24 October 2013
Introduction
In reading the report I was struck in particular by what the UN Secretary General had to say. As attention in New York begins to focus on post-2015 it is vital that we don’t take our eye off the MDG ball. The most important thing we must do right now is deliver on the current MDGs – because of the millions of lives that can be improved and because the credibility of any post-2015 goals depends on the success of the MDGs. There are still more than 2 years to go and we must do all we can to meet as many targets in as many countries as possible.
I am therefore extremely proud that the UK is this year joining an exclusive club of countries that contribute 0.7% of their national income to development assistance. The first G8 and G20 country to achieve this.
I’d also like to flag what Helen Clark said in her contribution to the report on the need to listen to what people all over the world are saying.
And we are fortunate to have the advice of Lord Mark Malloch-Brown – personally instrumental in creating the MDGs – to follow the KISS principle “keep it simple, stupid”.
2015 goals
The UK government attaches great importance to a successful United Nations agreement on a new set of goals when the MDG targets expire in 2015. So, what does success look like?
First, we need to banish extreme poverty from the face of the planet – for ever. That means we need a new set of targets that finish the job started with the MDGs, and which do that in a sustainable way.
Second, we need to include, as Helen Clark pointed out, the critical issues that were missing from the MDGs. Inclusive growth and jobs, effective governance, environmental sustainability, and peace and security are recurring themes from the UN’s global conversation.
And third, we need to do all this in a goal framework that is as inspiring as the MDGs – simple, prioritised, measurable.
High Level Panel Report
As many of you will know, the UN Secretary General asked the Presidents of Liberia and Indonesia and Prime Minister David Cameron to chair a high level panel to provide advice on a “bold yet practical” post-2015 development agenda. One of the Panel’s strengths was the depth and breadth of consultation - with over 3000 civil society organisations, hundreds of private sector firms and with hundreds of thousands of citizens. All the panel members contributed to the report and Presidents Sirleaf and Yudhoyono, as well as PM Cameron, put in a lot of their personal time and effort into the content. There isn’t enough time to go into all the Panel’s proposals here, but I’d particularly like to highlight:
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First, ensuring that no-one is left behind. Data should be disaggregated by gender, geography, income, ethnicity, disability, age and so on and, importantly, no target should be considered met unless met by all relevant income and social groups.
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Second, targets in the key areas that were not addressed in the MDGs - jobs and sustainable growth, good governance and effective institutions, peaceful and stable societies.
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And third, an illustrative goal framework that shows how environment, economy and social justice - the three dimensions of sustainable development – can be reflected in a universal agenda, with responsibilities for rich as well as poor countries.
Addressing Violence and the Rule of Law in the post-2015 Development Agenda
I was asked to speak in particular on the importance of addressing violence and the rule of law in the next agenda.
Why is this important and why does the High Level Panel and many others argue that it must be in the next goals?
Well, firstly, as Paul Collier put it “Conflict is Development in Reverse”. It is impossible for a country to develop at all, let alone sustainably, without the basic building blocks in place – stability and security, justice and the rule of law, property rights in place and corruption being faced down so people, communities, business can invest in their future.
So, these issues are important enablers of social justice, economic development and environment sustainability. But these issues also have an intrinsic value. In the UN consultations on post-2015 goals, which have now reached over a million people, the top issues, as you might expect, are education and health. But third on the list is “honest and accountable government” and the top 10 also includes protection against crime and violence and political freedoms as well as the MDG issues of water and sanitation, food security and having a job. And the “Participate” initiative, led by the Institute for Development Studies to listen to the very poorest and most marginalised people, is clear that what they want above all is a voice in the development process.
The point here is that people really care about issues like justice, the rule of law, accountable government, having a voice in the decisions that affect their life, safety so their children can go to school and they can go to work - in the same way as they care about health and education. As well as being enablers of other goals, they are development outcomes in their own right and deserve their place in the post-2015 development goals.
This is not development impinging on the business of the UN Security Council, but accepting that a universal, people-centred development agenda should reflect the key issues that people care about.
And the UK is determined to play its part, from working internationally to prevent sexual violence in conflict to leading by example in transparent government.
Ending
The road to 2015 will be long and hard. Civil society, think tanks, non-governmental organisations, parliamentarians – all have a critical role to play. Promoting the key issues, engaging and bringing the voices of people to the debate and, above all, ensuring that the conversation among UN member states rises above lowest common denominator UN politics.
When the members of the High Level Panel handed over their report to the UN Secretary General, one of the Panel members, the Yemeni Civil Rights activist and Nobel Laureate Tawakol Karman, told Ban Ki Moon that she thought the High Level Panel Report was very good. The challenge to the UN, she said, was to do even better.
So finally I’d like to say thank you to the UN Association for the valuable work you are doing. I look forward to working with you over the coming two years to secure a post-2015 development agenda that is as inspiring as the MDGs.
David Hallam works at DFID leading the UK team on the post-MDG framework