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
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf?OpenElement
A search of the New York Times website for "millennium
development
goals" gives the first result as 2002, then one for 2003
and
two for 2004. The first is:
"Eighteen months ago, the political leaders of the world agreed, at the Millennium Summit here in
New York, that we should devote the first 15 years of this new century to a
major onslaught on poverty, illiteracy and disease. And they set a clear set of
targets, the Millennium Development Goals, [!] by which to measure success or failure."
Kofi Annan
19 March 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/19/opinion/trade-and-aid-in-a-changed-world.html
New York Times spreads FAO misinformation on leaders' hunger pledge of 1996 which was in fact to halve the number from "its present level":
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
.....................................................................................................
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/487/60/PDF/N0548760.pdf
2013: We, the Heads of State and Government and heads of delegation… reaffirm
our commitment to the Millennium Declaration"
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/Outcome%20documentMDG.pdf
…………………………………………………………………………………..
Halving World's Poor Is Realistic Goal
By Mark Malloch Brown
Published: September 21, 2000
...In East Asia the proportion of extremely poor has
already plummeted from 28 percent to 15 percent since 1990.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/21/opinion/21iht-edbrown.t_0.html
July 1, 2015, 8:33 pm
Message via Reuters Zendesk logged system
I am afraid you have a systemic problem.
In this particular case, the "corrected" version is more misleading.
…"...one of eight international development goals agreed upon by world leaders in 2000, was to halve the proportion of hungry people around the world by 2015 from 1990 levels."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/09/food-un-asiapac-idUSL3N0YJ2DA20150609
As I informed Reuters on 7 June,
"There is no 1990 baseline...in the leaders' Declaration.
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm " .
"We, Heads of State and Government...resolve...by the year 2015...dollar a day...hunger...water… ....
...to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates"
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
"The declaration endorsed ...halving by the year 2015 the 22 percent of the world's population now existing on less than a dollar a day."
Reuters TV, 8 September 2000
http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/RTV/2000/09/08/009080017/?s=millennium%20summit "
Original request:
Jun 7, 2:43 PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/28/food-un-asiapac-idUSL3N0YJ2DA20150528
"The target, one of eight international development goals set by the United Nations in 2000, was to halve the proportion of hungry people around the world by 2015 from 1990 levels."
The eight MDGs were not set by the UN in 2000. They were proposed by Kofi Annan in 2001. Any claim that they were "set by the United Nations" would seem to need evidence from a specific UN resolution.
The only resolution of 2001 referring to Mr Annan's proposals welcomes his report as a "useful guide" for implementing the Millennium Declaration. The 2005 resolution at the leaders' World Summit reaffirmed the Declaration.
A significant number of readers would have had some idea that leaders made pledges at the Millennium Summit.
It is not clear what other event in 2000 readers might think Reuters is referring to.
There is no 1990 baseline - which would be generally easier than the pledge - in the leaders' Declaration.
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
I propose that Reuters correct not just any relevant stories but the impression given to the public through misleading references in its output.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
"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 about 82, not 100.
The child mortality target is about 3.5 million, not 4.3 million]
"Ten
years ago, leaders of rich and poor
countries pledged to build a
better world by 2015. Among their vital goals: halving extreme poverty and
hunger from 1990 [!] levels...
Between 1990 [!] and 2008, the mortality rate of children under 5 in developing
countries [!] declined only from 10 percent to 7.2 percent — far from the
target of a two-thirds reduction by 2015. Maternal mortality …The 2015 goal is
closer to 120."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/opinion/23thu1.html
[The global goal pledged in 2000 is about 82. A target for "developing countries" is not in the Declaration or in the official MDG list.]
"The two lagging areas among the 15-year development
goals that United Nations member states agreed to in 2000 are efforts to
drastically cut the deaths of both young children and mothers in childbirth.
The baseline to measure improvement is 1990 [!]. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/world/22nations.html
"Millennium Development Goals,
a batch of targets agreed to 10 years ago for reducing abject poverty around the globe by
2015....Those 358,000 deaths, an estimate for 2008, were well below the 546,000
believed to have occurred in 1990 [!]. Even so, the rate of decline has been substantially slower
than hoped for when those development goals were set. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/nyregion/21nyc.html
"Taken together, they have helped
cut the number of children under 5 who died last year to 8.8 million — the
lowest since records were first kept in 1960, Unicef said — from 12.5 million
in 1990.
"That’s 10,000 less children dying per day," said Unicef’s executive director, Ann M. Veneman.
Even so, there is still a long way to go before achieving the goal set by leaders of 189 nations in 2000: to cut the child mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015.
....more children survived to their fifth birthdays in 2008
than did in 1990.... in Malawi, the mortality rate for children under 5 fell to
100 deaths per 1,000 births in 2008 from 225 in 1990 … Other poor nations, like
Niger, Mozambique and Ethiopia, have also cut the number of deaths per 1,000
births by more than 100 since 1990, according to the new figures."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/world/10child.html
Editorial
Preventable
Deaths
Published: May 29, 2009
…The good news is
that in 2007, only nine million children died before their fifth birthday — 3.5
million fewer than in 1990. The under-5 mortality rate has fallen 27 percent
since then, to 67 deaths per 1,000 live births. The numbers are still too high.
And they are short of the aspirations
of the United Nations’ Millennium Declaration of 2000, which set a goal of slashing mortality rates
of children under 5 to 31
deaths per 1,000 live births by 2015.
Maternal mortality remains at around 400 deaths per 100,000 live births,
virtually unchanged from its level in 1990. Globally, the proportion of undernourished children
under 5 has fallen to 20 percent from 27 percent, seemingly on track to meet the
goal of halving the prevalence of
malnutrition by 2015. "
[The child mortality target is not 31 but 25].
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/opinion/30sat2.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 MDG’s are
attracting a lot of money, but money can’t fix everything.
Since I’m a water guy, I’ll explain how money may not work by looking at Target 3 of MDG 7:
Halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Let’s begin with some baseline figures: According to the U.N., 78 percent of the world’s population had access to improved drinking water sources in 1990 [!]. As of 2004 (most recent data), that share was 83 percent. (For sanitation, the figures are 49 percent in 1990 [!] and 59 percent in 2004, but let’s ignore this sub-target for now. Let’s also ignore 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/
[There is no 1990 baseline in either the 2000 UN declaration or – as can be seen in the article - the official list of MDG targets and indicators.]
"…rate of decline in child
deaths will have to fall even faster than it has since 1990 [!] if
the number of deaths among children under 5 is to drop below five million [!] in 2015,
the target in the Millennium Development Goals that UN member countries adopted
in 2000."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/health/22iht-CHILD.4.9413329.html
[The target they adopted in 2000 is about 3.5
million, not 5 million – just for the one year 2015. The deaths add
up.]
Economic Scene; Regardless of the
progress of a few, many nations still face economic despair.
By
Jeff Madrick
Published:
August 7, 2003
"…The latest report emphasizes goals established by the United Nations in its Millennium Declaration of 2000, which ideally are to be met by 2015. They include halving poverty and hunger rates and reducing child mortality by two-thirds.
