UN General Assembly
2013

flourish if labour languishes. Transportation cannot prosper if manufacturing declines. The general welfare cannot be provided for in any one act, but it is well to remember that the benefit of one is the benefit of all, and the neglect of one is the neglect of all.” (A/64/PV.7, p. 32) With the ever-increasing gaps in equality among nations, the challenges for developing countries over the years have remained vast. In trying to address the issue of inequality and to diminish very basic human challenges by 2015, world leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration (resolution 55/2) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were described as a milestone in international cooperation. With a 15-year timespan for their implementation, the Declaration was widely expected to inspire development and to directly improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people. They are the people who are struggling to survive in the most basic living conditions and who are suffering from the effects of poverty, gender inequities, ill health and environmental degradation. Thirteen years have gone by, and what do we, as a