Thu, 25.09.08
inclusive millennium development goals
As no one other than H.M. Queen Rania of Jordan points out, the Millennium Development Goals are under threat. At the turn of the century, the Member States of the United Nations set themselves eight goals to be reached by 2015; they include halving poverty and ensuring primary education for all. Challenges in reaching the goals have recently increased, particularly due to the rise of food prices.
A major shortcoming of the goals is that they are not explicitly accessible: persons with disabilities are not mentioned in the targets and indicators that have been formulated to measure the success of the goals. Thus, the marginalization of persons with disabilities is perpetuated. At the same time, the exclusion of persons with disabilities would mean that the goals cannot be reached, given that some 10% of each country are not included. A number of initiatives is highlighting this shortcoming of the goals, the newest one is:www.IncludeEverybody.org.