tigblogs

United Actions

In My Name: MDG Call to Action

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Speech by Rania Al Abdullah, Queen of Jordan
New York, September 27, 2008

...Eight years ago, with an eye to our own future and a belief that this could be the moment humanity would begin to reedem itself, we made a promise to the world and to ourselves - to reduce child mortality...halve poverty...eradicate inequality.

...And from food to clean water to immunizatons to education our progress towards the Millennium Development Goals has given hundreds of millions of people a chance to live a better life.

But behind these hundreds of millions lie hundreds of millions more - sons and daughters, husbands and wives - who still are struggling just to survive in a world of unparalleled abundance.

Right now we are failing to meet more than half of our MDG targets by our 2015 deadline.

We teach our children to keep their promises...but we've only kept half of ours. And much like half a book, half a boat, or half a brain, half a promise will never finish what it started, will never float, and will never reflect our true potential.

Really, half a promise is no promise at all.

Half a promise is an injustice.

We know it is a disgrace when a family must live without running water or sanitation.

We know it is a tragedy when a girl must stay at home while her brother goes to school.

We know it is a crime when giving birth becomes a death sentence for a mother simply because she has no access to the most basic medical care.

And while our half promise takes its toll on mllions of lives half-lived, it also symbolizes the lost profit, the lost prosperity, and the lost potential - spiritual and material - of the whole world.

Failing to keep our promise to the weak and the vulnerable should stir the deepest emtions of our souls, should inspire our most basic instincts of justice.

How can we justify holding out our hand to the young, the infirm and the desperate...only to take it away again? Because that's what we're doing, in my name, and in your name. Is this what we want?

Absolutely not!

In my name, I want all children to go to school.

In my name, I want the air they breathe, the food they eat and the water they drink to be abundant and clean.

In my name, I want their mothers to survive childbirth, vaccinate their young and watch their daughters thrive.

I want my name to be part of that great generation that embraced a stranger as a neighbour and helped humanity out of poverty.

So in the name of equality, justice and peace...

In my name and in your name, let' s fulfill the promise of the millennium.

And now to a name we all recognize: Will.I.Am.

ENDS

Tags:
You must be logged in to add tags.

Cayo Coco's Profile

Cayo Coco's Friends


Latest Posts


Universal Declaration...
Drinking Water and...
UA Survey on Global...
A Call for Humanity
World Water Day 2009

Monthly Archive


July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
May 2009

Change Language




Tags Archive


action actions belief changemakers child generation justice leader mdg name poverty questionofthemonth quoteoftheday reflections social socialchange socialentrepreneurs travel united

Filter By Type


Topics

Friends
A Better Community for All (ABC4All)
abdul-mumin
Adel
Alive Arts Media / / Alive Magazine
Danish Khan (webmaster@mdanishkhan.tk)
Francis Anyaegbu
Gudina Fufa Yadeta
Hansha Sanjyal
lazro81
Liam O'Doherty
Lice Movono
Namrud
PEACE-SEEKER
Rahel
Samie Durnford
Timothy Ogene
Yashoda
Yassir EL OUARZADI
Youth Fed
Yuel Bhatti

Links


United Actions


7401 views
Important Disclaimer