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Broadband Commission Open Letter to UNSG’s Panel of Eminent Persons
Geneva, 5 April 2013 - Today, United Nations agencies and
their worldwide partners will observe the 1000-day mark until 2015, the due date
for delivery of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development through its
Broadband Commissioners is publishing an
Open Letter to the United Nations Secretary General Mr Ban
Ki-moon’s Panel of Eminent Persons, the high-level body of leaders from the
public and private sectors, tasked with brainstorming ideas for a post-2015
development agenda.
“We call on the members of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel to
recognize the power and promise of broadband applications and services to expand
people’s horizons and opportunities, enhance their freedom of expression and
civic participation, better share their culture and hence foster understanding,
enable people to engage freely in self-expression and the exchange of ideas, and
sow the seeds of genuine learning, as well as quality education for all.”
“That is why, in particular, any set of measurable goals and targets agreed
upon as part of the post-2015 development agenda should explicitly include
broadband.”
In his video address to mark the 1000-day countdown to the MDGs, Mr Ban noted
the progress in what he termed “the most successful global anti-poverty push in
history”. World poverty has halved, child mortality is dropping and more girls
are now in school than ever before. But the challenges are on-going, and Mr Ban
called for 1000% effort in the final push towards 2015.
Join the conversation at #MDGmomentum and help by tweeting photos that
illustrate the impact that broadband and ICTs have on the MDGs and for
communities around the world. Also, don’t forget to vote for phone and internet
access in the UN’s My World
survey.
View the full text of the Broadband Commission Open Letter to the High-Level
Panel –
here.
Learn more about the
Broadband
Commission and join the conversation via
Facebook
and Twitter.
Download MDG posters and infographics and watch UNSG Ban Ki-moon’s 1000 day
countdown address –
here.
For more information, please contact:
Paul Conneally
Head of Communications and Partnership Promotion Division, ITU
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