|
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Time is running out for world leaders to keep their promises to roll back poverty and millions of people will die needlessly over the next decade without drastic changes, the U.N. warned in a major report Wednesday.
The stark findings were presented to the 191 U.N. member nations a week before they meet in New York for a summit to review progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. The targets set in 2000 include halving extreme poverty, reducing child deaths by two-thirds and achieving universal primary education by 2015.
The goals are "a promissory note, written by 189 governments to the world's poor people," said Kevin Watkins, chief author of the 2005 Human Development Report. "That note falls due in less than 10 years time, and without the required investment and political will, it will come back stamped 'insufficient funds.'"
|