The Secretary-General's agenda: prioritizing commitment to combat global poverty.

• Author: Yunus, Muhammad
• Position: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

As the first Secretary-General of the United Nations elected in the twenty-first century, Ban Ki-moon has inherited responsibilities that span the globe and run the gamut of issues, which included peace, prosperity and everything in between.

Global interconnectedness and rapidly advancing technology have spawned a whole new set of challenges and opportunities, without closing the book on the old. In these increasingly complex times, the Secretary-General will be pressed to manage an array of difficult and deadly conflicts that will flare up in a moment's notice. However, it is imperative that he also prioritizes the global poverty agenda--humanity's pre-eminent moral issue.

Poverty is a chronic problem that impinges on global security issues and plagues nearly half of the world's people. Poverty is a threat to peace. By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 to Grameen Bank, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has given support to the proposition that peace is inextricably linked to poverty. About 40 per cent of the global population lives on 94 per cent of world income. Half of the population lives on $2 a day, with over a billion people living on less than half of that. This is no formula for peace--the frustrations, hostilities and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society.

Poverty is not new, but there are creative new strategies for addressing it. The new millennium began with a great global dream. In 2000 and again in 2005, the United Nations affirmed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the world's anti-poverty agenda, with an overarching objective of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger in half by 2015. The eight MDGs reinforce the reality that poverty must be fought on multiple fronts and that economic and social developments are inextricably linked. Thus, the MDGs include benchmarks for achieving universal education, protecting the environment, improving maternal and children's health and fighting diseases. Reminding nations of the importance of marshalling the political will necessary to implement these goals should be a primary objective of the new Secretary-General's term.

The United Nations convening power can also help advance the cause of poverty alleviation. As former Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said, the MDGs can be accomplished "only if we break with business as usual". Mr. Ban, as the current head of the world's platform for international cooperation, is in a unique position to bring...