Summary: November 15, 2004: STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE EUROPEAN UNION BY MR. GERTON VAN DEN AKKER, ADVISOR, SECOND COMMITTEE. Agenda item 89a: Implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (New York)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honor to take the floor on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia, the Countries of the Stabilization and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.
Eradicating poverty is one of the greatest global challenges the world faces today. More than 1.2 billion people - one in every five on earth - struggle to survive on less than $1 a day; 2.7 billion live on less than $2. But poverty has more dimensions than simply an absence of assets and income: poor women, men and children are especially vulnerable to economic shocks, environment degradation, natural disasters, health hazards, violence and crime. They often have poor access to education,
adequate health and social services, clean water and sanitation, adequate housing, microfinance, as well as to jobs and decent working conditions. In addition, poor people are generally deprived of their enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms and are often excluded from any say in political decision-making. In addition, poor people need particular attention from states in being able to better enjoy and assert their economic and social rights, along with greater inclusion in
political decision-making processes.
The EU believes that economic growth alone is not the adequate answer. Poverty reduction will only be sustainable when poor people participate in economic growth, have the possibility and capacity to contribute to it and benefit from it. Conditions should be established to have more access to micro-credit and micro-finance, particularly for women.
Inequality between poor and rich, men and women, is a hindrance to growth. Gender-based discrimination has high social and economic costs for society at large, as it blocks prospects for individuals and groups to move out of poverty; it is also often an impediment to effective use of development resources. Nevertheless, most anti-poverty plans and poverty reduction strategies overlook social equity and gender equality concerns. At best, the existence of inequalities is recognised, but concrete
policies to reduce them are few. Where policies do exist, their implementation poses grave challenges.
The European Union, as a key partner in development, is fully committed to poverty reduction. The Millennium Declaration in general and the Millennium Development Goals in particular constitute an overarching framework for our development activities. In his report on the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration however, the Secretary General highlights an alarming trend in the fight against poverty: while some regions are broadly on track, "there has been little or no
progress in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and in Western Asia poverty has even increased". These are disconcerting facts and the European Union reiterates that little or no progress to reduce poverty and hunger are not an option.
Development policy of the European Union
Mr. Chairman,
In 2001, the European Union re-emphasised in its development co-operation policy poverty reduction at its core. Given the multidimensional nature of poverty, we strongly believe in an integrated approach.
Our development policies therefore focus on three core and interrelated areas, namely (1) economic development, (2) social and human development and (3) regional co-operation and integration. At the same time we see gender equality, environmental sustainability, institutional development, fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and capacity building as cross-cutting themes, which are key to success.
The European Union, as top donor of development assistance and the single biggest investor in developing countries, is fully aware that development policies will not be sustainable if developing economies cannot take part in the world economy. The EU welcomes the agreement in the World Trade Organisation in July 2004. This agreement brought important progress towards a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round, which will substantially stimulate development globally. The EU also has
very favourable market access conditions for developing countries, including duty- and quota-free access for all LDC exports under the Everything But Arms scheme, the comprehensive Cotonou Agreement with ACP countries and our Generalised System of Preferences for all developing countries. Together with our financial assistance, including trade related technical assistance and capacity building to help countries make use of the opportunities offered, we strongly believe that this will lead to
sustainable economic growth.
At the same time we realise that economic growth alone is not enough, since key issues of distribution and of equality of opportunity must also be addressed. The primary responsibility for poverty reduction lies with the developing countries themselves: at the national level good governance, policy reform, prioritising social needs and the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts are essential. In the spirit of the Millennium Declaration, eradication of extreme poverty will be
impossible, unless it is coupled with a stronger commitment to building and strengthening democratic institutions, respect and promotion of human rights and the rule-of-law, and effective and equitable delivery of public services.
To attain the Millennium Development Goals, governments ought to take leadership of the process. Translating the global MDG targets into action requires an operational framework at the national level. In the majority of developing countries, such frameworks will be formulated as MDG focused poverty reduction strategy papers. This framework should set out a country-owned cross-cutting agenda aimed at sustained, shared growth and clear goals for public action directed towards achieving the
national MDG-agenda. The business plans of various development partners, such as the Country Assistance Strategy of the World Bank and the UN business plan UNDAF, can subsequently focus on how specific agencies can best support the implementation of nationally owned poverty reduction strategies, such as the PRSP, and assist developing countries to make good progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Civil society organisations can play an important role in articulating
citizens' interests and defending their rights, mediating between citizen and state, and mobilizing communities and grass-roots organizations.
