Prime Minister PJ Patterson, speaking Saturday for 134 of the world's developing nations, including China, echoed many leaders when he reminded UN members that the world was nowhere close to meeting development targets.

Prime Minister Percival James Patterson of Jamaica addresses the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday. (Photo: AP)

"At the current pace, some regions and countries will miss several of the MDGs by decades," Patterson said. "In certain areas, such as the elimination of hunger, we would be centuries away."

Earlier, Secretary General Kofi Annan, armed with what he called the most significant blueprint for reform in UN history, opened the annual General Assembly by urging countries to quickly create new human rights and peacebuilding machinery, and address the risks of nuclear proliferation and "catastrophic terrorism."

World leaders at the precursor summit to the general assembly, adopted a document that commits them to an overhaul of the world body and efforts to fight poverty, human rights abuses and terrorism.

While many sweeping changes Annan had wanted were gutted from the document because of bitter diplomatic disputes, he cited positives in the pledges to double the budget of the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and to commit an additional US$50 billion (euro 41 billion) a year towards economic development.

"The scale of this achievement seems to have been missed by some," Annan said. "So let's make sure we live up to our promises to the world's poor."

Patterson, speaking as chairman of the G77, on the theme 'For a Stronger and more Effective United Nations', referred to the latest Human Development Report (UNDP), saying one-fifth of humanity survive on less than US$1 per day and 2.5 billion people fail to earn US$2 daily.

The G77 currently has 134 members.
"The development goals and targets cannot be met within the time-frames in the absence of a massive addition of resources - financial and professional," he appealed.

"No one can remain safe and secure or even content while living in an oasis of wealth surrounded by a desert of poverty."

Significant portions of developing country resources, he added, have been to finance debt servicing payments to the multilateral development banks and to increase foreign exchange reserves held in developed countries.

Patterson appealed for "policy space" for developing countries to act effectively, saying the timing and quality of the resource flows were important for their development agenda.

"In this regard the G-77 and China calls for the elimination of aid conditionalities which constrict the policy options for developing countries and the real effectiveness of development cooperation," said Patterson.

"Further, we stress the need to cease the use of unilateral coercive measures against developing countries. It is wrong to apply the weight of economic power to pressure developing countries for political purposes."

For the first time, leaders at the UN accepted a collective international responsibility to protect people from genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

"No cause, no movement and no grievance can justify the intentional killing of innocent civilians and noncombatants," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The absence of a definition of terrorism was seen as one of the key failings of the summit document adopted Friday, although it included a condemnation of terrorism in all its forms.

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