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| Former President Benjamin Mkapa delivering his remarks |
THEME
THE UN AT 70: HOW PEACEFUL AND SECURE IS
OUR WORLD TODAY?
A
birthday is normally an occasion for celebration. This is also the time for the
global community (as we do in our personal lives, and nations do in their
history) to make a sober reflection on our journey since birth: What have been
the experiences and lessons learnt? And the prospects for the future ahead? The
same can be said for global institutions such as the United Nations whose 70th birthday we celebrate this month.
When
in the aftermath of the Second World War, 51 countries met in San Francisco, to
establish the UN. There were only 4 African countries (Liberia, Ethiopia, Egypt
and South Africa). The principal objectives for the new global institution they
sought to establish were:
· To maintain international peace and security
· To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the
principle of equal rights and the self-determination of peoples, and to take
other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
· To step up international co-operation in solving international problems
of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and to promote and
encourage respect for human rights and respect for the fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
· To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment
of these common ends.
Today,
70 years later, with 54 African countries as members of United Nations and its
specialized agencies such as the World Bank, IMF, ILO, UNCTAD, WTO etc. we
should ask the question: “As Africa and Africans, how peaceful and secure is
our world today?”
I do
not intend to give a details and comprehensive assessment of the contribution
of the organization and its various constituent agencies over these past 70
years, but will highlight in a selective way these dimensions of the narrative
that have more or less significantly affected our continent, and its people.
Firstly,
there is no doubt that through various Councils and Committees, the United
Nations has been an important forum for the liberation of our continent from
colonialism and imperialism. Tanzania’s own path to freedom is an example of
this experience. Yet I will argue that the removal of imperial domination of
our continent in every aspect i.e. economic, social, cultural, etc. was
achieved primarily through the unrelenting struggles of our own people as well
as vision and tenacity of our fathers, be these through negotiations and/or
armed struggles. Some may debate this assertion but this is my view.
With
respect to the third original objective, the experiences for most developing
nation’s to-date is a mixed one. For us as Africans there is no doubt that a
lot has been achieved a recent global efforts to eliminate object poverty as
the scorecard for achievements under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
According to the MDG Report 2015, the number of people living in extreme
poverty has reduced from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 in 2015 that is a decline
of more than half. Again, number of out-of-school children has declined by 43%
from 100 million in 2000 to 57 million in 2015 whilst the literacy gap between
men and women has narrowed Moreover, global under-five mortality has dropped by
more than half between 1990 and 2015. There has been phenomenal progress in
technology which really has been the driver of growth and development in the 21st century. As at 20115, about 3.2
billion people are connected to a global internet of content and applications.
For example, the plans under the adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
that was declared at the recent UN General Assembly Summit indicate with
continued global cooperation in the next 15 years, much will be achieved in the
health, education, food security, gender equality and other social sectors.
The
agenda ahead clearly also shows that because large inequalities persist,
especially in our continent, much remains yet to be done. In my view the role of
the specialized agencies of the UN will remain key and pivotal for Africa and
Africans. In the area of health, the achievement of the WHO in dealing with
pandemic diseases such as Polio, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, etc. have been commendable.
Much remains to be done however in strengthening national level delivery
system. The international Labour Organization (ILO) has made considerable
strides in establishing progressive workers standards. However, weaknesses in
national capacities militate against implements action of standards such as the
promotion of fair wages, gender equalities in the work place, child labour,
elimination of dangerous working conditions etc. These remain major challenges
despite some progress.
The
FAO has done much in stimulating agricultural revolution in many parts of the
developing world. Nonetheless, agriculture remains the Achilles heel for many
in Africa. Despite abundant arable land the continent remain challenged in
producing adequate food for its rapid expanding population Land tenure systems
are a disincentive production units too unfeasible and technology in
agriculture remains backwards. Many of these constraints are also considerably
aggravated by challenges of climate change and environmental degradation.
Finally I believe strongly that if the UN system is to deliver on several of
its foundation objectives, many reforms will be necessary in its governance
architecture, especially representation within the Security Council of the
General Assembly and voting rights in the Bretton Woods Institutions; the IMF
and the World Bank Group. The situation at present in these areas makes
nonsense of the equality of sovereignty and democracy. The domination of these
institutions by very few developed countries based on history is unfair. The dominance
of their …………….. Interest and those of their private corporations remains
unjustifiable in current evolving economic and political realities. The result
often is that their actions and interest promote the greatest threat to peace
and security in the world, the first and fundamental objective of the UN.
Much
of the political and economic crises in recent decades at the global level can
be traced considerably to dominant nation state and corporate interests, for
example, as they seek control of natural resources e.g. energy in the Middle
East or minerals and other natural resources in Africa. The widespread
political instabilities that these interest cause tend to become triggers of
massive population relocations as are currently taking place in the Middle East
and in Africa. Africa has been the regime of massive population dislocation
caused by conflicts started by economic interests in the past five decades,
more than three quarter the life span of the UN! We have examples in our
neighbourhood – The Great Lakes Region. Tanzania has been a destination for
many refugees in Central and Southern Africa regions. I say with pride that
even though a relatively poor nation. Tanzania has coped with floods of
refugees, integrating millions of them because of compassion, solidarity and
visionary leadership. Today as the world watches with horror the plight of
thousands of refugees from Sahilian and North Africa as well as the Middle East
who are on the move to safety and in search of peace in Europe; the world can
learn from Tanzania’s experience. For a long time the world remained relatively
silent when it was mainly Black Africans who were on the move some away from
civil conflict and others seeking better economic prospects in Europe. Many
ended up in watery graves of the Mediterranean Sea. Today we see massive
movement from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East across to
Europe in face of expanding global terrorism. Yet dealing with this problem has
become stalemated because of the persisting lack of democracy in the UN
governance. Similarly despite affirmation and recognition of the State of
Palestine and the rights of the Palestinian people, the undemocratic
representation, architecture of the UN system has continued to deny them their
humanitarian rights and the right to sovereignty. So, ladies and gentlemen, the
UN has ev3ery reason to celebrate it 70” birthday. My judgement is that its
achievements though commendable in a number of areas present a mixed picture.
True and lasting peace and security in the world can only be possible if the
global community, all of us together accept some major reform in the governance
of its International institutions. It is only then that the key challenges of
today and the near future, namely terrorism, extremism, abject poverty and
inequalities can be overcome. As we press for climate change in the physical
environment let us recognise a principal driver of change will be ………. in
equitable political, economic and egalitarian environment. In that spirit let the
UN member states wish each other a Happy 70th Birthday.
Thank you for your attention.
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