It's easy to scoff at this seeming
idealism. But many similar goals have been met in the past, like eliminating
smallpox and polio and immunizing most infants against major diseases.
So how has the world done since 1990?"
"...the international development goals endorsed at the
Millennium Summit of the United Nations in September. The goals call for
halving the proportion of the world's population living in extreme poverty from
1990 [!]
to 2015."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/02/opinion/02iht-edstern_ed2_.html
"More access to clean drinking water and improved hygiene are among the
so-called millennium development goals established by
the United Nations in 2000…."
July 01, 2015
A Peace Dividend for Developing
Countries Would Pay Off
By Nitin Desai and Jayantha Dhanapala
Published: December 22, 2000
"NEW YORK — At the United Nations' Millennium Summit in September, world leaders pledged...to halve global poverty by the year 2015."
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/22/opinion/22iht-eddesai.t.html
"the eight
Millennium Development Goals that had helped focus attention on the needs of
poor nations for the past 15 years. [!]"
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/07/16/us/16reuters-africa-development.html
Your
Tuesday Briefing
"The final report on the Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets created 15 years ago [!] by the U.N..."
July 07, 2015
Global
Poverty Drops Sharply, With China Making Big Strides, U.N. Report Says
"the findings that the United Nations released Monday as part of a final report on the successes and failures of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets established 15 years ago to improve the lives of the poor."
July
07, 2015
A
Road Map for Eradicating World Hunger
"million fewer than in the early 1990s. The world is falling short of the goal that presidents and prime ministers agreed to in 2000 of halving the hunger rate by this year. Worldwide, 10.9 percent of people are undernourished…"
June 25, 2015 - By BETH GARDINER - Business Day - Print Headline: "Hope for Eradicating World Hunger"
UNICEF
Urges World to Focus on Most Disadvantaged Children
" "Progress for Children" report released Monday night said that despite significant achievements since world leaders adopted the Millennium Development Goals in 2000…"
June 22, 2015 - By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - World - Print Headline: "UNICEF Urges World to Focus on Most Disadvantaged Children"
"These
are among the findings
that the United Nations released Monday as part of a final report on the successes and
failures of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of 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 was steeper: 14 percent of
people in the developing world are extremely poor now, compared with 47 percent
in 1990. China did the most, reducing the share of its people
in extreme poverty to just 4 percent this year, from 61 percent in 1990.
Other
targets were missed, including those to reduce child mortality and women’s
deaths in childbirth each by two-thirds [!] , although progress was made on
both fronts.
Malaria
has been made a far less deadly scourge than it was in 2000, when the
targets were set [!]"
"A version of this article appears in print on July 7, 2015, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Global Poverty Drops Sharply, but Gains Are Uneven."
"...the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals
[correctly links to http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
with the easier 1990 baselines],
an eight-part mission
[incorrectly links to http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf
which does not have the 1990 baselines,
is not a list of eight goals and does not mention "Millennium Development
Goals"]
focusing on reducing poverty, protecting the environment and promoting peace,
among other objectives."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/arts/design/humans-of-new-york-goes-global.html
October 2001: UN agencies tell country representatives, in
effect, that civil servants have changed the baseline:
"Baseline year – 1990 or 2000?
"...This [ie absence of baseline in Declaration except "from current
rates" for mortality] would imply a 2000 baseline year of the Millennium
Declaration. After discussions within the UN system and with other partners,
the issues have been resolved in favour of 1990 serving as the baseline
year."
UN Development Group, 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
Correspondence with New York Times
Date: 24 June 2015 at 12:19
Subject: Times contributing to impression understating some Millennium Summit
commitments. Re: Further requests for correction
To: nytnews@nytimes.com
Dear
Mr Corbett,
A story of today contributes to the same impression. I hope it is clear that
the effect is cumulative.
"the
Millennium Development Goals on poverty reduction for 2015, which world leaders
agreed to at the turn of the century."
"A version of this special report appears in print on June 25, 2015, in
The International New York Times."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/business/energy-environment/food-tomorrow-hope-for-eradicating-world-hunger.html
Yours sincerely,
Matt Berkley
On 24 June 2015 at 07:37, Matt Berkley wrote:
Dear Mr Corbett,
I write further to previous requests for correction, including the unanswered
request of 24 September 2014 below.
The list of eight Millennium Development Goals and their 21 targets were not
established or adopted by the General Assembly in 2000. The Millennium
Declaration does not have the generally easier 1990 baseline.
That is why the Secretary-General wrote in 2001:
"Millennium development goals...
The proposed formulation of the eight goals, 18 targets...are listed
below...the normal baseline year for the targets will be 1990".
Secretary-General, September 2001.
Road map towards the implementation of the Millennium Declaration.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf
This is not simply a mistake about a date. It seems to me that a significant
number of readers would know leaders made pledges at a historic summit in 2000.
The material seems to contribute to a misleading impression that the MDG
targets are what leaders "resolved" to achieve.
Leaders reaffirmed the Declaration in 2005 and 2013.
Yours sincerely
Matt Berkley
"The report was described by Unicef officials as its "final report
card" on whether children had been helped by the so-called Millennium Development Goals, a group of benchmarks established by the United Nations in 2000
for measuring progress in reducing poverty, hunger, child mortality, gender
inequality, illiteracy and environmental degradation by
the end of 2015."
"A version of this article appears in print on June 23, 2015, on page A6
of the New York edition with the headline: Unicef Report Describes Grim Trends
for the Poorest"
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/world/americas/poor-children-still-at-risk-despite-progress-unicef-warns.html
"UNICEF's "Progress for Children" report released Monday night
said that despite significant achievements since world
leaders adopted the Millennium Development Goals in 2000..."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/06/22/world/ap-un-united-nations-disadvantaged-children.html
"the report...said that 72 of the 129 nations....had achieved the target under the so-called Millennium
Development Goals...and that developing regions had missed the target by only a
small margin. The Millennium Development Goals are a
set of eight international objectives, including hunger eradication, established
by the United Nations in 2000.
"The near-achievement of the M.D.G. hunger targets....."
said José Graziano da Silva, the director general of
the Food and Agriculture Organization....The report attributed the hunger
reduction in part to stable political conditions and economic growth in many of
the countries that had met the target. "
"A version of this article appears in print on May 28, 2015, on page A10
of the New York edition with the headline: World Briefing | United Nations;
Hunger Declines Sharply, Report Says."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/world/united-nations-reports-global-hunger-down-since-1990.html
"This year marks the end of the United Nations’ Millennium
Development Goals, a 2000 blueprint to address international issues like
the spread of AIDS and universal education..."
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/chris-martin-to-curate-global-citizen-festival-for-15-years/
...............................................................
From: Matt Berkley
Date: 26 September 2014 at 00:19
Subject: Fwd: Error of fact - UN pledges do not have the easier baselines of
MDG targets
To: publisher@nytimes.com
Cc: editorial@nytimes.com
Dear Mr Sulzberger,
I thought I should let you know of an unusual situation. I have informed Times
staff of an error repeated over a period of years. The Buffalo News has
published a small amount of material giving a similar impression, which might
compromise the position of the public editor.
