President Abdelwahad Radi
Colleagues
Ladies and gentlemen.
I wish to thank the people and Parliament of Ecuador for hosting this exceptionally thought provoking and vibrant 128th session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), in this beautiful and scenic city of Quito.
All over the world the search for a better quality of life for all is underway. The financial and poverty crisis, disease, conflict, and climate change, amongst others are adding urgency to the search for alternatives to our current production and consumption models. Clearly, the world cannot continue on its current course.
There is therefore an urgent need for an agenda aimed at transformative change leading to a shared secure and sustainable future for all. Within developing and emerging countries, the ideal of a united world, a desire for happiness and a good life for all lie at the heart of recent debates on sustainable development.
“BuenVivir” which has been championed most notably by countries such as Ecuador and Bolivia, challenges us to approach conventional paradigms of development differently.
This account of “BuenVivir”, which is a principle of indigenous origin, constructs a different worldview.
A world in which people are always in harmony with the universe and with nature, where harm to the environment means that basic human rights are not attainable.
President Rafael Correa explains “BuenVivir” as follows:
“To live well means to live in harmony with everyone and everything, between humans and Mother Earth; and it consequently implies working for the dignity of all. It is more important than ever to know how to share, to know how to distribute wealth equitably. What belongs to the people is for the people.”
Mr President
As Africans the concept of “BuenVivir” is neither new nor foreign, it’s been with us for centuries. African philosophy draws deeply on concepts of sharing. South Africa has drawn extensively on the concept of “Ubuntu and Ukwama” meaning “living well so that others can also live well.”
Such as Ecuador and Bolivia, the South African Constitution’s Bill of Rights also seeks to preserve and enhance human dignity and substantive equality, by encompassing all three generations of rights. It will be recalled that South Africa was the first country to introduce third generation rights in its Constitution.
Our Constitution takes into considerable account the rights of indigenous people, and the strong factual relationship between environmental degradation and the impairment of human rights.
Mr President,
As South Africans, we are acutely aware, that no democracy can survive and flourish if the majority of our people remain in poverty, without access to land and tangible prospects of a better quality life. Attacking poverty and deprivation is therefore the first priority of our government and people.
To deepen democracy and further translate political emancipation into economic wellbeing and a better quality of life, our government has through an extensive consultation process with legislators, civil society and regional and international stakeholders developed a National Development Plan.
The National Development Plan, which is an action plan for the next thirty years emphasises amongst others:
Firstly, inclusive growth and the expansion of productive employment, which include new sources of greener growth and employment, interventions to bring the youth into the economy and investment in education and skills training, health services and nutrition.
Secondly, redistribution of income and wealth, which includes social protection as we recognise the benefits in providing an income floor, and the transformation of our banking system to include micro finance to the poor and the landless.
Thirdly, environmental sustainability; and
Fourthly, pro-poor macro-economic policies.
Taken together, these sets of policies offer the prospect of broadening the base of our economy, thereby including more of our people more actively in the creation and spreading economic benefits more widely.
Mr President,
The post 2015 discussion on what should succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is gaining momentum.
The latest projections emanating from the United Nations suggest that sadly, in 2015, almost one billion people will still live in extreme poverty. Many still do not have clean water or proper sanitation; many still, will, be suffering from hunger, the burden of preventable diseases, gender discrimination and more. Such suffering is inconsistent with the vision of dignity, equity, freedom, peace and prosperity of the Millennium Development Goals.
To have the impact the people of the world demand, any post 2015 arrangement must take into account the lessons of over a decade of implementing the existing MDGs and must be shaped by the profound global change since the MDGs were first introduced.
As Joe Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Jean-Paul Fitoussi pointed out in their seminal work on the measurement of economic performance and social progress, “what we measure must reflect what we do.” And so it follows that we have to be sure that we are measuring the things that really matter and that the things that really matter are being measured in the right way.
Overall the next global development agenda needs to address the significant problem of inequality which has stood in the way of reaching the MDG targets.
The significant impact of climate change has to find expression in the future development goals as well.
Mr President,
The devastating impact of climate change which is strongly felt in developing countries must be part of the future sustainable development framework.
It is indeed high time that we begin focusing on implementing real solutions.
We are encouraged by the decision taken by Member states at the Rio+20 Summit in Brazil that future sustainable development goals should be “coherent with and integrated into the United Nations Development Agenda beyond 2015.”
Taking this approach forward will require countries to adopt integrated approaches which advance economic, social and environmental objectives simultaneously.
Mr President,
Governance impacts greatly on development outcomes. No conflict affected low-income country has achieved a single MDG.
Going forward, the post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals should reflect the understanding that development is impossible without peace, just as peace is impossible without sustainable development.
Lasting peace and sustainable development is also impossible without respect for all human rights, the rule of law, realising also environmental socio-economic and cultural rights
Mr President,
The IPU’s proposal that the new development framework should include a goal directly related to “democratic governance” but not limited to the capacities and functions of parliaments must find its rightful place in future sustainable development goals.
I wish to conclude with the words of former President Mandela and I quote: "We operate in a world which is searching for a better life- without the imprisonment of dogma:” We need new approaches to people centred development.
We as Parliamentarians must make sure that it does happen. We must make sure that we are part of the design of the next generation of global development goals.
Muchas Gracias.