1. Partnerships
Partnerships are key in the fight against poverty. The Millennium Development Goals represent a global compact to achieve poverty eradication. The European Union is fully committed to following through on commitments to support efforts by developing countries by dismantling trade barriers, expanding debt relief and increasing development assistance in a coherent way as underlined in the Monterrey Consensus.
All of the EU member states have reaffirmed their commitment to achieve the United Nations' Official Development Assistance goal of 0.7 %. Four countries in the European Union and Norway have already achieved the 0,7 % target. Others have established a timetable to reach this target. Furthermore, at Monterrey, the European Union made a collective commitment to achieve an EU ODA average of 0.39% of Gross National Income by 2006. The member states, individually, also committed to increasing their
ODA volumes, to at least 0.33% of GNI by 2006. The EU is on track to implement its ODA commitment.
In addition, in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the European Union looks forward with great interest to reviewing proposals for innovative financing. The EU supported in this regard the Declaration by Heads of State and Governments, Heads of International Organizations and Civil Society Leaders of the 20th September 2004 meeting, which took place at the United Nations.
The European Union recognises that there has been encouraging progress in streamlining procedures and harmonising practices across donors, the International Financial Institutions and United Nations' Agencies, as well as working to align strategies with countries' own poverty reduction plans and priorities. The Rome Declaration on Harmonisation, adopted by the High-level Forum on Harmonisation in February 2003, stressed the importance of country ownership of development processes and
programmes; a second follow-up meeting will take place in Paris in March 2005. The European Union, like other donors, now faces the challenge to develop, in consultation with other development partners, a road map to improve co-ordination and reduce transactions costs, including by making the greatest possible use of national systems, which will also help to improve governance and enhance the delivery of public services.
2. HIV/AIDS
The European Union is strongly committed to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to support affected people. Despite all efforts, recent trends in prevalence and deaths indicate that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS increased from 35 million in 2001 to more than 40 million people now; half of them are women and children. An estimated 4.8 million people became newly infected in 2003, more than in any previous year. The international community is falling short in successful interventions and
prevention programmes. Poverty and HIV/AIDS together have become dangerous allies. Although sub-Saharan Africa has only 10 per cent of the world's population, it accounts for 70 percent of all HIV-infected people.
Furthermore, the spread of HIV among women and girls in southern Africa has risen to dramatic levels with a prevalence rate for women and girls in the age group 15-29 being double as high as for men and boys in the same age group. Gender inequalities, rooted in unequal power relations, leave many girls and women in developing countries vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. They are often unable to decide over their own bodies, to negotiate safer sex or turn down unwanted sex. Thus, the gender
dimension of HIV needs to be tackled through innovative strategies and special prevention measures.
The pandemic has long-term implications: not only are individuals, families and communities affected, the pandemic takes the lives of the most productive members of society in many countries, leaving children and elderly people in charge of family subsistence. Efforts to reduce poverty and improve living standards are severely undermined. We need to further stress global and national leadership, partnership and the availability of adequate resources to fight the pandemic.
3. Sexual and Reproductive health and rights
People living in developing countries, in particular poor young women and men, face a wide range of interrelated sexual and reproductive health problems. These include high rates of sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned or unwanted pregnancies, sometimes due to early or forced marriage, conditions encountered in pregnancy and childbirth, genital mutilation, infertility, sexual abuse, unsafe abortion etc. Together, these conditions are responsible for high levels of morbidity and premature
mortality. The causes are strongly related to poverty and gender inequalities including lack of respect for women's rights.
The European Union strongly and fully supports the Cairo agenda of 1994, which sets the objectives and goals in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Furthermore, the EU is fully committed to the implementation of the Cairo agenda and to future challenges in implementing this agenda. This requires, inter alia, commitments to strengthen partnerships between public and private parties to strive to achieve these common goals and addresses the urgent need for increased
resources.
Mr. Chairman,
2005 will be a critical year, particularly for Africa, because of the review of the Beijing Platform for Action at the Commission on the Status of Women, the review of the Copenhagen Action Plan at the Commission for Social Development and of the major events' comprehensive review of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals contained therein. The MDG's are still feasible, but the window of opportunity is rapidly narrowing. The challenge of achieving the MDGs calls for a
strong partnership between all development partners, on the basis of the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the outcomes of the other major UN summits and conferences. What is needed is a quantum leap in scale and ambition: wider participatory processes, stronger institutions, focused investments in economic and social infrastructure, and more resources, domestic and external.
The European Union continues to be willing to play an important role in responding to all these challenges. The Millennium Development Goals are clear and we have to do our utmost best to achieve them.
Thank you.
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