Perhaps you would like to suggest an appropriate way that the Times could
implement the principles of independent oversight.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Matt Berkley
...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Matt Berkley ...
Date: 24 September 2014 23:01
Subject: Error of fact - UN pledges do not have the easier baselines of MDG
targets
To: "NYTimes, Senioreditor"
<senioreditor@nytimes.com>,
public@nytimes.com
Cc: sengupta@nytimes.com
Dear Mr Lucero,
Thank you for your replies. I propose that the Times consider, or consider
again, the significance for holding governments to account. One problem is that
individual governments can say they have met pledges when they have not, and
New York Times readers risk not being in a position to know the difference.
Recent coverage may mean the message has yet to reach all relevant departments.
I refer to previous correspondence for details, and give more here.
A September 10, 2014 article seems to imply wrongly that the Goals' targets
were set at the Millennium Summit:
"The previous Millennium Development Goals, established in 2000 with a
target date of 2015, set only eight broad goals — like universal primary
education, gender equality and environmental sustainability — as priorities for
global resources, and just 19 targets."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/opinion/how-to-prioritize-un-goals.html
The article was perhaps already in process or printed by the time you saw my
email. But, after your reply, it was not corrected.
September 16, 2014
"One of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of objectives agreed upon
by all United Nations members and the world’s leading development institutions,
was to reduce by half the proportion of hungry people in developing countries
by 2015."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/world/africa/hunger-poverty-united-nations.html
I think that coupling "all United Nations members" with
"Millennium" contributes to the wrong impression given by the large
number of previous misleading content. Another article is perhaps more
accurate, referring to the MDGs as "aspirations" rather than implying
commitments.
September 16, 2014
"the Millennium Development Goals, a United Nations list of aspirations to
meet the needs of the world’s poorest, are an important discussion theme."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/health/child-mortality-falling-un-says-but-not-fast-enough.html
September 23, 2014
"Q. In 2001, countries holding United Nations memberships supported by the
international development assistance community committed themselves to pursue
the Millennium Development Goals, or the M.D.G.s. The goals are supposed to be
achieved by 2015. [...]
A. There has been progress on some of the M.D.G.s: The goal to reduce extreme
poverty and hunger is on track. Maternal mortality lags behind..."
http://www.nytimes.com/news/un-general-assembly/2014/09/23/how-to-achieve-the-millennium-development-goals
The Times did not challenge any aspect of the question it reproduced. Readers
might therefore be justified in thinking that the Times was presenting this as
a reasonably accurate version of events. But it is not clear in what sense it
might be true or helpful for the public to be told that countries
"committed themselves" to the MDGs.
In 2001 the General Assembly referred to the MDG structure not as
"commitments" but as a "useful guide" to implementing the actual
commitments:
[Later note: That is not correct. I
made a false statement to the New York Times that the UN General Assembly
referred to the MDG structure in 2001.
Perhaps I trusted academics too much.
In 2001 member states at the UN did
not refer to the Secretary-General's proposed MDG structure at all.
The resolution of 14 December 2001 only referred to the 58-page "road
map" containing the MDGs, not the MDGs themselves.
The "road map" has many more suggestions. Member states did not say which parts they
welcomed, or recommended as a useful guide, or invited the Secretary-General to
take into account for his reports on implementing the Declaration.
Far from formally adopting the easier 1990-baseline MDGs, member states reaffirmed the 2000-baseline Declaration more
than once on 21 December 2001:
Resolution 56/188. Women in Development
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/56/188
Resolution 56/189. Human resources development
www.worldlii.org/int/other/UNGARsn/2001/272.pdf
56/191. Implementation of the
Declaration on International
Economic Cooperation,
in particular the Revitalization of
Economic Growth
and Development of the Developing
Countries, and
implementation of the International
Development
Strategy for the Fourth United Nations
Development
Decade
http://www.worldlii.org/int/other/UNGARsn/2001/274.pdf
- as well as, for example, in addition to leaders' reaffirming
the Declaration in 2005 and 2013:
Resolution 62/206 of 2008, Women in Development
css.escwa.org.lb/GARes/62-206.pdf .
While the Assembly did invite the Secretary-General to draw on the "road
map" for reports, it also invited him to submit reports in accordance with
Resolution 55/162:
"The General Assembly…
requests the Secretary-General to prepare a comprehensive report every five
years, supplemented by an annual report
on progress achieved towards implementing the Millennium Declaration,
taking into account the following:
(a) The annual reports
should reflect the broad array of specific goals and commitments enunciated
in the Millennium Declaration…
(b) All reports should focus, in this
respect, on the results and benchmarks achieved, identify gaps in implementation…"
55/162 Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit
14 December 2000
http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/RES/55/162
So any idea that the Assembly in 2001 was giving up the pledges and replacing them with the easier MDG targets seems to be misplaced. The Assembly agreed the 2000-baseline Declaration in 2000, and again in 2001 and 2005. ]
"Recommends that the "road map" be considered as a useful guide
in the implementation of the Millennium Declaration by the United Nations
system....
Requests the Secretary-General to prepare an annual report and a comprehensive
report every five years on progress achieved by the United Nations system and
Member States towards implementing the Millennium Declaration, drawing upon the
"road map"....while the quinquennial comprehensive reports examine
progress achieved towards implementing all the commitments made in the
Declaration...
Invites the United Nations system, in cooperation with Member States, to adopt
specific measures to give widespread publicity to the Millennium Declaration
and to increase the dissemination of information on the Declaration"
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/GAResolutions/56_95/a_res56_95e.pdf
.
Did the General Assembly, at some point since the Declaration, somehow agree
that the MDG targets supersede the pledges?
Apparently not.
In respect of the US position, there seems to have been, effectively, a
specific reaffirmation in 2005 of the commitment to the Declaration's goals.
[New York Times quoting Ambassador Bolton:] " "Quite some time ago
the president said unequivocally we support the development goals in the
millennium summit declaration," Mr. Bolton told reporters. "Now
that's different from the 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
"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
Technically, that would mean the US was recommitting itself to the more
ambitious pledges to reduce, for example, mortality rates from 2000 levels, not
1990 levels.
In 2005 member states stated in General Assembly Resolution 60/1 that they
"reaffirm the United Nations Millennium Declaration".
unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Indicators/ares60_1_2005summit_eng.pdf
The Declaration of 2000 stated,
"We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these
(sic)
common objectives and our determination to achieve them."
(sic).
The 2005 resolution states:
"we further resolve:...To assist developing countries' efforts to prepare
integrated water... plans as part of their national development strategies and
to provide access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation in accordance
with the Millennium Declaration and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,
including halving by 2015 the proportion of people who are unable to reach or
afford safe drinking water and who do not have access to basic
sanitation..."
That is a commitment to the Declaration's target, not the MDG target.
