For once, the MDGs are all over the place. Sadly, the media reporting is at best, as bland and vague as the UN jargon, when not downright disheartened. Yesterday, La Libre (a respected, French-speaking Belgian daily) titled its piece about the New York meeting "Diplomatic Masturbation" on page 18. But there was hope on page 55, where Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, signed an opinion column called "The reasons why it failed". De Schutter actually has a 'simple' explanation.

The rapporteur complains that the MDGs only focus on the symptoms of poverty: by putting numbers on quantifiable objectives, to be matched with adequate spending, the MDGs make us lose sight of the structural causes. Here's where we should start: first, abolishing tax havens to crack down on corruption; second, making the financial system fairer for developing countries; and finally, getting rid of external debt. That's one daunting piece of work, but at least the targets are less dispersed.

More interestingly even, de Schutter believes a key to development is shifting the goals from needs to rights, to turn passive aid recipients into actors. "The 925 million hungry people on Earth deserve better than charity," he writes. "They must be able to claim the respect of a human right enshrined in international law: the right to food."

Obviously, that's right up his alley. But de Schutter's point is strong and beautifully made. The more you think or learn about development, the more complex - and hence discouraging - it becomes. I love that one person can boil down complexity to such a clear, powerful solution. Even if it's easier said than done.