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OUR LIFE Monthly, published by Ukrainian National Women’s League o f America Vol. LXIV MARCH 2007 Editor: TAMARA STADNYCHENKO From the Desk of the President In this month’s issue of Our Life magazine, I would like to share with readers some news about recent and current events and issues concerning the United Nations. Among the most important of these is an multi faceted humanitarian issue that was addressed in the year 2000 at the United Nations Millennium Summit held in 2000. Representatives to the summit voted on and passed an ambitious slate of Millennium Develop ment Goals, stipulating that these should be accomplished by the year 2015. The goals are: To reduce the proportion of those living in extreme poverty and hunger; to provide universal primary education; to promote gender equality between men and women and empowering women; to cut the rate of child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure drinking water and basic sanitation; and to reverse the loss of environmental resources and develop a global partnership for development. Seven years later, endeavors to implement and sustain these goals are at a critical half-way point: 2015 is only eight years away. While much has changed, much remains to be accomplished. The Millennium Development Goals comprise a major endeavor, and some aspects of this monumental task will take longer to achieve. Others may never be achieved, and this is a tragic reflection of a human failing: Too many nations and too many leaders fail to recognize that people are the real wealth of nations, and progress should not be measured by the wealth of the country but by the quality of life of its people. Many centuries ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote: “Wealth is evidently not the goods we are seeking for it is merely useful for the sake of something else, and that something else is the opportunity of people to realize their potential as human beings.” Real opportunity is about having real choices—the choices that come with an adequate income, an education, good health, and a government that cares about the real wealth of its nation: its people. Over the past decades there have been unprecedented increases in material wealth and prosperity around the world. At the same time, the distribution of this wealth has been very uneven and prosperity has been enjoyed by a relatively small proportion of the people on this planet. Ironically, the Human Development Report, issued by the United Nations in 2006, provides information about human progress that is measured by the complex relationship between income and well-being. It does not take into consideration respect for human rights, democracy, and inequality. Progress in education, which the report does not address in much detail, is critical for human development in its own right and because of the way it is linked to health, equity, and empowerment. In 2002, a Youth Summit devoted to “Ukraine: Millennium Development Goals” was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. At that summit, Ukrainian youth appealed to the government for consolidated action for the sake of achieving the outlined goals. The ensuing recommendations offered new innovative solutions, not only for achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Ukraine, but also for adopting a complex strategic approach towards the development of Ukrainian society as a whole. It has often been said that a document bearing the signature of a head of state means very little and has no real significance until it has been ratified by the country’s political machinery; moreover, it becomes real only when it becomes the business of every citizen in that country. Much the same can be said about the international document listing the MDGs and signed by individuals representing their respective states at the United Nations. All of the MDGs are interwoven; for the goals to succeed, government, business, and society must cooperate. This cooperative structure is difficult to sustain even within the borders of individual states;
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