The 2005 resolution also states,
"171. We call for strengthened cooperation between the United Nations and
national and regional parliaments, in particular through the
Inter-Parliamentary Union, with a view to furthering all aspects of the
Millennium Declaration".
- which clearly means furthering not just targets but pledges.
The August 18 article is another example of recent coverage. Its links seem to
me to demonstrate that it confused the Goals' targets with the Declaration's
pledges.
August 18, 2014
"...the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
[links to http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
with the easier 1990 baselines],
an eight-part mission
[links to http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf which
does not have the 1990 baselines]
focusing on reducing poverty, protecting the environment and promoting peace,
among other objectives."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/arts/design/humans-of-new-york-goes-global.html
I have suggested to you that the earlier coverage on its own, irrespective of
date, provided reasonable grounds for the public to expect to be told the
truth.
Another article from this year contributes to the impression:
May 6, 2014
"The new crop of objectives is meant to succeed the eight Millennium
Development Goals the United Nations set in 2000."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/business/economy/at-the-un-a-free-for-all-on-setting-global-goals.html
It may be that the significance of this issue has not sunk in. As you can see
from the email to the public editor, her own paper has put out similar
material. In those circumstances, I request information on
a) by whom the Times considers the public editor's role could be properly
exercised, and
b) the Times' written corrections policy to which you were perhaps alluding in
your last email.
Thank you for your attention.
Best wishes,
Matt Berkley.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Matt Berkley ….
Date: 15 September 2014 13:18
Subject: 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 in past articles, as
set out in correspondence below.
Another example of the same error occurred the day after my complaint.
The MDG targets with easier baselines of 1990 were not "established in
2000". The article 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 - not just on global pledges but
also on claims about individual countries.
How to Prioritize U.N. Goals
Sep 10, 2014"The previous Millennium Development Goals, established in
2000 with a target date of 2015, set only eight broad goals — like universal
primary education, gender equality and environmental sustainability — as
priorities for global resources, and just 19 targets."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/opinion/how-to-prioritize-un-goals.html
I should mention that the Buffalo News has published material with similar
implications:
Meeting will assess anti-poverty goals
Associated Press
September 19, 2010
http://www.buffalonews.com/article/20100919/CITYANDREGION/309199866
"At the dawn of the new millennium, world leaders pledged to tackle
poverty, disease, ignorance and inequality -- and went beyond generalities to
commit themselves to specific goals. Progress has been made over the past
decade, but many countries are still struggling to meet the 2015 target.
On Monday, another summit will open in New York to review what has, and hasn't,
been done.
"These Millennium Development Goals are a promise of world leaders,"
says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who invited leaders of the 192 U.N. member
nations to the three-day summit.
"They're a blueprint to help those most vulnerable and poorest people, to
lift them out of poverty. This promise must be met," he said."
UN: 30 million African kids missing primary school
June 17, 2014
http://www.buffalonews.com/article/20140617/AP/306179626
"The U.N. Millennium Development goals made primary education for every
child a priority in 2000, and substantial progress was made through 2007, the
reports said."
Yours sincerely,
Matt Berkley.
From: NYTimes, Senioreditor
<senioreditor@nytimes.com>
Date: 11 September 2014 at 22:45
Subject: Re: Millennium Summit pledges: Request for clarification
To: Matt Berkley ...
Mr. Berkley,
The most recent article to which you refer is a year old. We make every effort to correct errors of fact when they are brought to our attention in a timely manner. I'm afraid it's not our policy to alter published articles so long after the fact.
Thanks again for writing.
Louis Lucero II
Assistant to the Senior Editor for Standards
The New York Times
From: Matt Berkley ….
Date: 11 September 2014 at 06:20
Subject: Re: Millennium Summit pledges: Request for clarification
To: "NYTimes, Senioreditor"
<senioreditor@nytimes.com>
Dear Mr Lucero,
It has.
Yours sincerely,
Matt Berkley.
From: NYTimes, Senioreditor
<senioreditor@nytimes.com>
Date: 10 September 2014 at 23:12
Subject: Re: Millennium Summit pledges: Request for clarification
...
Dear Mr. Berkley,
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
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Matt Berkley ….
Date: 10 September 2014 at 04:30
Subject: Millennium Summit pledges: Request for clarification
To: nytnews@nytimes.com
Dear staff,
I would like the Times to remedy what seems a significant problem: conflation
of some Millennium Summit pledges of 2000 with easier Millennium Development
Goal targets proposed a year later.
None of the pledges of 2000
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
mention the easier 1990 baseline of the MDG targets
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/MDGsOfficialList2008.pdf
.
A Times report from near the end of the 2000 Summit seems to imply a baseline
of 2000 for one pledge:
"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
Since then, many reports seem to treat the pledges and targets as the same
things.
In the case of the mortality pledges, the Declaration specifies "from
current rates".
I did not know of the baseline problem until I read of it in work by the Yale
philosopher Thomas Pogge. As he says, there is also a change from proportions
of world human population to that of "developing countries". This too
makes some targets slightly easier because population growth means a relative
rise in the denominator (total population) for some countries.
http://www.crop.org/viewfile.aspx?id=401,
page 6 and following.
The significance of the discrepancy is not just for global, but also for
national or regional figures.
Some countries will have greater baseline differences (from reported progress
between 1990 and 2000) than others.
A search of nytimes.com using
" "millennium development goals" 2000 2015" yields many
results. Times staff may wish to search for articles including the word
"mortality".
Examples are below.
Yours sincerely,
Matt Berkley
….
......................................................................................................................................................
Examples of New York Times articles appearing to imply conflation of
more-ambitious Millennium Summit pledges with less-ambitious MDG targets
Matt Berkley
September 2014
"The United Nations General Assembly will meet later this month to assess
progress — impressive in some areas, halting in others — toward achieving the
United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted in 2000 and
are supposed to be reached by the end of 2015.
For instance, great strides have been made in reducing the maternal mortality
rate related to childbirth, which has declined to 210 maternal deaths per
100,000 live births in 2010 from 400 deaths per 100,000 births in 1990. Still,
that is far short of the Millennium target of 100 deaths per 100,000 live
births by 2015.
Another goal is a reduction of death rates for children under the age of 5.
That rate dropped significantly over two decades, to 51 deaths per 1,000 live
births in 2011 from 87 in 1990.
...The Millennium target is to reduce the toll to 4.3 million deaths by the end
of 2015. It can be done: Bangladesh and Liberia, two poor nations, have already
reduced their death rates substantially enough to meet their 2015 targets.
...The 2015 goals are described by the U.N. secretary general as the
"halfway mark" in a long-range agenda to eradicate extreme poverty by
2030..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/opinion/the-race-to-improve-global-health.html
Comment: That gives an impression that the easier MDG targets (baseline 1990)
are the pledges of 2000 (baseline explicitly 2000 in the case of mortality
rates; implicitly 2000 for some others).
It might not be misleading in itself to state that the undated Goals such as
"reduce maternal mortality" were "adopted in 2000". Most,
at least, of them can be traced to corresponding passages in the Declaration.
