Date:24/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/24/stories/2008092451421500.htm

National

Dalit agency to participate in U.N. meet

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR) will participate in a round-table on Millennium Development Goals (MDG) at the United Nations’ High-Level Event (HLE) representing civil society organisations.

All-India Convenor of NACDOR Ashok Bharti is the only Asian who has been nominated by the U.N. Non-Governmental Liaison Service and Millennium Campaign to address the HLE on ‘Poverty and Hunger.’ The HLE on the MDGs will take place at the U.N. headquarters in New York on September 25.

The event convened by the U.N. Secretary-General is meant to review the progress towards achievement of MDGs and identify gaps and motivate commitments to bridge the gaps.

The event will have thematic roundtables on ‘Poverty and Hunger,’ ‘Education and Health’ and ‘Environmental Sustainability.’

“We have crossed the half-way mark of the MDG achievement journey. But the situation in Asia, particularly most of South Asia, is far from satisfactory.

An alarming spectre of social exclusion haunts every concerned citizen. Government, civil society and the corporate sector need to come together to identify such factors in meeting the MDG targets,” Mr. Bharti said in a press release before leaving for New York.