EMPOWERMENT OF POOR, WITH ACCESS TO ASSETS AND MARKETS, SEEN AS KEY IN WAR AGAINST GLOBAL POVERTY
Press Release
GA/EF/2844
EMPOWERMENT OF POOR, WITH ACCESS TO ASSETS AND MARKETS, SEEN AS KEY IN WAR AGAINST GLOBAL POVERTY
19981102 UNDP Official Tells Economic Committee Individuals Should Be Participants in Programmes, Not `Passive Recipients of Handouts'Making headway against poverty was inconceivable as long as individuals were seen as passive recipients of handouts rather than as citizens holding the potential to build for themselves a more prosperous country, the representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon as it considered the implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006).
She said economic growth was beneficial when it empowered the poor, and when it gave them access to assets and markets, closed the gaps between men and women, and safeguarded people's options for the future. Most important, the eradication of extreme poverty required harnessing the strengths and capabilities of poor people -- women as well as men. A more humane society, free of poverty, also required transparent and democratic systems of governance.
Massive poverty eradication programmes implemented at the national level, would not succeed without comparable action at the international level, said the representative of Jamaica. The international community had recognized the genuine and urgent need for mobilization of increased resources to assist national poverty alleviation programmes.
Speaking on microcredit initiatives, the representative of San Marino said the entrepreneurial capacity of the poor would be encouraged with the availability of small-scale loans. The destination of microcredit funds primarily included agriculture, trading and small craft and processing industries.
Statements were also made by the representatives of: Yemen, Senegal, Tunisia, Mali, Peru, Republic of Korea, Guinea, Kuwait, Zambia, Madagascar and Nepal.
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The representatives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank also spoke.
Also this afternoon, a special presentation was given by Juan Somavia (Chile), President of the Economic and Social Council.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 3 November, to continue its discussion of the implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006).
Committee Work Programme
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this afternoon to consider the implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006). (For background information see Press Release GA/EF/2843 of 2 November 1998.)
Statements
ALI AL-DAILMI (Yemen) said the discussion of the implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty held special importance during the current period of global economic and social change.
Poverty had been featured prominently in United Nations global conferences, and such attention to the issue constituted a step in the right direction. The execution of a framework for cooperation with the United Nations institutions, including the Bretton Woods institutions, encouraged countries to take measures leading towards eradication.
The Secretary-General pointed out that there was a growing feeling that globalization presented many challenges. It may have benefited certain countries and peoples, but many developing countries faced marginalization. Addressing this issue was a major step in the direction of integrating least developed countries into the world economy.
One such step was the pursuit of the strategy of development partnership, which aimed specifically at reducing the number of people in absolute poverty by 2015. He added that his country considered microcredit programmes an effective tool for liberating people from poverty.
Statement for Economic and Social Council
JUAN SOMAVIA (Chile), President of the Economic and Social Council, said that, unfortunately, it took the financial crisis to bring recognition that human suffering had grown exponentially, and that something must be done about it. Thus there had been talk of a new global financial architecture with a social floor. The international community had an opportunity and responsibility to go beyond the financial architecture.
Today, he said, no individual organization with its own interpretation of events and its own set of policy measures had any chance of bringing stability to worldwide economic and social problems. This was the moment for intensive multilateral cooperation where all relevant problems, interests and sensitivities were seated around the table. The international community should begin with some level of coordination among the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Development Group, the World Bank and others. The Council could address, and contribute to, core economic questions without
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duplicating work carried out elsewhere or getting bogged down in technical details.
For too long the Council had not been able to guide its subsidiary bodies, he said. However, starting with the 1995 Agreed Conclusions and culminating with the May meeting this year, the Council had made major steps towards articulating and carrying out its guidance and management functions vis-à-vis its subsidiary bodies. At the same time, the Council's role was not intended to dictate to those bodies or in any way impede their work, but to enable them to work together rather than in relative isolation from each other in particular with respect to the follow-up to conferences.
There should be some consideration of a report of the Council to the General Assembly that was not only a mere transmission of its own work, he said. Today the Council reports on reports, continuing to highlight the ideas and proposals that stemmed from all the discussions of the Council system. The new report would be an integrated document that could be of enormous help to the discussions of the Assembly. It could concentrate on new ideas, new proposals, new initiatives and their interaction for consideration by the Assembly.
Another area where the coordination role of the Council needed further attention and development was in relation to the specialized agencies. The question was how to engage the United Nations system more closely and more actively in the processes of the Council. How could a better dialogue be promoted between the Council and the specialized agencies, not only at the secretariat level, but also at the intergovernmental level? It was through engagement and dialogue that the Council could exercise its central coordinating role in the system, envisaged for it in the Charter of the United Nations.
IBRA DEGUENE KA (Senegal) said the phenomenon of poverty revealed in various degrees its true world-wide dimensions. Ranging from the needy farmer in the country to the homeless person wandering in the city, poverty spared no one in the North or South. What was unacceptable was that humankind had the power to lead humankind into prosperity, but that power was not utilized. The crusade against poverty was a concern for humanity, individually and collectively.
