| The UDC (Union Démocratique du Centre, a political party of the Swiss extreme right, which is advancing steadily and recently adopted two highly restrictive Bills on immigration ) has come out in strong protest against the one billion CHF the Swiss Government is allocating to the countries of Eastern Europe. At the same time participants at the recent WTO Forum in Geneva, where the mood was tangibly pessimistic, expressed their doubts about the Millennium Development Goals. Following the breakdown of the Doha Round, they do not believe that a reduction of world poverty by the year 2015 is possible. As a way to achieve this target, the Millennium Goals, adopted in 2000 by all UN Member States including Switzerland, provide i.e. for the setting up of a world development partnership, raising development aid to 0.7% of GDP, reducing debt and creating fairer trade and finance rules. One could add today: cutting oil prices, which have stretched beyond the reach of the poorest countries, and showing increased respect for other cultures.
It is true that a number of countries have made considerable efforts towards reaching the target, Switzerland in particular, as can be seen in the report from the Swiss Government Office for Development and Co-operation, DDC (Direction du Développement et de la Coopération) which sets the rules for future policy. But unfortunately all this is largely insufficient. There are many inconsistencies and money that is granted in one area is often reclaimed in another. The flow of African refugees, who are accosting at the shores of Europe in thousands, is evidence enough. They have nothing to lose. Make no mistake: the African states from which the immigrants come – especially the French speaking ones – are “relieved” to see their young unemployed depart, harbingers of financial gain abroad, instead of potential fomenters of revolution at home. By letting them emigrate without too much red tape, these states seem to be taking revenge on their former colonial rulers and on globalised trade, which only benefits a corrupt elite and tears up the social and cultural foothold in communities that have no social insurance safety nets. These young are also likely to become an easy catch for terrorist networks that are now developing around the world. In fact the secret service in Mali, in co-operation with foreign intelligence, has just uncovered and dismantled an Al Quaida network that appeared to be planning a transfer of its headquarters from Afghanistan to Africa, from where it would be easier to operate to destabilise Europe.
To make the Millennium Goals become reality and end the poverty that now causes young Africans, lured by what they see on European TV screens, flee their country, requires first of all a reform of the WTO, the future of which seems manifestly uncertain. Civil society in Africa ought to have its say in the process, through trade unions, public consumer organisations and producer associations, instead of just their governments, which often are under pressure from multinational companies (in oil, agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, finance, etc.) It would also be necessary to remove agriculture from the WTO and place it under the authority of the FAO, because agricultural produce is not merely a commercial consignment (of fish, meat or cereals), that a country can export to gain dollars, whilst leaving its own citizens starving. Such reforms would finally lead to the acceptance of the principle of food sovereignty, which stands for the right of each nation to food of quality, embodied in the Social and Economic Pact of the United Nations. Furthermore, it is necessary to stop the dumping by rich nations, selling their farm surplus in poor countries in the South, forcing them to accept their give-and-take deals.
Finally, bilateral agreements might also pose a threat, as for instance the Regional Economic Partnership Agreements (REPAs), a sequel of the Cotonou Agreements, which are scheduled to be signed between the European Union and the ACP countries (Africa-Caribbean-Pacific) in 2007. They came under criticism in Nairobi this spring from all African trade ministers, who said that they merely represent free trade agreements without any valid development component and allow no time for a cultural transition. In this field China, which is much less concerned with human rights and governance, is entering into competition with the United States and the European Union, with its sizeable investments in many African countries, while simultaneously exporting their cheap goods and labour to them. China takes a more pragmatic approach and worries the G7, which had planned a number of debt relief measures. Jobless young Africans do not understand why their countries prefer hiring Chinese workers.
At a closer look the Millennium Goals is an entire agenda, according to which it is not enough to write off a few debts. Statistically this will artificially inflate the figure of public spending on development aid, but under this heading the industrial nations also include the money for assistance to refugees. It would be more appropriate tackle the root of the problem, as was stated at the WTO Forum: reform international trade to make it fairer, transform the international institutions (such as the Security Council, the WTO, the IMF) through democratic procedures to make them more representative of the nations of the world and civil society, taking into account their wide cultural differences. This might take another 20 years, but at least by then Europe would be less attractive for immigrants and a less fertile breeding ground for terrorist networks. Christine von Garnier
27 September 2006
Executive Secretary
Swiss Branch of Réseau
Afrique Europe, Foi et Justice*
*Network Africa-Europe, Faith and Justice |
View from the South