Millennium Development Conference Set for September 20
Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

The purported purpose of the goals is to improve the development of all member nations and to encourage more aggressive assistance to the Third World on the part of more developed countries. Specific stated aims are the reduction of poverty, the reduction of child mortality rates, and the eradication of malaria and AIDS. As with all such schemes, however, the realistic purpose is the eradication of the concept of national sovereignty and personal liberty.

Each of the eight goals is divided into sub-sections known as targets. These targets are meant to be narrowly tailored and easily measurable indicators of the progress being made toward accomplishment of the larger roster of goals. The goals and their targets follow:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1A: Halve the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day

Proportion of population below $1 per day (PPP values)

Poverty gap ratio [incidence x depth of poverty]

Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 1B: Achieve Decent Employment for Women, Men, and Young People

GDP Growth per Employed Person

Employment Rate

Proportion of employed population below $1 per day (PPP values)

Proportion of family-based workers in employed population

Target 1C: Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age

Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target 2A: By 2015, all children can complete a full course of primary schooling, girls and boys

Enrollment in primary education

Completion of primary education

Literacy of 15-24 year olds, female and male

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education

Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector

Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality Rate

Target 4A: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Under-five mortality rate

Infant (under 1) mortality rate

Proportion of 1-year-old children immunized against measles

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target 5A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

Maternal mortality ratio

Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Target 5B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Adolescent birth rate

Antenatal care coverage (at least one visit and at least four visits)

Unmet need for family planning

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

Target 6A: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread ofHIV/AIDS

HIV prevalence among population aged 15–24 years

Condom use at last high-risk sex

Proportion of population aged 15–24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS

Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non-orphans aged 10–14 years

Target 6B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it

Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection with access to antiretroviral drugs

Target 6C: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria

Proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets

Proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate anti-malarial drugs

Prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis

Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course)

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 7A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources

Target 7B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

Proportion of land area covered by forest

CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)

Consumption of ozone-depleting substances

Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits

Proportion of total water resources used

Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected

Proportion of species threatened with extinction

Target 7C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (for more information see the entry on water supply)

Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural

Proportion of urban population with access to improved sanitation

Target 7D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers

Proportion of urban population living in slums

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Target 8A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system

Includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction — both nationally and internationally

Target 8B: Address the Special Needs of the Least Developed Countries (LDC)

Includes: tariff and quota free access for LDC exports; enhanced program of debt relief for HIPC and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA (Overseas Development Assistance) for countries committed to poverty reduction

Target 8C: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States

Through the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly

Target 8D: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term.

There is much among the morass of meddling that Americans would find offensive and contrary to their own notions of right, wrong, moral, and immoral. The “universal” access to birth control, the education of elementary school children on the ways to avoid contracting HIV, and the setting of gender goals for elected representatives, to illuminate but a few. All are core elements of this plan.

While others of the goals and their associated metrics are noble and would arguably improve the quality of life for many of the world's poor, the participation of the government of the United States in such a scheme is not provided for in the specifically enumerated powers set forth in the Constitution. Charity is a sanctifying principle as practiced by an individual of his own free will. That same principle, however, if forcibly imposed on a man by his government, is stripped of all such ennobling power and ironically enslaves those forced to obey.

Furthermore, regardless of whether the United States accomplishes these goals, indeed, regardless of whether or not the United States actively and enthusiastically participates in the furthering of the intents of these goals, millions and millions of taxpayer dollars are being funneled into the various global currency reserves and banks that lend money to developing nations that despite the constant deposits, never seem to progress toward the "good governance" that reputedly follows from such investments.

The President, the Congress, and the people of the United States, should refuse to participate any longer in these globalist boondoggles that impoverish our own nation, enrich no one, violate our sense of right and wrong, and disdainfully ignore the impassable boundaries of power drawn by our Constitution.