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www.millenniumcampaign.org

Millennium Campaign launches global website against poverty

New York, USA, 7th December 2004
On 10th December 2004 - World Human Rights Day - the United Nations Millennium Campaign is launching its global website www.millenniumcampaign.org informing, inspiring and encouraging people’s involvement and action towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Goals represent a global partnership committing rich and poor countries to do their part in fighting against world poverty. The Campaign’s website provides citizens, civil society, elected officials and parliamentarians, media and young people with a platform to have their voices heard and provide concrete actions to remind their governments of their commitments.

An initiative of the United Nations, the Millennium Campaign supports citizens’ efforts to hold their government to account for the commitments made at the Millennium Summit in 2000, where 189 world leaders adopted an 8-goal action plan. They pledged to end poverty and hunger, ensure all boys and girls complete primary school, promote gender equality, reduce the number of children dying before they reach the age of 5 and mothers giving child birth, stop the spread of deadly diseases such as AIDS, protect the environment and ensure access to clean water all by 2015.

Today the world has the money and knowledge to achieve all this, but what is keeping the world from achieving the Millennium Development Goals is the lack of political will to put the issues on their national and global agendas – both in developing and developed countries. Developing countries need to bring the goals into their policies, plans and budgets, to improve their governance, and to build up their human resources and work towards the realization of the first 7 goals. The world needs developed countries to fulfill their commitment on goal 8 by giving more aid, and make it more effective. We need them to offer more debt relief and trade opportunities, and to end the unfair competition in agricultural trade.

The Millennium Campaign is engaging and mobilizing existing campaigns on trade, education, health, debt; by working together with ngo’s, faith-based organizations, local authorities, youth groups, parliamentarians, media, celebrities and the general public.

In September 2005 world leaders will meet again at the United Nations to review their last 5 years performance. They are likely to be asked why they are off track. In Sub Saharan Africa poverty and hunger will, at today’s pace, only be achieved into the next century; many generations away. With the launch of the Millennium Campaigns website people can find out what is happening in their countries, regions or cities and sign up to receive personalized news and action updates and learn how to become part of a movement to work together to build political will to ensure a safer, more just and equal world in which millions of people will break free from the trap of extreme poverty.

The campaign is inviting the planet’s 6 billion people to use their voice to speak up and demand their governments to live up to their commitments. In 2005 there is a real window of opportunity to make a real difference to the living conditions of most of the world’s population. This generation is the first one that can put an end to poverty, illiteracy and disease and should refuse to miss that opportunity

For questions from the press or interviews please contact the Millennium Campaign at:press@millenniumcampaign.org.