New York Times'
wrong
New York pledge
Matt Berkley
Version: 12 November 2015
15 September 2014 13:18
Error of fact
To: public@nytimes.com
To the Public Editor
Millennium Summit baselines:
Errors of fact in The New York Times and International Herald Tribune
Various headlines, dates and phrases
Web and print
Dear Ms Sullivan,
I would like the New York Times to remedy misinformation...
The MDG targets with easier baselines of 1990 were not "established in
2000". ....implies that they were set at the Millennium Summit, which in
fact made pledges without the backdated baselines. This is of some relevance to
holding governments to account ...
"By
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
...[1990-baseline] Millennium
Development Goals that the United
Nations committed to in 2000. [!] "
[the commitments are not in fact the MDGs but have a more ambitious 2000
baseline, as the New York Times and Reuters stated in 2000] ...
"One goal — of cutting extreme poverty by half as measured by the
proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day — was in fact met five years ahead of schedule."
[not one of the eight "goals" and not the 2000-baseline commitment]
"Maternal mortality was not cut by three-fourths, as the U.N. wanted"
[! - the commitment has a baseline of 2000],
"but it was cut nearly in half."
[Not from the baseline of 2000] ...
A version of this editorial appears in print on September 28, 2015, on page A24
of the New York edition"
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/opinion/an-ambitious-development-agenda-from-the-un.html
"the
United Nations' Millennium Summit today....
A declaration to be signed...has set ambitious benchmarks ....
One such goal proposes to reduce by half
over the next 15 years the number of people earning less than a dollar
a day."
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/08/world/summit-in-new-york-the-orators-un-speakers-urge-increase-in-charity-to-the-poor.html
"Following are excerpts from the United Nations
Millennium Declaration…
We resolve...:
- By [2015], to have reduced
maternal mortality by
three-quarters, and under-5 child mortality by two-thirds, of
their current rates."
"the United
Nations hoped in 2000 when it set a millennium development goal of a 75 percent reduction from the 1990 [!] rate by 2015."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/health/report-points-to-rise-in-mistreatment-by-health-workers-during-childbirth.html
"targets established 15 years ago [!]
…one of the targets was to halve the share of the world’s population living in
extreme poverty by 2015, but the actual decline…
47 percent in 1990...."
"2000, when the targets were set" [!}
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/world/asia/global-poverty-drops-sharply-with-china-making-big-strides-un-report-says.html
"The General Assembly
adopted resolution 56/192…on 21 December 2001. Reaffirming the Millennium
Declaration goal of reducing by half,
between 2000 and 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach
or to afford safe drinking water, the Assembly…"
Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Governing Council of the UN Environmental Programme
Note by the Secretariat
30 January 2002
http://www.unep.org/GC/GCSS-VII/Documents/k0260039.pdf
" "the president said unequivocally we support the
development goals in the millennium summit declaration," Mr. Bolton told
reporters. "Now that's different from the [1990-baseline, generally
easier "Millennium Development"]
goals that were actually written by the
secretariat. There is no backing away
by the United States in the support for the
[2000-baseline]
millennium
summit declaration."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/international/01nations.html
"Baseline year – 1990 or 2000?
"...This [absence of a baseline in the Declaration except "from
current rates" for mortality]
would imply a 2000 baseline year of
the Millennium Declaration.."
UN Development Group
(heads of UN development agencies, funds and programmes)
Guidance Note to country representatives
October 2001
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english/MDG%20Country%20Reports/MDG%20Reporting%20Guidelines/1.%20English.pdf
Sent with letter signed by heads of UNDP, UNICEF, WFP and UNFPA, November 2001.
http://web.archive.org/web/20140815174058/http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/1607-MDGs_-_letter_-_MDGs_-_letter.pdf
"“Millennium Development Goals.”....which
member states never formally adopted..."
"[world
leaders] must not backtrack
on previous agreements or create
ambiguity..."
"President Bush said..."America
supports the international development goals in the UN Millennium Declaration."
We remain committed to work with member states in support of those goals."
John R.
Bolton
US Ambassador to the UN
26 August 2005
https://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/0826bolton.pdf
"…MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT
GOALS…
ARE SOLELY A SECRETARIAT PRODUCT,
NEVER HAVING BEEN FORMALLY ADOPTED BY MEMBER STATES.
…"
"…MILLENNIUM DECLARATION,
WHICH THE UNITED STATES SUPPORTS. …"
TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS…
State Department
pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PCAAB560.pdf
"at the dawn of a new millennium…
We resolve…by…2015...to have reduced…child mortality by two thirds,
of their current rates"
[to about 3.6 million child deaths in 2015, or 10,000 deaths a day
– not the 4.3 million of the MDG target]
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
"at the dawn of a new millennium,
we set concrete goals...