He said his country had stressed domestic efforts such as employment programmes, training, and helping small- and medium-sized enterprises with tax exemptions. With the help of the World Bank and the World Food Programme (WFP), Senegal had set up a nutrition and food programme to combat hunger. The programme also generated income through the processing and marketing of local products. Domestic efforts, however, must find their counterpart at the international level. Energetic measures must be taken to improve the export incomes of developing countries as well as to increase official development assistance (ODA).
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NINA SIBAL, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said that the integrated approach of UNESCO involved going beyond policies and measures which addressed sectoral syndromes of poverty to alleviate the living conditions of the poor. The aim was to understand and propose actions against the root causes of poverty and lack of social development in general, whether they had their origins internationally or nationally in economic, social, cultural or political structures.
Peace, she said, implied the creating of an environment for living that was consistent with human dignity, in which all those who were excluded, isolated and marginalized would find an opportunity for genuinely becoming part of society. It implied the elimination of poverty and knowledge and its attendant ills, more equitable sharing of both prosperity and knowledge, and the possibility for everyone to receive an education or to return to education. It also implied consolidation of democratic process, because only democracy could ensure the right to the rule of law and the respect of all rights.
ABDERRAZAK AZAIEZ (Tunisia) said the eradication of poverty represented a major challenge on the worldwide scale at the end of the twentieth century. That priority was reaffirmed by the Economic and Social Council during its May meeting on follow-up to major conferences. Liberalization of trade and access to markets should be considered in discussions on the eradication of poverty. Enabling the countries of the South to develop their capacity should be a part of anti-poverty efforts. Consideration should be given to access by developing countries to globalization processes. On national experiences, he said, Tunisia had plans of action to eradicate poverty based on major conferences. Those plans promoted growth and development and attempted to ensure that all citizens had a right to income, health and education. His country had also decided to implement an ambitious programme to help those groups that were most impoverished.
MOCTAR OUANE (Mali) said his country had created an integrated strategy for development to help aid the poor segments of society. That strategy helped integrate civil society and it helped ensure access of the population to schooling, housing and education. It created opportunities for employment through public works programmes and other projects that involved the most disadvantaged. His Government also sought to improve access to credit and financial services to rural poor. To improve education, the Government had built basic training centres and diversified its training programmes. There was also a drug programme that made medication available in poor areas. Mali had promoted building techniques that used sustainable, locally-found materials.
FERNANDO GUILLEN (Peru) said his country was convinced that microcredit was a key means of addressing poverty, but it was not the only way. However, microcredit did allow women to escape from their reproductive role. This did not mean that microcredit could transform an impoverished woman to make her an
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economic agent, as was the case in a developed country, but his country recognized that it could facilitate significant advances.
YOUNGJU OH (Republic of Korea) said that each country's efforts to devise a national poverty eradication strategy should be continuously pursued. Eradication of poverty should be one of the most important objectives of policies aimed at providing social and economic growth and the establishment of social services. The implementation of such policies should incorporate elements enhancing equity among various social groups in a given society.
She said the efforts of individual governments to eradicate poverty should be combined with international cooperation and support. The implementation of policies promoting the full integration of poor people into the mainstream of their societies required substantial investment in infrastructure and social sectors. In this regard, the international community should continue to make efforts to find possible funding resources to support activities to combat poverty. The international community should strive to make the international economic environment more conducive to the development of developing countries.
ARAFAN KABINÉ KABA (Guinea) said that despite the immensity of the task of poverty eradication, the United Nations had managed to bring about the recognition of the need for a collective response to the problem. His country had created a strategy which was an important step forward to combating poverty and in cooperating with United Nations agencies. The focus of that strategy involved strengthening capacities in the area of economic development. His country had also carried out a number of social services projects. Those projects had also made it possible to provide the support needed to eliminate pockets of poverty. The challenge now for Guinea was to ensure that there were tangible achievements in the area of development.
TAREQ AL-BANAI (Kuwait) said that on the eve of the twenty-first century the world was faced with the genuine human tragedy of one-fifth of mankind living in poverty. It had become a major problem that was discussed at many United Nations conferences. It was a priority for his country. Kuwait had worked to promote the eradication of poverty and reduce suffering all over the world. It had created a $6.6 billion fund to help many countries to develop their economies. His country had also helped to create medical assistance programmes in developing nations. Those countries needed to live up to their commitments and put an end to poverty.
ENRICA TADDEI (San Marino) said microcredit initiatives were based on the recognition that the latent entrepreneurial capacity of the poor would be encouraged with the availability of small-scale loans and would introduce them to the small enterprise sector. Microcredit schemes were characterized by relatively small loans with a relatively short repayment period. Women were major beneficiaries of microcredit. The destination of such funds primarily included agriculture, trading,and small craft and processing industries. Even
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though in many developing countries interest rates were relatively high, many of the microcredit institutions claimed a high rate of repayment.
She added that microcredit was only one part of a comprehensive strategy to eradicate poverty, which should include training, information and access to land. The latter was especially important in the fight against rural poverty. It should not be forgotten that one of the key factors to eradicate poverty was education; young people would be enabled to face the challenge to create better living conditions for all.
