At a United Nations summit held at the turn of the century, the UN agreed on eight ambitious goals designed to rid the world of the worst extremes of poverty. They set themselves a deadline of 2015 to meet their targets and 189 UN member states agreed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as they were called.
Today, with less than two years remaining before the deadline of 2015, the UN is already conducting post-2015 consultations on what should follow this ambitious agenda. However, while the MDGs have helped to focus attention on poverty, it is clear that economic inequality is on an upward trend. International and inter-regional class divides have become too deep to ignore.
MDGs progress has too often failed to reach those most in need: women and girls, those living in extreme poverty and those living in remote or rural areas. It is also clear that some issues, such as environmental sustainability require much greater resources and political commitment to achieve progress, given the new challenge of climate challenge and the growing need for energy.
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