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Press Releases

MEDIA NOTICE:
UNDP Report examines links between the Millennium Development Goals and Human Development

Ottawa, July 7, 2003. The 2003 edition of the Human Development Report will be officially released in Ottawa on Tuesday, 8 July. The Report offers a timely analysis of the range of human development in the world, noting that it is vast and uneven, with astounding progress in some areas, amidst stagnation and dismal decline in others. Balance and stability in the world will require the commitment of all nations, rich and poor, and a global development compact to extend the wealth of possibilities to all people.

The 14th edition of the annual Human Development Report, commissioned by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), calls for a partnership between rich and poor countries and outlines new approaches to aid and development. The pledge by world leaders to lift hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty by 2015 can be achieved - but only if poor countries pursue wide-ranging reforms and wealthy nations respond with improved trade terms and increased aid. The Human Development Report 2003 introduces a new plan of action - the "Millennium Development Contract" to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The eight goals, endorsed by all Members of the UN, set out a series of time-bound and quantifiable targets ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

The Human Development Report 2003 includes and updates the widely respected Human Development Index (HDI) that compares the relative levels of human development in 175 countries, and presents data tables on various aspects of human development. In previous years Canada has regularly stood at or near the top of the HDI (3rd in 2002).

THE PUBLIC LAUNCH OF THE REPORT

Mr. Normand Lauzon, Executive Secretary of the UNDP Capital Development Fund, will officially launch the 2003 Report. His presentation will be followed by comments by Mr. Bruce Montador, VP of the Multilateral Programmes Branch at CIDA, and by John Foster, Senior Researcher at the North-South Institute.