HUMPHREY KUNDA (Zambia) said that among the immediate causes of poverty were insufficient productive resources, limited access to basic services such as health, education and clean water, the poor performance of the agricultural sector and lack of crop diversification. The impact of structural adjustment programmes, and more recently the contagion effects of the Asian financial crisis, had exacerbated the situation. The eradication of poverty was an ethical, social, political and economic imperative. It could be attained only through a multidimensional and integrated approach which involved interlocking development goals to address the overriding challenges of poverty.
Among other approaches, he added, the international community should promote full employment as a basic priority of economic and social policies, to enable all men and women to secure a sustainable livelihood. It should also encourage the formulation of policies and strategies that would meet the basic needs of the people and strengthen their productive capacities. Developing countries needed a high standard of health and they needed to provide access to clean and safe water. The international community should support efforts already in place to attain those goals.
CHERRYL GORDON (Jamaica) said that massive poverty eradication programmes, implemented at the national level, could not and would not succeed without comparable action at the international level. The international community had recognized the genuine and urgent need for mobilization of increased resources to assist national poverty alleviation programmes. Harmonization and coordination were just as critical to the successful implementation of poverty eradication and reduction efforts at the international level, as they were at the national level. The work of the United Nations system in that regard should be applauded. United Nations efforts, however, needed to tailor programmes to take account of their positive and negative impact in programme countries.
She added that globalization and liberalization had been touted as the twin vehicles of economic growth. Yet one major impediment to developing countries reaping the benefits of the globalization process was the problem of external debt and debt servicing. Various debt initiatives had not yet cleared the huge debt overhang which continued to be a hindrance to investment. While producing some benefits to some countries, globalization
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had caused widening rifts in the social strata, particularly between rich and poor.
LÉA RAHOLINIRINA (Madagascar) said that disparities between rich and poor countries were becoming more and more blatant. Recent estimates discovered that the world's three richest people had a greater fortune than the gross domestic product (GDP) of the world's 48 poorest countries. Life expectancy in a large portion of Africa was less than 40 years. More than half the women of Africa were illiterate, and 30 per cent of children had less than five years of education.
The way to address those problems included growth in ODA, the conversion of bilateral debt, the liberalization of the status of heavily indebted poor countries, and greater market access for African export products and greater investment in Africa. The Government of Madagascar, she added, had made the struggle against poverty its top priority.
Pious statements were not enough to halve the proportion of people living in absolute poverty, she continued. The ODA was needed to address that.
K. SARWAR LATEEF, of the World Bank, said the global financial crisis and the projected slowdown in world economic growth threatened the livelihood of millions in the developing world. The 1990s could now prove to be a lost decade for the poor in Indonesia or the Russian Federation. Declining commodity prices and slower world growth could rob reforming countries in sub-Saharan Africa of the hard-won fruits of their labour. Children were particularly vulnerable. Those from poor families were being pulled out of school and put to work -- sometimes into exploitative work and prostitution. The nutritional status of infants was under pressure, especially when climate disasters combined with the macro-economic crisis to reduce incomes. He cited severe drought in northeast Brazil and eastern Indonesia, and floods in Bangladesh.
He added that malnutrition at an early age had life-long consequences. For the 3 billion people currently eking out an existence on less than $2 a day, the crisis could be devastating. Not only could their condition get worse as millions more joined their ranks, but they risked being neglected by distracted governments fighting the rapidly-spreading fires of the financial crisis.
EIMI WATANABE, of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said prompt and decisive action was needed to halt the decline in living standards in countries which had fallen prey to the global financial crisis. Restoring fast, robust, economic growth was essential for everyone in the developing world, but especially for the poor and other vulnerable groups who were suffering the most from recession. Governments must enact policies that quickly expanded economic opportunities for disadvantaged households and
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communities, made them less vulnerable to future shocks, and gave them a voice in managing their own affairs.
She added that growth was hardly an end in itself. It was beneficial when it empowered the poor, when it gave them access to assets and markets, closed the gaps between men and women, and safeguarded people's options for the future. Most importantly, the eradication of extreme poverty required harnessing the strengths and capabilities of poor people -- women as well as men. A more humane society, free of poverty, also required transparent and democratic systems of governance. Making headway against poverty was inconceivable as long as individuals were seen as passive recipients of handouts, rather than as citizens holding the potential to build for themselves a more prosperous and equitable society.
GHANASHYAM LAL DAS (Nepal) said the international community needed concrete actions to address poverty in all its forms, with the full involvement of governmental and intergovernmental institutions, international organizations, civil society and other development actors. He noted that his country was of the view that commitments and targets agreed upon at all global conferences and summits must be fully and speedily implemented by governments, in partnership with all development actors, the United Nations system, financial institutions, non-governmental organizations and the international community. A strong and amicable relationship between the developed and developing countries was vitally essential for the eradication of poverty. International efforts in this regard had to be adapted to national and local circumstances, and based on accurate ground assessment of the needs of the poor.
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