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	MDG Monitor by United Nations Development Program (UNDP)   Nov 1, 2007   The United Nations, Google and Cisco have unveiled a pioneering online site that tracks progress towards decreasing global poverty by 2015, a global campaign known as the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs.   UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the project, called MDG Monitor, and highlighted the urgent need to increase global cooperation.   "Achieving the Goals is a truly global task, requiring Governments, international organizations, private companies and civil society to work together,” said the Secretary-General.   MDG Monitor tracks progress toward the MDGs in a number of categories in nearly every country in the world. The site presents the most current data from multiple sources in development bellwethers like public health, education and women’s empowerment.   By laying out areas of progress and continuing challenge for the world to see, MDG Monitor aspires to keep the global community’s eye firmly fixed on the Millennium Goals, and to provide vital information for policy makers and development practitioners worldwide.   On one portion of the site, MDG Monitor allows a Web surfer to use Google Earth to fly anywhere on the planet and explore from above, in three dimensions, the places where work is being done to realize the MDGs. With a few simple clicks, users can access country assessments and data collected by the UN worldwide.   MDG Monitor enables more than 300 million Google Earth users to better understand the MDGs and what it will take to achieve them” said Michael T. Jones of Google.   “Cisco understands the critical importance of working in partnership with others to help make the Millennium Development Goals a reality," said Carlos Dominguez, Senior Vice President of Cisco.   UNDP, in its designated role as MDG scorekeeper, initiated MDG Monitor as an innovative means of keeping track of progress and raising awareness at the same time.   Although almost eight years have passed since the MDGs were first introduced, today just short of one billion people live on less than one dollar a day, every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday, and in deeply impoverished nations less than half of the children are in primary school and fewer than 20 percent go to secondary school.   “MDG Monitor hopes to rally new resources and help build momentum for achieving a more equitable and sustainable world for all” . Visit the related web page
	Reform programmes should not undermine basic rights says UN Expert by Bernard Mudho Times of India   26 Oct 2007   International financial institutions and wealthy States while imposing structural reform programmes on poor countries should ensure that they do not undermine their basic cultural, social and economic rights, an independent UN human rights expert said on Friday.   Bernard Mudho, the Human Rights Council''s Independent Expert on the effects of economic reform policies and foreign debt on the full enjoyment of all human rights, made the remarks while unveiling draft guidelines for financial institutions and industrialized States to follow when pursuing economic restructuring programmes in developing countries.   Mudho told a committee of Assembly that the draft guidelines include a provision calling on institutions demanding repayment of foreign debts to ensure that a debtor country is not prevented from fulfilling its human rights obligations to its citizens as a result.   Moreover, whenever major economic reform programmes are being considered, including macroeconomic stabilisation, trade liberalisation and social sector reform, social, cultural and economic impact assessments should be conducted first, he added.   Human rights obligations should also play a vital role during international trade negotiations, Mudho said.   Loan performance should be monitored by both creditors and borrowers, he stressed, adding the agreements should allow for the review of loan conditions. The Independent Expert also said the global lending economy should also agree on common lending principles.   The guidelines are now being circulated among member states and others and Mudho said he hoped the draft would serve as a basis for constructive discussions on issues of economic management.
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