By Holy See Mission
Statement byH.E. Mary Ann GlendonPresident of the Pontifical
Academy of Social SciencesHead of the Delegation of the Holy See toThe ECOSOC 2004 High Level Segment on Least Developed
Countries"Resource Mobilization and Enabling Environment for
Poverty Eradicationin the context of the implementation of the Program of
Action forthe Least Developed Countries for the Decade
2001-2010"New York, 29 June 2004Madam President:
With indications that the least
developed countries are in danger of failing to meet established goals
aimed
at eradication of poverty, the Holy See joins its voice to those that
are
urgently calling the family of nations to attend to the needs of its
most
vulnerable members.
My delegation notes with concern that, based on
progress to date, most LDCs are unlikely to achieve, for example, the
goals of
the Brussels Program of Action [BPOA]. Economic growth rates of LDCs
have been
well below levels needed to start making inroads into poverty
reduction,
investment flows have not increased significantly, Official
Development
Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows have been
inadequate. Moreover, many LDCs find themselves in a post-conflict
situation
with as many as 80% of the 20 poorest LDCs having emerged from a civil
war
within the past 15 years.
But, these difficulties and challenges
encountered thus far must not be regarded as excuses, but rather as
spurs to
more intense efforts by the development partners. For as Pope John
Paul II has
insisted, "The poor cannot wait." No one can deny that the challenge
to
reverse what often appears to be a self-perpetuating cycle of poverty,
especially of LDCs, is formidable.
Sometimes overlooked among the obstacles to progress
is the fact that globalization has accelerated the disruption of
entire ways
of life. As age-old patterns of work and family life have
disintegrated, a
sense of powerlessness has increased. As new forms of poverty have
emerged,
the faces of the poor are increasingly those of women and children. In
short,
the world is currently going through a chaotic phase, filled with both
risk
and promise. Those most at risk in the midst of this economic and
social
turbulence are often the most ignored.
However, the international community has worked out
a coordinated, cooperative approach to enabling the least developed
countries
to develop their own economies and to enter the circle of production
and
exchange. The elements of that approach have been largely agreed upon:
debt
relief, fair trade practices, the rule of law, investment in
education,
primary health care, nutrition, and sanitation.
In this regard, the Holy See takes note of the
Brussels Program of Action which is aimed at the eradication of
poverty and
hunger in the world's 50 least developed countries (LDC) where 700
million of
the world's poor are living. The specific commitments envisaged under
this
Action Program can trigger increasing development aid, promote foreign
investment, reduce debt burdens, and open up markets in industrial
countries
for LDC exports.
Internationally agreed action programs, such as the
BPOA, have the potential to offer humankind the key to unlocking the
prison of
poverty. For the first time in history, we may even be within reach of
setting
conditions for every girl and boy to develop her or his full human
potential.
But, the key to the prison gates cannot be turned by one party alone.
It will
be a scandal and a tragedy if the nations do not join hands to turn
that key.
Here, the international community should call on the developed
countries to
take the lead in showing a greater degree of responsibility and
solidarity as
well as an abandonment of their sole group interests and objectives in
the
noble interest of the common good. Without a serious commitment of the
developed nations to do their share of sacrifice in this process, the
LDCs
will continue to be trapped in their current difficult situation.
Hence the urgency of this High-Level Segment: How
can commitments already made be revitalized? How can progress along a
well-charted path be speeded? The Holy See, as a partner with
longstanding
special concern for the poorest people in the poorest countries,
recognizes
that a broad range of cooperative economic and political measures are
required.
In view of the internationally agreed target of
reducing poverty by one half in LDCs by 2015, the Holy See
acknowledges that
there is now a pressing need for a more effective global commitment to
mobilize increased volumes of financial resources for development to
address
widespread poverty in LDCs. However, for this financial support to be
of
benefit to LDCs, it must be channeled more effectively into well
prepared,
productive investments that provide clear benefits to the communities
for
which it was intended. In parallel, a major effort is needed to build
up local
capacity to help prepare and implement these investments while
improved
transparency and accountability procedures need to be put in place to
monitor
how these resources are being spent. As efforts are made to develop
more
adequate financial and commercial conditions, the international
community
should continue to seek for ways and means to enable a fair
distribution of
profits and to establish conditions that can ensure true human
development.
The Holy See wishes to emphasize, however, that any
measure to promote authentic and lasting development must be
protective of
human dignity and culture.
The need to respect human dignity and culture raises
the question of the sources of the ethical principles that are
necessary to
sustain authentic development. While it is widely understood that
natural
environments are at risk in the current, turbulent age, less attention
has
been paid to the growing crisis in humanity's fragile social
environments.
Rapid social and economic changes, and in some places armed conflicts,
have
taken a severe toll on families and their surrounding social
structures. In
many poor countries, families have been devastated by HIV/AIDs
pandemic and
disrupted by migration. Since the family is the primary setting where
human
beings first acquire the qualities of character and competence that
ground
healthy economies and polities, development policies must be attentive
to
their impact on endangered social environments.
Investment in human capital must rank high on the
development agenda. Though the least developed countries are
materially poor,
they are rich when it comes to the potential contained within the
human
person. The human person is where all dimensions of development come
together--development not only as the elimination of poverty but as
the
liberation of the gifts and talents of every woman and man through
better
health, education, and opportunity. The liberation of that potential
must
entail careful attention to the situations of women and girls,
assuring their
full and equal access to education and health, as well as to civil,
political,
economic, social and cultural rights. Towards these ends, the
experience and
resources offered by faith-based initiatives as partners in the fields
of
education, health care and relief should be fully utilized.
Now that the means are possible to defeat mankind's
old enemies, hunger and poverty, there is no excuse for failing to
press
forward. The chief obstacle has been pinpointed by the Secretary
General when
he said, "While there may be enough resources to combat hunger, the
political
will to do so is still lacking." What has impeded the mobilization of
the
necessary will? It is not only the vicious cycle of material poverty
in the
least developed countries, but a certain poverty of imagination among
the more
fortunate peoples of the world: a failure of empathy, an inability to
recognize the interdependence of all members of the human family, a
forgetfulness of our radical dependence upon the earth, the harvest,
and the
children who represent the human future. In that connection, the Holy
See
takes this occasion to reaffirm its historic commitments on both
fronts: its
commitment to providing education, health care, and other basic
services to
the poorest members of the human family, and its corresponding mission
to open
the hearts of the privileged.
What is needed, Madam President, is a change of
heart, that the international community may be ever bolder, more
generous,
more creative, more energetic in its struggle to finally end the
division of
the world into areas of poverty and plenty.
Thank you, Madam President.
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