PHA-Exchange> PLACE PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS AND POWER

[Aviva]

From: <pambazuka-news-admin at pambazuka.org>

 1.EDITORIAL  (excerpts)
>
> PLACE PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS AND POWER, CIVIL SOCIETY TELLS MINISTERS
> Statement to the SADC-EU Ministerial Meeting, from the SADC-EU Civil
Society  Conference, 3-5 November 2002, Copenhagen, Denmark and the Civil
Society  meeting in Maputo 5-8 November:
>
> We share a common vision of an equitable society that cares for all its
members, that strives continuously to enhance their socio-economic rights
and  political freedoms, and that places people not profit or power first.
We also  share a common vision of  meeting in a partnership of equals, not
shackled
by exploitative relations.
>
> We see development as a people-driven and a people-centered process. We
struggle for this development in
> the context of severe inequalities of economic and political power
inherited  from previous colonial relationships and the damage done to
regional  development and integration by apartheid. This adverse context
also includes  non-democratic governance, lack of media independence and
limitations in the  freedom of the civil society in some countries.
>
> We believe that these unequal relations have been perpetuated by
international  institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and WTO and economic
structures of  dependency, including the debt trap and unfair trade
relations. We believe that they are being abused to secure the
> unilateral imposition of trade liberalisation, privatisation and maximum
repayment of debts. These processes undermine regional efforts to define
alternative development frameworks, to pursue regional integration and to
address structural problems of production and sustained resource management.
>
The current famine in Southern Africa demands an urgent response. Assistance
must be provided with due sensitivity to the danger of reinforcing
dependence. In the longer term, lessons must be learned about the local and
international policy failures, which have contributed to famine. The
> right of developing countries to pursue policies aimed at securing food
security must be defended against inappropriate international policy advice.
>
Internationally supervised structural adjustment has failed to promote
African development. This has been  exacerbated by mismanagement of official
development assistance, poor domestic governance of assets and the corrupt
practices of
> public and private officials associated with development projects.
>
> Any recovery plan must clearly identify the failures of past
> conditions attached to aid, loans and investment and adopt African
proposals for people-centered development. Adjustment policies are  mainly
concerned with raising  external resources, appealing to and relying on
external governments and institutions. In addition, they are driven by
African elites and drawn up by the corporate forces and institutional
instruments of  globalisation, rather than being based on peoples
experiences, knowledge and demands. A legitimate African programme has to
start from the  people and be owned by the people.
>
 The HIV-AIDS pandemic
Because HIV/AIDS affects women with household
> responsibilities and the young and economically active sections of the
population, the epidemic has devastating implications on production and
economic growth. It is already putting an unbearable burden on social
services
> and reversing hard-won development gains. The HIV/AIDS pandemic represents
an  immense obstacle to reaching the national poverty reduction targets and
development goals agreed upon at the United Nations Millenium Summit.
>
> We call on EU Governments to: (omitted for brevity; see orignal)
> We call on the SADC Governments to: (omitted)
>
> Debt and reparations
> Debt repayments are having a crippling effect on the ability  of
Governments of the region to implement development programmes, invest in
health and education and cope with the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS
crisis. The failed policies of the structural adjustment do not provide a
framework to tackle the special nature  of Southern Africa's debt.
>
> Apartheid-caused debt: (omitted)
> Given that these apartheid caused debts served a criminal system we call
on  the EU Governments to:
> - Accept that all apartheid caused debt is illegitimate and illegal;
> - Recognise that their corporations and banks  aided and abetted apartheid
and  reaped profits from it;
> - Recognise that the peoples of Southern Africa therefore are entitled to
full  cancellation and reparation for apartheid-caused debt.
>
> Structural adjustment caused debt
> We call upon the EU to recognize that dependency by SADC countries on
international financial institutions is caused by falling commodity prices
of African exports, lack of access to markets in the EU and the USA because
of  protectionism and agricultural subsidies, and reductions in official
development aid.
>
> Privatisation
> We believe that access to essential services, such as health, energy and
water, are basic human rights and should not be subject to privatisation and
profit, thus falling outside public control. The privatisation of such
services and needs only serves to widen the gap between the rich and the
poor,
> to increase the gender gap and to impact unfairly on women and girls who
are  the first to lose education and health services when user fees are
introduced.
> Privatisation ignores the question of people's ownership and control of
resources, while benefiting big capital.
>
> We call on the EU and SADC Governments to:
> - stop using privatisation as a pre-requisite for granting development
assistance and access to trade, especially as applied to the
conditionalities  imposed through the activities of the IFI's and the WTO.
> - ensure that any implementation of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
remains under public control and ownership, and ensures access to affordable
services
> by the people;
> - stop using development funds to promote private sector delivery of
services;
> - commit to pursuing, with the full involvement of civil society, >
comprehensive economic and social impact assessments prior to the
implementation of any privatisation initiative;
> - explore alternative strategies to upgrade public services, including
gender  budgeting, while keeping them under public control that is
accountable and   transparent.
> - scrap failed cost-recovery policies on basic services and implement
cross-subsidisation and budget subsidies;
> - recognise that privileged elites, companies and countries are driving
and  benefiting from privatisation.
>
> Further details: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php?id=11585