The Political Science Department took a group of Iona students to the United Nations Conference on Millennial Development Goals on Nov. 19. 

The annual event was held in the Salvation Army in Manhattan this year, rather than the UN building, because it is currently under construction. The event’s purpose is to educate students about the problems facing the modern world and how the UN is trying to combat those problems.

“For the past three years, I have participated in the UN conferences on the Millennial Development Goals, and I was not about to pass this one up! As a political science major, international relations interests me greatly, and this annual trip is a great opportunity to learn about it,” Coordinator and Chapter President of Democracy Matters Jesse Ouellette said.

Each year, the conference focuses on a different topic, and this year it focused on the issue of water and sanitation which was declared as a basic human right by the UN on July 28.

According to the UN website on Millennial Development Goals, the UN resolves to “Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.”

The Millennial Development Goals, or MDGs, are a group of anti-poverty goals set to reduce social and economic problems that the UN hopes to reach by 2015.  The goals are supported with the adoption of a global action plan and other independent initiatives.

“I learned about the importance of water as a basic human right and what the UN is doing in order to reach their goal that every human has access to clean, renewable water,” freshman attendee Ryan Bacci said.

The UN is primarily targeting rural areas and underdeveloped countries as part of its plan to increase access to clean water.  The UN believes that it will reach its goal of halving the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water, but it predicts that it will not do the same with those without access to sanitation.  Southern Asia has been identified as the worst area in terms of proper sanitation.

The conference aims to educate all types of students on the MDGs.  Ouellette knew a lot about the MDGs and was excited to learn about the latest development.  However, Bacci was not very familiar with the goals prior to the conference.

“The conference was extremely enlightening on the problems concerning water sustainability and the effects we have on the environment,” Bacci said.

The trip to the conference was sponsored by the Political Science Department and led by Department Chair Tricia Mulligan.

“Dr. Mulligan has also been great about including them [the Millennial Development Goals] in her international relations classes,” Ouellette said.

The issues discussed at the conference relate to topics discussed in political science classes at Iona.

“I was interested in the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the UN from my political science class.  I wanted to gain a better understanding of the NGO’s and their goals,” Bacci said.

The conference speakers discussed the different individual efforts as well as the efforts of the NGO’s to provide clean water to all humans.

The conference is a great way for political science students to learn more about major issues facing the governments of the world today.

“I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in human rights or international politics. We are lucky to be only a half hour away from the UN proper, and the opportunities for education it offers should never be passed up,” Ouellette said.