The problem arises when there is mention of "goals" being reached in
2015, or as a "halfway mark". That clearly indicates the reference is
not to the undated eight goals, or not only to those, but to the dated targets.
Journalists and others often use the word "goals" to refer to the
dated targets.
Errors about the year of setting the MDG targets, such as "adopted in
2000" would not be important, except for the fact that they imply the MDG
targets are what world leaders at the Summit pledged to achieve.
"The Overseas Development Institute in Britain rates Cuba in the top 20
nations for its progress relative to the Millennium Development Goals, which
were adopted worldwide after a U.N. summit meeting in 2000. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/world/americas/06iht-letter06.html
"World leaders committed in 2000 to the Millennium Development Goals,
eight anti-poverty targets to hit by 2015."
"They include....cutting child mortality and halving the percentage of
people in extreme poverty, a milestone the United Nations says was reached in
2010."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/world/europe/a-new-drive-toward-universal-primary-education.html
Comment: UN figures do not support a contention that a commitment of 2000 to halve
the proportion on under $1.25 in 2005 PPP dollars (as currently used) was met
in 2010. They give (for "developing countries") 36.5% for 1999 and
22% for 2010.
UN MDG Report 2014 Statistical Annex
http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2014/Statistical%20Annex_2014_25%20June%202014.docx
"The eight Millennium Development Goals, established at a United Nations
conference in 2000, are central to aid policy. They include reducing child
mortality, improving maternal health... They were meant to be met by
2015..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/business/global/a-paradigm-shift-for-aid-to-africa.html
"The failure to deliver the millennium development goals
In 2000 every major world leader and every significant international
institution agreed to deliver, by 2015, education for every child, a two-thirds
reduction in infant mortality, and a three-quarters reduction in maternal
mortality on top of a halving of poverty in every continent."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/opinion/global/gordon-brown-global-economic-problems-need-global-solutions.html
Kind of true (not the part about "every continent"), but misleading
when placed under the heading about "millennium development goals".
"the Organization of American States has stated that the pervasive
existence of racial discrimination in the region will hinder the ability to
meet the objectives of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for
2015, which each nation committed to in 2000 as a precise and measurable manner
of reducing extreme poverty. "
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/10/18/shrink-inequality-to-grow-the-economy/we-need-latin-american-style-affirmative-action-for-economic-growth
"Why have advances in child survival sped up since 2000? One plausible
reason is that that was the year the United Nations set the Millennium
Development Goals — ambitious targets to be met by 2015."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/at-years-end-news-of-a-global-health-success/
"United Nations Millennium Development Goals, adopted at the turn of this
century as a vision for a better future. Currently 193 United Nations member
states are working together to achieve these goals by 2015, in a promise to
"free people from extreme poverty and multiple deprivations." "
http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/malaria-or-mars/
"Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, warned Thursday that
the first decline in international aid to developing countries in years is
jeopardizing the United Nations' goal of reducing poverty by 2015 in many
countries. Official development assistance in 2011 fell to $133 billion, less
than half the $300 billion needed annually to meet the goals set by world
leaders in 2000, according to a new report on the Millennium Development Goals.
...The Millennium Development Goals include cutting extreme poverty by half,...
reducing by half the number of people without access to clean water and basic
sanitation, and cutting child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by
three-quarters."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/world/antipoverty-goals-at-risk-un-warns-donors.html
"the United Nations' ambitious Millennium Development Goals for 2015 that
world leaders set in 2000. One of the goals was to reduce by half the number of
people in extreme poverty."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/business/global/06micro.html
"The two lagging areas among the 15-year development goals that United
Nations member states agreed to in 2000 are efforts to drastically cut the
deaths of both young children and mothers in childbirth. The baseline to
measure improvement is 1990. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/world/22nations.html
"Millennium Development Goals, a batch of targets agreed to 10 years ago
for reducing abject poverty around the globe by 2015....Those 358,000 deaths,
an estimate for 2008, were well below the 546,000 believed to have occurred in
1990. Even so, the rate of decline has been substantially slower than hoped for
when those development goals were set. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/nyregion/21nyc.html
"Ten years after the world's nations pledged to cut deeply into the
problems afflicting the world's poor by 2015, a Millennium Development Goals
Summit is being held at the United Nations today through Wednesday to assess
progress. ...The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established as
globally shared commitments back in the year 2000...with a target date of
2015."
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/a-10-year-checkup-on-global-goals/
"The subject of the summit meeting at the United Nations this week
is...the Millennium Development Goals.... a grand global bargain was negotiated
at a series of summit meetings and then signed in 2000. The United Nations'
"Millennium Declaration" pledged...The 2000 gathering was different,
though, because signatories agreed to specific goals on a specific timeline:
cutting hunger and poverty in half, giving all girls and boys a basic
education, reducing infant and maternal mortality by two-thirds and
three-quarters respectively, and reversing the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria. All by 2015. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/opinion/19bono.html
"Ten years ago, leaders of rich and poor countries pledged to build a
better world by 2015. Among their vital goals: halving extreme poverty and
hunger from 1990 levels...
Between 1990 and 2008, the mortality rate of children under 5 in developing
countries declined only from 10 percent to 7.2 percent — far from the target of
a two-thirds reduction by 2015. Maternal mortality declined only from 480
deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 450 deaths in 2005. The 2015 goal is
closer to 120."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/opinion/23thu1.html
"...to 8.8 million ... from 12.5 million in 1990. ..long way to go before
achieving the goal set by leaders of 189 nations in 2000: to cut the child
mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015.... for every 1,000 babies born here, 125
more children survived to their fifth birthdays in 2008 than did in 1990, the
new figures show....Here in Malawi, the mortality rate for children under 5
fell to 100 deaths per 1,000 births in 2008 from 225 in 1990 and 336 in 1970.
Other poor nations, like Niger, Mozambique and Ethiopia, have also cut the
number of deaths per 1,000 births by more than 100 since 1990, according to the
new figures."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/world/10child.html
"The global campaign against child mortality still has a long way to go
before achieving the goal set by the leaders of 189 nations in 2000: to cut the
child mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015."
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/09/09/world/20090909CHILD_11.html
"the leaders appeared to tacitly concede that wealthy countries had failed
to fulfill their pledges to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals of
2000 to fight poverty."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/books/excerpt-the-coming-famine.html
"The goals, often referred to as MDGs, are a collection of eight
objectives adopted by the UN in 2000 targeting education, health, gender
issues, poverty and hunger in the developing world. ... the UN set a 2015
deadline to achieve the MDGs."
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/progress-report-of-a-millennium-village/
"The numbers...are short of the aspirations of the United Nations'
Millennium Declaration of 2000, which set a goal of slashing mortality rates of
children under 5 to 31 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2015."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/opinion/30sat2.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..."
