Érica Santana
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Brazil should adopt more ambitious goals for the millenium than the ones proposed by the United Nations (UN). This opinion was expressed by the coordinator of the Department of Social Studies of the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), Luís Fernando de Lara Resende, who, alongside the senior economic consultant of the United Nations Fund for Women (Unifem), Yassine Fall, participated in a seminar yesterday (28), in Brasília, on Politics and Race in the Millenium.

In 2000, Brazil and 189 other countries pledged to reduce inequalities and improve human development around the world. The UN proposed eight goals that should be accomplished by 2015: the elimination of hunger and extreme poverty; quality basic education for all; gender equality and protection of women's rights; reduction of infant mortality; improved health care for pregnant women; actions to combat Aids, malaria, and other diseases; environmental sustainability; and a global partnership for development.

In the opinion of the Unifem consultant, "the war on poverty should be carried out within a framework of macroeconomic policies." The disparities, she added, do not refer only to the economy, but to government policies. Fall said she believes that citizenship and the guarantee of human rights are the key to solving social inequalities.

Translation: David Silberstein