The Millennium Development Goals: Five Years Later
The 2005 World Summit, held September 14-16 at UN headquarters in New York, brought together more than 170 heads of state and government. The summit’s agenda was based on a series of proposals put forward by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his report “In Larger Freedom.
“We reaffirm our faith in the United Nations and our commitment to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and international law, which are indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world, and we renew our determination to promote strict respect for them,” said the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, adopted by acclamation at the end of the three-day meeting of representatives of 150 heads of state and government.
“We believe that today, more than ever, we live in a global and interdependent world. No state can stand absolutely alone.”
The outcome document expressed a strong and unequivocal commitment on the part of all governments, donor countries and developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
It also called for timely and decisive collective action by the UN Security Council when national authorities are manifestly failing to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. In this regard, two new bodies were created: the Peacebuilding Commission, as a new intergovernmental body of the UN, to support peace efforts in countries emerging from conflict, and the Human Rights Council.