Days from now, the human family will welcome its seven billionth member.
Some say our planet is too crowded. I say we are seven billion strong.
The world has made remarkable progress since the United Nations was born 66 years ago today.
We are living longer. More of our children survive. More and more of us live at peace, under democratic rule of law.
As we have seen in this dramatic year, people everywhere are standing up for their rights and human freedoms.
And yet … all this progress is under threat. From economic crisis. Rising joblessness and inequality. Climate change.
Around the world, too many people live in fear. Too many people believe their governments and the global economy can no longer deliver for them.
In these turbulent times, there is only one answer: unity of purpose.
Global problems demand global solutions.
They compel all nations to unite in action on an agenda for the world’s people.
That is the very mission of the United Nations:
To build a better world.
To leave no one behind.
To stand for the poorest and most vulnerable in the name of global peace and social justice.
On this special day, let us recognize:
Never has the United Nations been so needed.
In our increasingly interconnected world, we all have something to give and something to gain by working together.
Let us unite, seven billion strong, in the name of the global common good.
Days from now, the human family will welcome its seven billionth member. Some say our planet is too crowded. I say we are seven billion strong.
We will only be able to exploit that strength for the benefit of all if our societies are built on tolerance, empathy and understanding. I therefore welcome the theme of this UN Day concert, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Mongolia to the United Nations, which celebrates cultural diversity.
I well remember my visit to Mongolia in 2009. I stayed overnight in a ger, the one-room tent that traditional herders share with their family. I was asked to name a newborn takhi, an endangered species of wild horse in Mongolia. I called it Peace, “Enkhtaivan”, in Mongolian. I also enjoyed an evening of traditional entertainment such as we will experience tonight.
Our increasingly interconnected world affords endless opportunities for learning about and interacting with other cultures and traditions. Yet, those same networks also offer a too-convenient avenue for mobilizing the myopic hatred that can spawn a range of ills from discrimination to genocide. Our challenge is to build a better world -- more just, more tolerant, more inclusive. We all have something to give and something to gain by appreciating each other’s diversity and working together in common cause.
In these turbulent times, we must all seek unity of purpose. That is the very mission of the United Nations: to leave no one behind; to stand for the poorest and most vulnerable; and to stand against intolerance in the name of global peace and social justice. On this special day, let us unite, seven billion strong, in the name of the global common good.
Ban Ki-moon
UN Day Concert
Traditionally, UN Day is marked by an international concert in the General Assembly Hall.
The 2011 UN Day Concert will take place on Thursday, 27 October 2011, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall at UN Headquarters in New York.
In observance of the 66th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Organization, the concert this year is sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Mongolia to the United Nations, and is being dedicated to Celebrating Cultural Diversity.
Programme
Featuring the Mongolian National Horse Fiddle Ensemble and the National Academic Ensemble of Folk Song and Dance, the 90-minute concert will feature a selection of Mongolian traditional music, opera, contortion and dance, as well as contemporary pieces and world classics.
The concert will be available live and delayed on UN Webcast and Time Warner Cable Channel 150 in the New York City area.
The morin khuur is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation. The morin khuur is one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity identified by UNESCO. It produces a sound which is poetically described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing, or like a breeze in the grasslands.
Long-Song
This genre is called "Long song" (Urtyn duu) because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration. A four-minute song may only consist of ten words. Lyrical themes vary depending on context; they can be philosophical, religious, romance, or celebratory, and often use horses as a symbol or theme repeated throughout the song.
Throat Singing
Perhaps the best-known musical form of the Mongols is the throat
singing tradition known as hoomii. Sung differently than traditional
vocals, this unique type of singing involves the production of two
distinctively audible pitches at the same time, including a low pedal
note, or drone, derived from the fundamental frequency of the vocal
cord vibrations, and higher melodic notes that result when the
singer's mouth acts as a filter, selecting one note at a time from
among the drone's natural overtone series pitches. Download Programme
Major work areas and accomplishments
Classifications
Dissemination of Global Statistics
Distributive Trade
Energy Statistics
Environment Statistics
Environmental-Economic Accounting
Gender Statistics
Geospatial Information
Industry Statistics
Information Technology
International Merchandise Trade
International Trade in Services and Tourism
Millennium Development Goals
National Accounts
Population and Housing Censuses
Social Statistics
United Nations Statistics Division
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
For further information, contact: statistics@un.org
Visit our site at: unstats.un.org
Although extreme poverty has been significantly reduced since 1990, major gains in the attainment of eradicating extreme poverty are likely to have stalled due to the economic downturn. Nevertheless, according to the World Bank Global Monitoring Report 2010, the overall poverty rate is still expected to fall to 15 percent by 2015, indicating that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target can be met.
