Introduction
The General Assembly, by its resolution 53/202 of 17 December 1998, decided to designate the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly as “The Millennium Assembly of the United Nations”, and to convene, as an integral part of the Millennium Assembly, a Millennium Summit of the United Nations.
The Millennium Summit was held from during September 2000 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and targets originated from the “United Nations Millennium Declaration”. The Declaration asserted that every individual has the right to dignity, freedom, equality, a basic standard of living that includes freedom from hunger and violence and encourages tolerance and solidarity. It was signed by 189 countries, including 147 heads of State and at least 23 international organizations, during the Millennium Summit and met further agreement by member states at the 2005 World Summit.
The world leaders who gathered at the Summits, committed their nations to a new global partnership between the developed countries and the developing countries "to create an environment - at the national and global levels alike - which is conducive to development and the elimination of poverty”, and set out a series of time-bound targets, with a deadline of 2015, which have become known, since the Millennium Summit, as the MDGs.
These are, to:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empowering women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development1
Each goal is further divided in to a number of targets but the goals and targets are interrelated and should be seen as a whole. The goals and targets are further accompanied by a number of
Bibliography: Commonwealth Foundation. National Report: Pakistan. A civil society review of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in Commonwealth countries, 2013. Planning Commission, Pakistan Millennium Development Goals Report 2010. Islamabad: Creative Junction, 2010. http://moptt.gov.pk/gop/index.php?q=aHR0cDovLzE5Mi4xNjguNzAuMTM2L21vcHR0bS9wb2xpY2llc0RldGFpbHMuYXNweA%3D%3D (accessed 17 Jan, 2014) Government of Pakistan