SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS 2002 POVERTY ERADICATION AWARD RECIPIENTS
‘BRING HOPE TO ALL OF US’, PARTICULARLY EARTH’S MOST VULNERABLE
Following are the remarks of Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the Sixth Annual Poverty Eradication Awards Dinner in New York on 30 October:
It is a pleasure to join you tonight and to congratulate the recipients of this year’s Poverty Eradication Awards.
Ms. Dotou, Mr. Rama, Mr. Enayetullah, Mr. Sinha, Mr. Sandor and Mr. Kodeih: each of you exemplifies the highest ideals of the United Nations.� You have demonstrated a powerful commitment to tens of thousands of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.� You have found innovative and sustainable solutions to the environmental challenges they face.� And you have overcome a range of daunting obstacles.� I am sure that I speak for every member of this audience in saying that your work is truly an inspiration.
I would also like to recognize an outstanding leader in the private sector for all he has done to combat another threat that affects us all:� HIV/AIDS.� John Demsey, the Chief Executive Officer of MAC Cosmetics, established the MAC AIDS Fund in 1994 to support men, women and children throughout the world affected by the disease.� To date, the Fund has raised $25 million to help curb the spread of the epidemic and to diminish its devastating impact.� We are grateful for your generous efforts and salute you as a model of corporate social responsibility.
In the last year, conferences in Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg have generated some of the high-level political support and financial commitments that are crucial if we are to eradicate extreme poverty, ensure environmental sustainability and meet the other Millennium Development Goals.
But, as I have told the Member States, the record so far is mixed, with marked differences between regions.� There is no magic formula that will determine whether the Millennium Development Goals are met or not.� Each country will have to find the right mix of policies that suits its local conditions.� But one key factor everywhere will certainly be the ability of governments, civil society organizations, private sector enterprises and others to forge partnerships and alliances for progress.
More than a billion people in our world live in extreme poverty.� While those of us who live in the New York region do not generally see that kind of suffering -- close to home, we have all witnessed a marked slowdown of the world
economy -- a downturn that is hard for everyone, but catastrophic for the poor, since it threatens to unravel hard-won gains in development.
So, let us keep our focus firmly on the targets that the world’s leaders have set.� And let us be glad that the human family includes men and women like this year’s winners of the 2002 Poverty Eradication Awards.� They bring hope to all of us, but most of all to the earth’s most vulnerable inhabitants.� Please, don’t stop this invaluable work.
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