The millennium declaration set out a long list of aims in areas such as peace and security, development and poverty eradication, environmental protection and human rights. The Millennium Development Goals flowing from it consist of eight overarching aims such as ‘Eradicate extreme poverty’ and ‘Reduce child mortality’, coupled with targets such as reducing by half the proportion of people suffering from hunger, or reducing by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five.
The MDGs, as they are widely known, were to form a focus for international development cooperation, in the hope they would generate renewed momentum towards meeting many previous commitments.
