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Ad Melkert, UN Under Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Address to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on the occasion of the commemoration of International Human Solidarity Day

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to address ECOSOC on the occasion of the International Human Solidarity Day.

2006 has seen a multitude of political, social, economic and environmental tensions in all corners of the world. Those that have hit the headlines are all too familiar to us. But there are also those events that fall off our screens more quickly. The simmering fear surrounding outbreaks of avian influenza, the stark realization of the threat of climate change on economic and environmental sustainability as well as the recent findings that almost 3.5 million people of working age died due to HIV/AIDS in 2005. We live in an age of disconcerting instability with human beings at the centre of both the cause and effect of this instability. 

Amidst this ever-more-complex landscape I believe that the United Nations has a strong duty to lead by example in carving out a landscape that maintains the value of solidarity as its non-negotiable core for the common good of peace and security. This means solidarity at every level, not only at the international level between and within countries, but also at the individual level between people of different cultural backgrounds, gender, age and ultimately between the rich and the poor, which is at the heart of UNDP’s agenda.

Today I would like to make a call for stronger human solidarity in relation to the MDGs and human development.

A call for solidarity through inclusion to make headway in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Economic growth over the last five years has been as rapid as it has ever been and current projections suggest that global growth will remain solid at least until 2008. In many countries, especially in Asia, millions of people have been lifted out of poverty. However, in terms of income per capita, the world’s poorest countries have been left behind and the gap between the poorest nations and the richest is widening. The richest ten countries in the world are said to be fifty times richer than the poorest ten countries. Inequalities within nations are also rapidly increasing almost everywhere.  A recent study found that the richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of the global wealth – and that the bottom half of the world’s population owns barely 1% global wealth. 

Current trends show that no region of the world is on track to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, with the slowest progress in Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania. This worrying picture substantiates the fact that economic growth alone does not guarantee wider human development. As the 2005 Human Development Report illustrated ‘deep disparities based on wealth, region, gender and ethnicity are bad for growth, bad for democracy and bad for social cohesion.”   If the world is to make progress on achieving the Millennium Development Goals, sustained poverty reduction not only requires inclusive growth but also it requires strengthening social cohesion and inclusion. In particular it is important that the poor have the rights, means and capacity to participate in decisions that affect their lives and they are able to demand better access to basic social services, as well as holding their governments accountable for what they deliver. While there are countless examples in the world of how people are denied access to equality of opportunity, let me cite a couple of examples from our recent Human Development Reports at the global, regional and national levels.

This year’s global Human Development Report focuses on the global water crisis from the angle of human rights. It argues that the crisis is not one of physical scarcity but rooted in poverty and inequality. One in six people (or 1.1. billion people) in the world do not have the right to clean accessible and affordable water and 2.6 billion people do not have access to rudimentary forms of sanitation. This violation of the basic right to water translates into around 4900 avoidable child deaths per day and perpetuates the gap between rich and poor. To give real meaning to access to water and sanitation as a human right and the inclusion of all in the enjoyment of such a right, the report advocates that at a minimum target of at least 20 litres of water per person per day – and at no cost for those too poor to pay – should be enacted through national legislation.

At the regional level inclusion is also a pertinent subject. The Arab Human Development Report which was launched last week argues that the unequivocal necessity of securing Arab women a fair chance to thrive has reached primacy as a precondition for development.  The Report cites core challenges that impede women’s progress towards reaching the heights of their capacity. In public life, cultural, legal, social, economic and political factors obstruct women’s equal access to education, health services, job opportunities, and citizen’s rights and representation.  In private life, the Report contends that traditional patterns of upbringing and discriminatory family and personal-status laws perpetuate inequality and subordination.  But let me reiterate that this is not just something specific to the Arab States region.

At the national level, one example of racial inequality can be taken from the Brazil National Human Development Report. It concludes that black people on Brazil face more difficult human development conditions in spheres of income, education, health, employment, housing and violence. Policies need to be put in place to target silent racist policies and decrease levels of inequality, while increasing inclusion across the country. And again this is not only an issue in Brazil

A call for solidarity through multilateralism

As we near the mid-point of the 15 year time horizon there is an ever greater need to reinvigorate the development ‘partnership’ between the north and the south through measuring progress. Solidarity as a means towards the MDGs implies that developed countries support – through ODA, a fair and efficient multilateral trade system, and support for environmental preservation – those developing countries that are committed to their own development, including meeting the MDGs. The knowledge, tools, and technologies exist to achieve the MDGs; but the pledges to achieve the long-standing target to devote 0.7 percent in GNI as official development assistance do not exist. For example, when it comes to ODA, despite significant increases in 2005, a drop is expected this year. ODA flows in 2005 were exceptional, with large debt relief grants to Nigeria and Iraq, but this demonstrates that both the quantity and quality of ODA needs to improve if developed countries are to make good on their commitments related with the global partnership for development.

At the end of 2006 the UN has an opportunity to assume more prominence than before in the quest for guiding and governing the landscape of global relations. The new landscape is one where ‘iron gates’ around territorial sovereignty are being replaced by ‘glass ceilings’ between networks of worldwide connectivity. Both realities call for effective authority to preserve the common good and to promote justice and access for all. This authority can be mobilized through the multilateral work of the UN which is an ‘indispensable force’ in promoting development, as the recent report of the High Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence reaffirmed.  Strong, inclusive and effective multilateralism is key to advancing human development in the world

Old exclusions persist and new frontiers of exclusion are emerging. Solidarity as both an aim and as a means is already well supported on paper. With much more and more effective action it is an urgent call upon us all.

Thank you.