OSLO - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that providing sustainable energy to billions of poor people in the world is a precondition for improving the human rights situation developing countries.
At a joint press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Norwegian Environment Minister Erik Solheim, Ban called on developed countries like Norway to really think about these people and do more to help them.

Three billion people, almost 40 percent of the global population, do not have access to sustainable energy in today's world, Ban Ki-moon said.

"How can you ensure the human rights, how can you talk about human rights when they are completely out of access from energy?" he asked.

Developed countries should focus on providing affordable, safe and clean energy access for the poor in developing countries, Ban said, adding that" providing energy access will be part of promoting human rights."

Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Oslo on Sunday and attended Monday's opening ceremony of a two-day international conference on "Energy for All, financing access for the poor," said that sustainable energy is crucial for sustainable development and universal access to sustainable energy must be made possible for all people by 2030.

The targets set in his Sustainable Energy for All initiative will be achieved through doubling energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by that time, Ban said.

He said that he has made sustainable energy UN's top priority for the coming five years during his second term as the UN secretary-general. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg echoed Ban's view on the relationship between providing energy for the poor and promoting human rights. (Xinhua)