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/the-economics-of-clean-water-a-guest-post/
"That also means the rate of decline in child deaths will have to fall
even faster than it has since 1990 if the number of deaths among children under
5 is to drop below five million in 2015, the target in the Millennium
Development Goals that UN member countries adopted in 2000."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/health/22iht-CHILD.4.9413329.html
"Five years ago, about 150 world leaders gathered at the United Nations in
New York and tried to move the mountain of global poverty. They adopted eight
Millennium Development Goals - quantifiable measures of progress on problems
like malaria, tuberculosis and child and maternal mortality. The achievement of
those goals by 2015 would lift more than one billion people out of extreme
poverty."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/opinion/13attaran.html
"This U.N. summit is meant to review the millennium development goals,
such as cutting child deaths around the world by two-thirds by 2015. All the
goals, adopted with great fanfare five years ago, are feasible..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/opinion/13kristof.html?pagewanted=print
"The Millennium Development Goals make up an ambitious agenda adopted by
the United Nations in 2000. Chief among them is the goal of cutting global
poverty in half by 2015. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/opinion/15thu2.html
"..."Chasing the Dream: Youth Faces of the Millennium Development
Goals," a fascinating exhibition at the United Nations. .. the goals the
United Nations set in 2000 to achieve by 2015."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/arts/02fami.html
"The report, "Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve
the Millennium Development Goals," is the first in a series of initiatives
this year that are meant to focus the world's attention on fulfillment of
sweeping poverty-fighting promises made by the world's leaders in 2000."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/17/international/17cnd-poverty.html?fta=y
"Eighteen months ago, the political leaders of the world agreed, at the
Millennium Summit here in New York, that we should devote the first 15 years of
this new century to a major onslaught on poverty, illiteracy and disease. And
they set a clear set of targets, the Millennium Development Goals, by which to
measure success or failure."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/19/opinion/trade-and-aid-in-a-changed-world.html
"...the international development goals endorsed at the Millennium Summit
of the United Nations in September. The goals call for halving the proportion
of the world's population living in extreme poverty from 1990 to 2015."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/02/opinion/02iht-edstern_ed2_.html
Note: The "International Development Goals" were previously promoted
by the World Bank, OECD and IMF. A publication signed by the heads of all three
and the Secretary-General of the UN was published in June 2000. These have
baselines of 1990.
http://www.paris21.org/sites/default/files/bwa_e.pdf
From the Secretary-General's Millennium Report, March 2000:
"281. Specifically, I urge the Summit to adopt the target of reducing by
half, between now
(sic)
and 2015, the proportion of people who lack sustainable access to adequate
sources of affordable and safe water."
http://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/We_The_Peoples.pdf
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan000923.pdf
September 2001: Secretary-General's "Road Map" quotes Declaration's
"Goals" but in annex proposes list of "MDGs" and targets
with the easier 1990 baselines, at page 56:
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf
October 2001: UN agencies tell country representatives, in effect, that civil
servants have changed the baseline:
"Baseline year – 1990 or 2000?
"...This [ie absence of baseline in Declaration except "from current
rates" for mortality] would imply a 2000 baseline year of the Millennium
Declaration. After discussions within the UN system and with other partners,
the issues have been resolved in favour of 1990 serving as the baseline year."
UN Development Group, Guidance Note to country representatives, October 2001
http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/2356-English.doc
Sent with letter signed by heads of UNDP, UNICEF, WFP and UNFPA, November 2001.
http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/1607-MDGs_-_letter_-_MDGs_-_letter.pdf
[Note 24
July 2015: Those two UNDG links do not work as of today. The documents are at:
UN Development Group, 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
Letter signed by heads of UNDP, UNICEF, WFP and UNFPA, November 2001 with the
not changing the baseline:
http://web.archive.org/web/20140815174058/http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/1607-MDGs_-_letter_-_MDGs_-_letter.pdf
]
[end of email of 24 June 2015 to New York Times senior editor for standards]
10 September 2014 at 04:30
Millennium Summit pledges: Request for clarification
To: nytnews@nytimes.com
...I would like the Times to remedy what seems
a significant problem: conflation of some Millennium Summit pledges of 2000
with easier Millennium Development Goal targets proposed a year later.
None of the pledges of 2000
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
mention the easier 1990 baseline of the MDG targets
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/MDGsOfficialList2008.pdf
.
A Times report from near the end of the 2000 Summit seems to imply a baseline
of 2000 for one pledge:
"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
Since then, many reports seem to treat the pledges and targets as the same
things.
In the case of the mortality pledges, the Declaration specifies "from
current rates". ….
From: senioreditor@nytimes.com
10 September 2014 at 23:12
...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
11 September 2014 at 06:20
To: senioreditor@nytimes.com
Dear Mr Lucero,
It has.
Yours sincerely,
From: senioreditor@nytimes.com
11 September 2014 at 22:45
Mr. Berkley,
The most recent article to which you refer is a year old. We make every effort to correct errors of fact when they are brought to our attention in a timely manner. I'm afraid it's not our policy to alter published articles so long after the fact.
15 September 2014 13:18
Subject: 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
…http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/opinion/how-to-prioritize-un-goals.html
I should mention that the Buffalo News has published material with similar
implications:
….Associated Press
September 19, 2010
http://www.buffalonews.com/article/20100919/CITYANDREGION/309199866
http://www.buffalonews.com/article/20140617/AP/306179626
….
24 September 2014 23:01
Error of fact - UN pledges do not have the easier baselines of MDG targets
To: senioreditor@nytimes.com,
public@nytimes.com
Cc: sengupta@nytimes.com
Dear Mr Lucero,
Thank you for your replies. I propose that the Times consider, or consider
again, the significance for holding governments to account. One problem is that
individual governments can say they have met pledges when they have not, and
New York Times readers risk not being in a position to know the difference.
Recent coverage may mean the message has yet to reach all relevant departments.
I refer to previous correspondence for details, and give more here.
A September 10, 2014 article seems to imply wrongly that the Goals' targets
were set at the Millennium Summit...
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/opinion/how-to-prioritize-un-goals.html
…
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/world/africa/hunger-poverty-united-nations.html
…
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/health/child-mortality-falling-un-says-but-not-fast-enough.html
…
http://www.nytimes.com/news/un-general-assembly/2014/09/23/how-to-achieve-the-millennium-development-goals
…
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/arts/design/humans-of-new-york-goes-global.html
…
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/business/economy/at-the-un-a-free-for-all-on-setting-global-goals.html
...
26 September 2014 at 00:19
Fwd: Error of fact - UN pledges do not have the easier baselines of MDG targets
To: publisher@nytimes.com
Cc: editorial@nytimes.com
Dear Mr Sulzberger,
I thought I should let you know of an unusual situation. I have informed Times
staff of an error repeated over a period of years. The Buffalo News has
published a small amount of material giving a similar impression, which might
compromise the position of the public editor.
Perhaps you would like to suggest an appropriate way that the Times could
implement the principles of independent oversight. ...