Trends vary among the regions, with sub-Saharan Africa lagging far behind the others. For instance, it is estimated that the poverty rate there will reach 38 percent by 2015. Poverty affects women and girls differently than men and boys: although both women and men may be poor, women and girls often are less able to pull themselves out of poverty than men and boys due to discrimination, lower status, and conditions and opportunities that are more limited.
Hunger, low agricultural output, expanding populations, low private sector development, and a lack of access to credit also accounts for many of the obstacles facing the world's poor. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger (MDG 1) - CIDA
Basic education has a direct and proven impact on poverty reduction and sustainable development. Globally, primary school enrolment and completion rates are showing significant improvement:
Primary school enrolment has increased by 25 million children between 1999 and 2005
More girls are attending school than ever before
Gender parity in primary schools has been achieved in two thirds of all countries
Despite this progress, important challenges remain. While enrolment in primary education has continued to rise, reaching 89 percent in the developing world, up from 83 percent in 2000, global numbers of out-of-school children are dropping too slowly and too unevenly for the target to be reached by 2015. There are also huge disparities between regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, even if the enrolment increased by 18 percentage points―from 58 percent to 76 percent―between 1999 and 2008, it is estimated that 45 percent of children remained out-of-school.
Persistent gaps and challenges that need to be addressed include girls' exclusion, reaching the most marginalized, and ensuring quality education in fragile states, which account for almost half of all out-of-school children. The gender gap in the out-of-school population has also narrowed: the share of girls in this group decreased from 57 percent to 53 percent globally between 1999 and 2008. Again, progress is uneven: 28 countries still have a gender parity index of less than 0.97. Of these countries, 18 are in sub-Saharan Africa.
MDG 3, the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment, is the only Millennium Development Goal that is both a goal in itself and is recognized as essential to the achievement of all other Millennium Development Goals. Evidence compiled by the World Bank from 73 countries shows that the incidence of poverty tends to be lower and that economic growth tends to be higher in countries with greater equality between women and men.
Nonetheless, global progress on achieving MDG 3 is lagging. The target of eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 has already been missed, although progress has been made. In the developing regions as a whole, 96 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 2008, compared to 91 in 1999. Eliminating gender disparity at all education levels by 2015 may still be possible, but the other indicators for MDG 3 show progress to be slow. For example, in parliamentary representation, while global proportion of seats held by women continues to rise slowly, averaging 19 percent as of January 2010, a third of developing countries still have less than 10 percent or no female representation in parliament at all.
Many childhood illnesses can be prevented through proper nutrition, healthcare, and basic medical treatment. Yet every year, approximately 8.8 million children under the age of five die from preventable illnesses.
In many countries, the major causes of ill health and death among children continue to be malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and a lack of basic infrastructure and access to good quality primary health care. Four diseases―pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, and AIDS―accounted for 43 percent of all deaths in children under five worldwide in 2008. Most of these lives could have been saved through low-cost prevention and treatment measures. Discrimination against women and girls also exists within families, often resulting in boys being given preference for food and access to healthcare, while girls may be denied treatment and care.
While some regions are on track to achieve MDG 4 by 2015, many countries remain behind, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where some countries have experienced increases in child mortality due to HIV/AIDS. MDG 4 - Reduce Child Mortality - CIDA
Featuring the Mongolian National Horse Fiddle Ensemble and the National Academic Ensemble of Folk Song and Dance, the 90-minute concert will feature a selection of Mongolian traditional music, opera, contortion and dance, as well as contemporary pieces and world classics.
