Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking yesterday at the Rio+20 Conference on 
Sustainable Development outlined a series of actions he believes the global community must take over the next five years to build the future we want. In a speech to the General Assembly last September Mr. Ban presented five imperatives or generational opportunities that must be addressed to ensure a better future for the world’s people. These are sustainable development; preventing and mitigating conflicts, human rights abuses and the impacts of natural disasters; building a safer and more secure world; supporting countries in transition; and working to engage the talents of women and young people. Today I want to share with you an action agenda for the coming five years, he told the Assembly as he returned to the rostrum to brief Member States on his vision for his second term.
A plan to help create a safer, more secure, more sustainable, more equitable future. A plan to build the future we want. A plan to make the most of the opportunities before us. A plan to help create a safer, more secure, more sustainable, more equitable future. A plan to build the future we want, he said. The action agenda presented today describes specific measures regarding each of the five imperatives, including an unprecedented campaign to wipe out five of the world’s major killers malaria, polio, paediatric HIV infections, maternal and neonatal tetanus, and measles.
Mr. Ban also announced that the UN will work with Member States to make Antarctica a World Nature Preserve and that he will appoint a new special representative for youth. Among his other proposals is the convening of a first-of-its-kind World Humanitarian Summit to help share knowledge and establish common best practices, and the creation of a New UN Partnerships Facility to harness the full power of transformative partnerships across the world body. Waves of change are surging around us, he told the Assembly. If we navigate wisely, we can create a more secure and sustainable future for all. The United Nations is the ship to navigate these waters.
Wonderful to have a plan to build a future we want, however, I am becoming very, very cautious when I hear something like “an unprecedented campaign to wipe out five of the world’s major killers malaria, polio, paediatric HIV infections, maternal and neonatal tetanus, and measles”… What exactly is meant by that? I hope that we are talking about unprecedented measures of hygiene, information campaigns, ethical measures. Everything but vaccines that surely are not what creates safe and sustainable future for our children or ourselves.
Just a thought that raced through my mind hearing this statement.
Thanks for the post!