27
September 2014 at 20:09
Subject: Fwd: Error of fact - UN pledges do not have the easier baselines of
MDG targets
To: letters@nytimes.com
Dear Letters staff,
The evidence for my letter is in the correspondence below. For quick reference, in 2001 the UN General Assembly adopted this resolution
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/GAResolutions/56_95/a_res56_95e.pdf
recommending this document proposing the "MDG" structure
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf
for implementing the commitments of 2000
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
and then in 2005 reaffirmed the pledges of 2000:
unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Attach/Indicators/ares60_1_2005summit_eng.pdf
Yours,
Matt Berkley
Sir,
Millennium Development Goal targets, such as halving
1990 child mortality rates, are not what UN member states committed themselves
to in 2000. The question your journalist answers (How to Achieve the Millennium
Goals, September 23) misleads readers. "In 2001, countries... committed
themselves to pursue the Millennium Development Goals... The goals are supposed
to be achieved by 2015" should read "In 2000, countries committed
themselves to targets in the Millennium Declaration...in 2001 they recommended
the MDG structure, which has some easier baselines of 1990, as a useful guide
towards implementing those commitments".
[Later note: As noted above, that is not correct. For clarity, I repeat the note here:
I made a false statement to the New York Times that the UN General Assembly
referred to the MDG structure in 2001.
Perhaps I trusted academics too much.
In 2001 member states at the UN did
not refer to the Secretary-General's proposed MDG structure at all.
The resolution of 14 December 2001 only referred to the 58-page "road
map" containing the MDGs, not the MDGs themselves.
The "road map" has many more suggestions. Member states did not say which parts they
welcomed, or recommended as a useful guide, or invited the Secretary-General to
take into account for his reports on implementing the Declaration.
Far from formally adopting the easier 1990-baseline MDGs, member states reaffirmed the 2000-baseline Declaration more
than once on 21 December 2001:
Resolution 56/188. Women in Development
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/56/188
Resolution 56/189. Human resources development
www.worldlii.org/int/other/UNGARsn/2001/272.pdf
56/191. Implementation of the
Declaration on International
Economic
Cooperation, in particular the Revitalization of
Economic Growth
and Development of the Developing
Countries, and
implementation of the International
Development
Strategy for the Fourth United Nations
Development
Decade
http://www.worldlii.org/int/other/UNGARsn/2001/274.pdf
- as well as, for example, in addition to leaders' reaffirming
the Declaration in 2005 and 2013:
Resolution 62/206 of 2008, Women in Development
css.escwa.org.lb/GARes/62-206.pdf .
While the Assembly did invite the Secretary-General to draw on the "road
map" for reports, it also invited him to submit reports in accordance with
Resolution 55/162:
"The General Assembly…
requests the Secretary-General to prepare a comprehensive report every five
years, supplemented by an annual report
on progress achieved towards implementing the Millennium Declaration,
taking into account the following:
(a) The annual reports
should reflect the broad array of specific goals and commitments enunciated
in the Millennium Declaration…
(b) All reports should focus, in this
respect, on the results and benchmarks achieved, identify gaps in implementation…"
55/162 Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit
14 December 2000
http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/RES/55/162
So any idea that the Assembly in 2001 was giving up the pledges and replacing them with the easier MDG targets seems to be misplaced. The Assembly agreed the 2000-baseline Declaration in 2000, and again in 2001 and 2005. ]
The Declaration's commitments in resolution 55/2 do not have the 1990 baselines
"recommended" in resolution 56/95 of 2001. The mortality commitments
are to reduce by the same proportions but from "current rates". The
Times, like many news outlets, has been reporting the wrong
"commitments" for many years. I propose that you correct that
impression.
28 September 2014 at 04:00
Re: Error of fact - UN pledges do not have the easier baselines of MDG targets
To: letters@nytimes.com
...My own letter below contains an error. "Halving 1990 child mortality rates" should read "reducing 1990 child mortality rates by two-thirds". I am sorry for any confusion.
Best wishes,
Matt Berkley
24 June 2015 at 07:37
Dear Mr Corbett,
I write further to previous requests for correction, including the unanswered request
of 24 September 2014.
The list of eight Millennium Development Goals and their 21 targets were not
established or adopted by the General Assembly in 2000. The Millennium
Declaration does not have the generally easier 1990 baseline.
That is why the Secretary-General wrote in
2001:
"Millennium development goals…
The proposed formulation of the eight goals, 18 targets...are listed
below...the normal baseline year for the targets will be 1990".
Secretary-General, September 2001.
Road map towards the implementation of the
Millennium Declaration.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf
This is not simply a mistake about a date. It
seems to me that a significant number of readers would know leaders made
pledges at a historic summit in 2000.
The material seems to contribute to a
misleading impression that the MDG targets are what leaders
"resolved" to achieve.
Leaders reaffirmed the Declaration in 2005 and
2013.
Yours sincerely
Matt Berkley
...
"The report was described by Unicef
officials as its "final report card" on whether children had been
helped by the so-called Millennium Development Goals, a group of benchmarks
established by the United Nations in 2000 for measuring progress in reducing
poverty, hunger, child mortality, gender inequality, illiteracy and
environmental degradation by the end of 2015."
"A version of this article appears in
print on June 23, 2015, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline:
Unicef Report Describes Grim Trends for the Poorest"
"UNICEF's "Progress for Children" report released Monday night
said that despite significant achievements since world leaders adopted the
Millennium Development Goals in 2000..."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/06/22/world/ap-un-united-nations-disadvantaged-children.html
"the report...said that 72 of the 129 nations....had achieved the target
under the so-called Millennium Development Goals...and that developing regions
had missed the target by only a small margin. The Millennium Development Goals
are a set of eight international objectives, including hunger eradication,
established by the United Nations in 2000.
"The near-achievement of the M.D.G. hunger
targets....." said José Graziano da Silva, the
director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization....The report
attributed the hunger reduction in part to stable political conditions and
economic growth in many of the countries that had met the target. "
"A version of this article appears in
print on May 28, 2015, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline:
World Briefing | United Nations; Hunger Declines Sharply, Report Says."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/world/united-nations-reports-global-hunger-down-since-1990.html
"This year marks the end of the United
Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, a 2000 blueprint to address
international issues like the spread of AIDS and universal education..."
24 June 2015 at 12:19
Dear Mr Corbett,
A story of today contributes to the same
impression. I hope it is clear that the effect is cumulative.
"the Millennium Development Goals on
poverty reduction for 2015, which world leaders agreed to at the turn of the
century."
"A version of this special report appears
in print on June 25, 2015, in The International New York Times."
Yours sincerely,
Matt Berkley
Editorial staff fail to respond to complaint.
Errors on Millennium Summit commitments.
30 June 2015
To the Public Editor
Dear Ms Sullivan,
Sometimes, information from governmental organisations is not true.
In this case, journalists have repeated it even
though it contradicts both primary sources and journalists' own writing at the
time.
The New York Times continues to give a wrong
impression of Millennium Summit commitments.
There is no 1990 baseline in the Millennium
Declaration, or the Secretary-General's recommendation to the Summit, or to my
knowledge in any speeches there or contemporary journalism.
If you want authorities, the baseline problem
has been mentioned by Thomas Pogge of Yale, Peter Singer, John McArthur the
former deputy director of the UN Millennium Project, and Frances Moore Lappe.
