UN Millenium Goals Declaration
In an age when human beings have learned the code of human life and can transmit their knowledge in seconds from one continent to another, no mother in the world can understand why her child should be left to die of malnutrition or preventable disease. Never before have the leaders of so many nations come together in a single assembly. This is a unique opportunity and therefore, a unique responsibility. No one can understand why the soil their parents tilled has turned to desert and their family is left hungry. We need to decide our priorities so that that in the future those priorities are reflected in clear and prompt decisions leading to real change in people’s lives. They expect you to work together as governments, and they expect you to work together with other institutions profit and non-profit, public and private where human beings join hands to promote their ideas and their interests. People know that these challenges cannot be met by one country alone. That is why we are here. They look to you to protect them from the great dangers of our time. That, my friends, is what the peoples expect of us. Let us not disappoint them.
Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan