Asia-Pacific, Civil Society, Development & Aid, Headlines, Human Rights, Poverty & SDGs

DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Demand Human Rights Approach to Poverty

Zofeen Ebrahim

GENEVA, Jul 2 2007 (IPS) - A major civil society meet here was clear on what has been missing so far in the development dialogue – a ‘human rights approach’ to poverty and hunger.

Through the Jun. 28-30 Conference of United Nations’ NGOs (CONGO) at the Civil Society Development Forum held in Geneva, co-hosted by the U.N. Millennium Campaign, the sense was that only a ‘global partnership’ could eradicate poverty and hunger by 2015 as targeted.

"We want full involvement of civil society in the current and ongoing round of consultations and preparatory process leading up to the Doha 2008 Review Conference on Financing for Development" was the strongest recommendation at the forum’s conclusion. Others called for reform of international financial institutions and for debt cancellation and humanitarian relief not to be included in the definition of Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The recommendation, a result of a series of plenaries, roundtables and workshops, will most definitely act as a prologue to U.N. Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC’s) annual ministerial review taking place in Geneva this week. Applauding the forum’s work, Sha Zukang, the new Chinese under-secretary general for economic and social affairs, said: "Your voice is heard loud and clear. It will sharpen our focus when we discuss cutting edge issues of climate change, desertification and health, with particular emphasis on HIV and AIDS in the following days. The forum has proved beyond doubt that this growing interdependence can work well."

This was perhaps a first-ever sober public acknowledgement from the U.N. that its Milennium Development Goals (MDGs) may not be achieved if civil society voices remained in the periphery.

What was also acknowledged by the U.N. was that absence of sufficient funding and a strong political will retarded and hinder achievement of MDGs.


"The aim is to strengthen ECOSOC and the potential for civil society’s engagement in the process of U.N. reform with a view to enhancing the development agenda," said Renate Bloem, president of CONGO, at the concluding session.

NGOs can "thin barriers between what is going on at home and elsewhere," said ambassador Donu Romulus Costea, president of the Human Rights Council (HRC) of the U.N. "This is because NGOs are fastest at adapting to new circumstances and open to interfaces and interrelations with others unlike political parties."

However, the HRC president underscored that the road to development of democracy, human rights, and participation and decision-making also means taking these processes forward responsibly. ""If you want to exercise your right to these, then it must be with complete responsibility."

The same was endorsed by Cyril Hitchie, the general rapporteur of the forum, while terming it a "wake-up call to governments and a stand up call to civil society."

He stressed the need for civil society to observe standards and criteria that reinforce its action and credibility. At the same time, it was imperative that civil society organisations become critical and imaginative, "to persuade and lead governments to do their public duty, to keep their word, to adopt practices of solidarity and transparency, to listen to citizens," he said.

Hitchie called for work on civil society codes of conduct, codes of good practice and codes of accountability as the next logical step and a follow up to the forum. "There are some governments only too eager to impose rigid legal or administrative constraints on the existence and functioning of civil society organisations. If we can find agreement among ourselves on our own standards and codes, not only will we render governmental intervention superfluous, we will enhance our solidarity, our cohesion, our accountability and our capabilities."

While there was little doubt that the U.N. remained an "indispensable pillar of the world order" there were imperfections which seemed more pronounced now than ever before. For a reform in the U.N. system and to make it more efficient, the voice of the civil society needed to be heard. In turn, this would lead to a strengthening of governments.

The new-found voice of the civil society meant that governments needed to be questioned about their responsibilities. While global wealth has increased manifold, some 840 million people are still denied the right to food. Conversely, 1.2 trillion US dollars are spent on arms annually by countries, but what is the proportion of spending on education? Another challenge was that a large amount of revenue generated by developing countries was spent on paying debts.

At the same time, in the South, a predominantly agricultural region, most farmers were suffering due to huge subsidies and unfair trade policies of the World Trade Organisaton regime, thereby widening the gap between the rich and the poor. All these issues were in reference to the failure of the G8 meeting earlier this year and the failure of the rich countries to divert funds they have pledged in eradicating poverty, disease and hunger.

Engaging the private sector was also emphasised. "The private sector controls more social and economic decisions than a large number of governments, since it is at the base of employment creation, of the attraction and imperative of migration, of trans-national financial flows, of creating and cleaning up pollution," said Hitchie.

 
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