"goal that presidents and prime ministers
agreed to in 2000 of halving the hunger rate by this year. Worldwide, 10.9
percent of people are undernourished, down from 18.6 percent in 1990-92"
"A version of this special report appears
in print on June 25, 2015, in The International New York Times."
"A version of this article appears in
print on June 23, 2015, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline:
Unicef Report Describes Grim Trends for the Poorest"
and other material
As I stated,
"14.9% down to 10.9% is nowhere near the
target"
of halving the proportion of undernourished
people set by the leaders in 2000.
Yours sincerely,
Matt Berkley
---------- Forwarded message ----------
...Date: 25 June 2015 at 18:00
Subject: Further error. Re: Times contributing
to impression understating some Millennium Summit commitments.
To: nytnews@nytimes.com
Dear Mr Corbett,
I have some sympathy with reporters making
these errors. I made the same assumptions myself until I read of the problems
in work by the Yale philosopher Thomas Pogge. John McArthur, who was deputy
director of the United Nations Millennium Project, now says the same thing
about the baseline.
http://www.crop.org/viewfile.aspx?id=218
"the [MDG] team determined that 1990 would
be a more reasonable fit compared to historical trends, thereby lessening the
pressures on world leaders for 2015."
johnmcarthur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/SAISreview2014mcarthur.pdf
Today's article should refer to a baseline of
14.9% for what leaders pledged in 2000, not 18.9% [Note to Public Editor:
should read "18.6%"] or 23.3%.
http://www.fao.org/3/a4ef2d16-70a7-460a-a9ac-2a65a5
33269a/i4646e.pdf
Table 1, Page 8, first line.
14.9% down to 10.9% is nowhere near the target.
There are two reasons why the baseline is
different from that in the MDG:
1. Leaders' pledge of 2000 was not backdated to
1990.
2. The pledge was on proportions of people in
the world, which is more ambitious than the MDG idea of "proportion in
developing regions" because of differential population growth.
"The world is falling short of the goal
that presidents and prime ministers agreed to in 2000 of halving the hunger
rate by this year. Worldwide, 10.9 percent of people are undernourished, down
from 18.6 percent in 1990-92, the food agency reported. In developing
countries, the proportion fell to 12.9 percent from 23.3 percent."
"We have come close" but not reached that target, Mr. Sundaram said."
[Other trends given based on 1990 baseline]
"Millennium Development Goals on poverty
reduction for 2015, which world leaders agreed to at the turn of the
century."
"A version of this special report appears
in print on June 25, 2015, in The International New York Times."
It is necessary to look at the primary sources.
"Specifically, I urge the Summit to adopt
the target of reducing by half, between now and 2015, the proportion of people
who lack sustainable access to adequate sources of affordable and safe
water."
"Let us resolve...To halve, by the time
this century is 15 years old, the proportion of the world’s people (currently
22 per cent) whose income is less than one dollar a day"
Secretary-General
Millennium Report
27 March 2000
http://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/We_The_Peoples.pdf
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan000923.pdf
"The Clinton Administration strongly
supports Secretary General Kofi Annan's call to action on poverty alleviation,
on economic and social development"
U.S. Efforts on the Millennium Report
"Call To Action" on Poverty and Economic Development Issues
The White House
September 7, 2000
http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/new/html/Wed_Oct_4_132349_2000.html
"President Clinton is strongly committed to
working with the United Nations and the United States' international partners
to strengthen environmental protections worldwide and to meet the vision of a
sustainable future outlined in the Secretary General's Millennium Report."
The White House
September 7, 2000
http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/new/html/Wed_Oct_4_133235_2000.html
"A declaration to be signed on
Friday...has set ambitious benchmarks...
One such goal proposes to reduce by half over
the next 15 years the number of people earning....
Chavez of Venezuela reckoned, "we should
increase that income to levels of fairness and dignity for 140,000 persons each
day...from the present until Dec. 31, 2015." "
"We, Heads of State and
Government...resolve...by the year 2015...dollar a day...hunger...water… ....
...to have reduced maternal mortality by three
quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current
rates"
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm
"The declaration endorsed ...halving by
the year 2015 the 22 percent of the world's population now existing on less
than a dollar a day."
Reuters TV, 8 September 2000
http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/RTV/2000/09/08/009080017/?s=millennium%20summit
September 2001:
"under-five mortality decreased from 94 to
81 per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2000...
...members of [the UN] Secretariat...IMF, OECD
and the World Bank...discussed the respective targets...
Millennium development goals...
The proposed formulation of the eight goals, 18
targets...are listed below...baseline year for the targets will be 1990".
Secretary-General, Road map towards the
implementation of the Millennium Declaration.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/sgreport2001.pdf
In October 2001 UN agencies told country
representatives, in effect, that civil servants changed the baseline from what
leaders had pledged:
"Baseline year – 1990 or 2000?
"...This [ie absence of baseline in
Declaration except "from current rates" for mortality] would imply a
2000 baseline year of the Millennium Declaration. After discussions within the
UN system and with other partners, the issues have been resolved in favour of 1990 serving as the baseline year."
UN Development Group, Guidance Note to country
representatives, October 2001
http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/2356-English.doc
The note was sent with a letter signed by heads
of UNDP, UNICEF, WFP and UNFPA of 6 November 2001.
http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/1607-MDGs_-_letter_-_MDGs_-_letter.pdf
December 2001:
"The General Assembly...Recommends that
the "road map" be considered as a useful guide in the implementation
of the Millennium Declaration....and invites Member States...to consider the
"road map" when formulating plans for implementing goals related to
the Declaration;
Requests the Secretary-General to prepare an
annual report and a comprehensive report every five years on progress achieved
by the United Nations system and Member States towards implementing the
Millennium Declaration, drawing upon the "road map"...and requests
that the annual reports focus on ....the major areas set forth in the
"road map", while the quinquennial comprehensive reports examine
progress achieved towards implementing all the commitments made in the
Declaration;
Invites the United Nations system, in
cooperation with Member States, to adopt specific measures to give widespread
publicity to the Millennium Declaration and to increase the dissemination of
information on the Declaration"
September 2005:
"We, Heads of State and Government...
reaffirm the United Nations Millennium Declaration...
...we further resolve...To assist developing
countries’ efforts ....to provide access to safe drinking water and basic
sanitation in accordance with the Millennium Declaration...including halving by
2015 the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking
water....
...we commit ourselves to:...Achieving
universal access to reproductive health by 2015....integrating this goal in
strategies to attain the internationally agreed development goals, including
those contained in the Millennium Declaration, aimed at reducing maternal
mortality, improving maternal health, reducing child mortality....
We call for strengthened cooperation between
the United Nations and .....parliaments, in particular through the
Inter-Parliamentary Union, with a view to furthering all aspects of the
Millennium Declaration"
September 2013:
"We, Heads of State and
Government...reaffirm our commitment to the Millennium Declaration".
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N13/490/97/DOC/N1349097.DOC
" "...the president said unequivocally we support the development
goals in the millennium summit declaration," [Ambassador] Bolton told
reporters. "Now that's different from the 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
Yours sincerely,
Matt Berkley