These are the standards that we set."
Remarks by the President at the Millennium Development Goals Summit
22 September 2010
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/22/remarks-president-millennium-development-goals-summit-new-york-new-york
" Let there be no
doubt: the United States supports the
development goals of the Millennium
Declaration.
...
The next year, the
Secretariat issued a report on the implementation of the Millennium
Declaration. Based on the goals in the Declaration, the Secretariat formulated a package of goals and subsidiary
targets and indicators, referring to them as “Millennium Development Goals.” They are solely a Secretariat
product, which member states never
formally adopted.
Since then, the term
“MDGs” has become ambiguous. Most people assume that the MDG targets and indicators
were agreed in the Millennium Declaration. In fact, some of them are drawn from
positions agreed by governments and others are simply Secretariat proposals.
....
To avoid the ambiguity
of the term “MDGs,” UN member states have consistently agreed to use the
formulation “internationally agreed development goals, including those in the Millennium Declaration” in
negotiated texts. This spells out
exactly what we are committed to, and distinguishes the goals adopted
by governments from the Secretariat product.
If the Outcome
Document is to move us all forward and garner acceptability by heads of state,
it must not backtrack on previous
agreements or create ambiguity that will be subject to further
misinterpretation. On the eve of the UN Monterrey Conference in 2002, President
Bush said in a speech at the Inter-American Development Bank, "America supports the
international development goals in
the UN Millennium Declaration.” We remain committed to work with member states in support of those goals.
Yours sincerely,
John R.
Ambassador
26 August 2005
https://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/0826bolton.pdf f
"We, Heads of
State and Government...reaffirm our commitment to the Millennium
Declaration".
September 2013
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N13/490/97/DOC/N1349097.DOC
“We, the representatives of the
peoples of the world…
commit ourselves to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and to expedite the
achievement of the time-bound… targets contained therein.”
Plan of Implementation:
"reduce, by 2015, mortality rates for
infants and children under 5 by two thirds, and maternal mortality rates by
three quarters, of the prevailing rate in 2000 and
reduce disparities between and within developed and developing countries as
quickly as possible "
World Summit on Sustainable Development
4 September 2002
http://www.un-documents.net/jburgdec.htm
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/WSSD_POI_PD/English/WSSD_PlanImpl.pdf
"the United
Nations General Assembly explicitly mentioned and endorsed the
eight MDGs only as late as [September] 2005. Until then it had focused
(and still does) on calling for the implementation and monitoring of all goals
and measures in the Millennium Declaration..."
Claiming the Millennium Development Goals: A human rights approach
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
New York and Geneva, 2008
ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Claiming_MDGs_en.pdf
"The
EU and its Member States remain strongly committed to the
Millennium Declaration..."
8 January 2015
Statement delivered on behalf of the European Union
H.E. Ioannis Vrailas,
Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the UN
United Nations General Assembly Plenary Meeting on the UN Secretary-General's
Priorities for 2015
http://eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_15930_en.htm
"shared responsibility, as already enshrined in the
Millennium Declaration. ...
We need to recommit and
build more clearly on the Millennium Declaration..."
Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States
Post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations session
22-25 June 2015
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/14920eu.pdf
" "the president said unequivocally we support the
development goals in the millennium summit declaration," Mr. Bolton told
reporters. "Now that's different from the [Millennium Development] goals
that were actually written by the secretariat. There is no backing away by the United States in the support for the
millennium summit declaration."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/international/01nations.html
"A 15-year [!] effort to implement eight goals [!] adopted by world
leaders [!] at the start of the new millennium [!]...the U.N. chief said Monday.
In the final report on the [1990-baseline] Millennium
Development Goals ...
...World leaders are set to adopt a new set of goals at a summit
in September. ...
As for other goals, the report said, child mortality has declined by more than
half and maternal mortality by 45 percent over the last 25 years..." [!]"
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/07/06/world/ap-un-united-nations-fighting-poverty.html
"Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), which were agreed to by governments in 2000. "
Making a Global Commitment to Sustainability
http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/stocks/news/press_release.asp?docTag=201509161115PRIMZONEFULLFEED10149566&feedID=600&press_symbol=277628
" “You can’t fight for your rights if you don’t know what they are,” said
the British filmmaker Richard Curtis" [!]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/world/africa/un-adopts-ambitious-global-goals-after-years-of-negotiations.html
"In a letter to other envoys, John R.
Bolton, the American ambassador, explained that the United States supported the
goals enunciated by the millennium summit meeting but not the "package of
goals and subsidiary targets and indicators" that were later circulated by
the Secretariat."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/politics/03nations.html
"Millennium
Development Goals that were adopted in 2000" [!]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/world/breakdown-of-un-sustainable-development-goals.html
"the
eight Millennium Development Goals set in 2000"
"the
Millennium Development Goals that were pursued from 2000 through this
year."
