In 2000, the United Nations and its partners decided upon a set of goals to improve the well-being of the world’s poor.  These eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were promised to be met by 2015.

There have been numerous success stories from the aid that these various MDG’s produced. Many people claim some goals have been met or are very close to being met. Others say the world is far from meeting any of these goals. For the most part, however, people agree these goals will not be met by 2015 due to aid either being reneged or countries choosing to not fully commit.

“It’s clear that come 2015, the world’s report card on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be scored incomplete,” says President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Dr. Babatunede Osotimehin. Unfortunately, what stands in the way of these goals is a lack of financial commitment by various countries. This commitment asked by the United Nations is a 0.7 percent gross national commitment.

If all of the wealthiest countries make this commitment, it would create enough aid to meet these MDG’s and beyond, eventually eradicating global poverty. Many countries have already made this commitment. Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden and the Netherlands have fully committed 0.7 percent and many other countries are on their way to committing, either this year or the next.

Unfortunately, there remain five countries that refuse to make the commitment: Japan, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and the United States.  In 2007, then Senator Barack Obama requested this commitment be made. Named the Global Poverty Act, this bill did pass in the House but was thrown out of the Senate.

If the U.S. were to make this commitment of 0.7 percent, it would create national security, control overpopulation and improve the economy. The number one thing that citizens can do is pick up the phone and tell their representatives to support the 0.7 percent commitment to meet these MDG goals and beyond. This will eventually eradicate poverty, hunger, child mortality and disease across the world.

– Amy Robinson