Success is not an aim, it is a moral duty

Many reasons are put forward as to why the Millennium Development Goals should be supported. Since 9/11, arguments about security have come to the fore. Whatever the merits of that, the foundation of the MDGs is above all about justice and mercy. And whatever our professions, as politicians, diplomats, businessmen or indeed journalists, there is something humbling in looking at the stories of people whose material circumstances, experience and expectations are so much less than anyone likely to be reading this special report.

Before we are called to consider the MDGs from a professional standpoint, we are called to consider them as individuals and align ourselves, however temporarily, with the vast majority of our fellow human beings. Surely we can acknowledge this: that when our history is written, this will be a matter upon which judgments about our generations will be made. Did we rise to the Call to Action, or did we walk on by?

The MDGs encapsulate the desire to see justice done and mercy shown. Business, as this edition demonstrates, can help deliver them. There are numerous examples of good practice in these pages and plenty of reasons to be confident that business will contribute significantly to this. But the political classes cannot abdicate their role without the MDGs failing. Aid pledges must be met, debt relief fulfilled, and trade opened up. At a time of economic crisis such as this it is easy to focus on keeping the home fires burning, to harden our hearts against the themes of better days. This would be a mistake, but worse, it would be a crime.

The war on terror has filled the imagination, seized the headlines, appropriated funds, and defined the recent age. Reaffirming the MDGs offers an opportunity to restore a moral balance, and to stake a claim on history that will be celebrated across the world.