Assessing progress in fulfilling commitments.

• Author: Wheeler, Rob
• Position: Preparation for the United Nations Millenium Summit

The General Assembly is finalizing plans for a Millennium Summit, which will likely take place during the Millennium General Assembly in October or November of the year 2000. The Summit will "provide guidance to the United Nations for meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century". In preparation, the Secretariat is to host a series of consultations, which will be held principally at Regional UN Centres in the fall of 1999. In response to these consultations in which civil society has been assured a substantive role, the Secretary-General will draft a report containing specific recommendations for the Millennium Summit, which will then go to the Assembly for consideration.

Meanwhile, civil society and the non-governmental organization (NGO) community have engaged in a series of consultations and planning meetings over the past year. Efforts are well under way for a series of events, from the local to global level, culminating in a Millennium Forum, scheduled to be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York late in the spring of 2000. Cross-cutting and thematic issues have been identified, and convenors put in place to draft recommendations for the Secretary-General's report and to give input to the Millennium Summit itself.

Over the past decade, specific action plans have been agreed to by the nation States at each of the UN-sponsored global conferences. Much of the responsibility for implementation, however, has devolved to these States. While follow-up activities have gone forward, many people have been disappointed with the limited progress in fulfilling commitments.

For example, the target for developed countries of increasing official development assistance (ODA) to 0.7 per cent of gross national product has eluded us, as most of...