"the Millennium
Development Goals on poverty reduction for 2015, which world leaders agreed to
at the turn of the century. ...
Correction: July
2, 2015
An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly at one point to the
United Nations’ role in the creation of the Zero Hunger Challenge program. As
the article correctly noted in a later reference, the campaign was an
initiative of the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. It is not a
campaign that the United Nations as a whole began in 2012."
A Road Map for Eradicating World Hunger
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/business/energy-environment/food-tomorrow-hope-for-eradicating-world-hunger.html
"Millennium
Development Goals established by the U.N. in 2000"
Women in the World in Association with The New York Times
http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/09/28/united-nations-sets-goal-to-achieve-gender-equality-by-2030/
"Millennium
Development Goals, a set of targets created 15 years ago by the U.N."
"drinking
water and improved hygiene are among the so-called millennium development goals
established by the United Nations in 2000 [!] ...
As of today, the report said...sanitation facility — nine percentage points
below the millennium development target of 77 percent."
From: senioreditor@nytimes.com
10 September 2014 at 23:12
Re: Millennium Summit pledges: Request for clarification
...Thanks for taking the time to bring this to our attention. If a
failure to make the distinction ever leads to an error of fact in a news
article, please feel free to let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.
Best,
Louis Lucero II
Assistant to the Senior Editor for Standards
The New York Times
SUMMIT IN NEW YORK…
Published: September 9,
2000
Following are excerpts from the United
Nations Millennium Declaration
…
We resolve...:
- To halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the
world's
people whose income is...who suffer from
hunger...reach, or to
afford, safe drinking water. ...
- By the
same date, to have reduced maternal mortality by
three-quarters,
and under-5 child mortality by two-thirds, of
their current rates.
"The maternal death rate has dropped in
recent years, but not as much as the United Nations hoped in 2000 when it set a millennium
development goal of a 75 percent
reduction from the 1990 [!] rate by 2015."
July 01, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/health/report-points-to-rise-in-mistreatment-by-health-workers-during-childbirth.html
September 8, 2000
http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/RTV/2000/09/08/009080017/?s=millennium%20summit
"LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - About 800 million people still live in dire poverty and suffer from hunger despite the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) being the most successful anti-poverty push in history, the U.N. said on Monday.
The number
of people living in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 a day has more than
halved, to 836 million from 1.9 billion in 1990, the U.N. said in
a report analyzing eight development goals
set out in the Millennium Declaration in 2000." [!]
"(…
Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson
Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, corruption, climate
change. …)"
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/07/06/us/06reuters-development-goals-un.html
"targets established 15 years ago [!]
…one of the targets was to halve the share of the world’s population living in
extreme poverty by 2015, but the actual decline…47 percent in
1990...."
"…2000, when the targets were
set"
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/world/asia/global-poverty-drops-sharply-with-china-making-big-strides-un-report-says.html
"In 2000, the United Nations declared an intention to reach eight
[!] Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) [!] - each with one or more targets -
by 2015… the 1990 baseline [!] for a program that began in
2000."
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/the-economics-of-clean-water-a-guest-post/
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/07/06/world/ap-un-united-nations-fighting-poverty.html
"UN: Goals Helped Lift 1 Billion People From Extreme Poverty
UNITED NATIONS — A 15-year [!] effort to implement eight goals [!] adopted by world leaders [!] at the start of the new millennium [!] has helped lift more than one billion...the U.N. chief said Monday.
In the final report on the
Millennium Development Goals
[different targets from those adopted by world leaders at the start of the new
millennium]
released Monday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the global mobilization to
implement the goals by the end of 2015 has produced "the most successful
anti-poverty movement in history."
...World leaders are set to adopt a new set of goals at a summit in September. ...As for other goals, the report said, child mortality has declined by more than half and maternal mortality by 45 percent over the last 25 years..." [!]"
July 06, 2015 - By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/07/06/world/ap-un-united-nations-fighting-poverty.html
"Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted in 2000
[!] and are supposed to be reached by the
end of 2015.
…mortality rate related to childbirth, which has declined …from 400 deaths per
100,000 births in 1990.
[!]
…Millennium target of
100 [!]...
Another goal is a reduction of death rates for children under the age of 5.
That rate dropped … from 87 in 1990 [!]. ...
The Millennium target is to reduce the toll to 4.3 million [!] deaths by the end of 2015"
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/opinion/the-race-to-improve-global-health.html
[The maternal mortality target
adopted in 2000 is estimated at 82, not 100.
The child mortality target is about 3.5 million, not 4.3 million]
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/06/22/world/ap-un-united-nations-disadvantaged-children.html
