Camillo Gonsalves on Development

Reprinted from Caribbean News Now! Published on December 14, 2011

UNITED NATIONS -- Rich countries must honour their pledges of development assistance to poorer nations, especially in the wake of the global economic crisis, said Vincentian Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves at the fifth United Nations high level dialogue on financing for development.

Gonsalves, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told the high-level dialogue that “[Official Development Assistance] is not charity. It is an investment in international peace and security, and it is a necessary counterweight, albeit an inadequate one, against systemic inequalities in global trade and capital flows that are fundamentally unbalanced and disadvantageous to many developing countries, particularly small states.”

Since 1970, developed countries have been pledging to devote 0.7% of their national incomes to development assistance, said Gonsalves. Despite repeating that pledge in 2002, 2008 and 2009, rich nations delivered less than half of the promised assistance in 2010, according to Gonsalves.

“Developing countries that have spoken today to highlight the massive shortfalls between [assistance] pledged and [assistance] delivered are neither blaming nor begging,” said Gonsalves. “We are simply reminding our partners of the longstanding commitments that they made, upon which we rely, and which we expect to be honored.”

“It remains a constant source of amazement that many states can regularly conjure up
billions of dollars to prosecute discretionary wars and unilateral military interventions, almost on a whim, while developmental assistance stagnates, falls short of commitments, and is subject to all forms of creative accounting or empty sloganeering that have no impact on the bottom lines of developing states,” said the ambassador.

The Vincentian envoy also highlighted an “urgent” call for debt relief to be extended to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). He pointed out that five CARICOM states have debt-to-GDP rations in excess of 100%, while another four exceed 70%. However, because of CARICOM states’ “middle-income” status, they were often excluded from debt- forgiveness schemes, a stance that Gonsalves called “shortsighted and ultimately counterproductive.”

Providing negotiated debt-relief to CARICOM states “on a regional basis... is the morally correct, fiscally prudent, and developmentally logical approach to our region’s growing debt burdens,” said Gonsalves.
Although the current high-level dialogue on financing for development is occurring in the shadow of the worst financial and economic depression in decades, the Vincentian diplomat stated flatly that the global meltdown “is not an excuse for failure to meet ODA commitments.”

Citing the outcome of the 2009 United Nations high level conference on the world economic and financial crisis and its impact on development, which was co-chaired by St Vincent and the Grenadines, Gonsalves reminded delegates that the “consensus outcome of the UN conference on the crisis stressed that the crisis, in and of itself, necessitated urgent compliance with existing targets.”

“In this time of global economic recession, the focus should not be on delaying or avoiding the implementation of FFD commitments, but rather on accelerating and strengthening those promises in the assistance of those who played no role in creating the crisis in the first place,” he said.

At the same time, Gonsalves expressed appreciation for “the efforts of all of our development partners – particularly in these times of increased global economic instability.”

However, despite gratitude for the assistance that his country and other developing states have received, Gonsalves
stated that “the inescapable fact is that total ODA is far short of the required or promised minimums.”
Paraphrasing Bob Marley’s hit song “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry),” Gonsalves said “the developmental pot may be cooking, but the food in it is not enough.”

“Development costs money, and while many states have demonstrated an unerring ability to renege on their commitments to assist, our governments cannot renege on our own solemn commitments to the people-centered development and advancement of our populations,” he said.

The fifth United Nations high level dialogue on financing for development was organised under the theme “The Monterrey Consensus and Doha Declaration on Financing for Development: status of implementation and tasks ahead.”

The Monterrey Consensus was the outcome of a 2002 United Nations conference that took place in Monterrey, Mexico. The Monterrey Consensus was adopted by all countries as a blueprint for mobilising and utilising financing for development. The Doha Declaration on Financing for Development was a 2008 follow-up to the Monterrey Consensus, which sought to add greater detail to the broad areas of agreement that were arrived at in Monterrey.

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Camillo Gonzalves at the UN

The international community must tangibly demonstrate even greater levels of trust and faith in the youth.
The call comes from the Permanent representative of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves. He told the General Assembly’s High-Level Meeting on Youth that the challenges they face are often without parallel in historical memory.
Gonsalves: In our region, the youth confront transnational crime, HIV/AIDS, climate vulnerability and a technological explosion amid an uncertain economic environment, with changing modes of production and distribution of capital that have yet untold implications for the next generation. This High-Level event must have something to show for itself beyond a tepid outcome document. It must be the beginning of a reimagining of the role of the youth in our national development and global governance, and the starting point of a genuine effort to mainstream youth issues and embrace our young people as equal partners in this journey into an uncertain future. Anything less would be simply be another attempt to use the youth as a photogenic backdrop for further political grandstanding. But as we have learned in recent months, the price of such marginalization of the youth, their needs and concerns, can be politically and societally cataclysmic. Let us heed the lessons that the youth have been trying to teach us.
NAR: According to Ambassador Gonsalves, it is an unfortunate truth that youth and governance are often times-uneasy bedfellows. He said the traditional halls of power and politics – including the General AssemblyHall – are often dominated by those for whom youth is but a dim memory.
Gonsalves: Further, many of our political leaders have failed to earn the trust of young people, seeing them merely as an emotional wave to be ridden into or out of political office. Others seek to cynically grasp a mantle of “change” that belies their own status as senior citizens whose principles and transformative credentials have long since been sacrificed on the altar of political ambition. But the world’s youth need not be mistrusted, harnessed, indoctrinated or marginalized. They need to be listened to. They need to be embraced. And they need to be made active, and leading partners in national development and global governance. The pace of change and development has accelerated exponentially, and the world that lies one generation into the future will be radically different from the one that we grapple with today. The pace of change – for good and ill – will be a defining feature of tomorrow’s global village, and it is one that we have no experience in managing, or even predicting.
NAR: Ambassador Gonsalves reiterated Saint Vincent and the Grenadines central sentiment of the CARICOM Declaration on the Future of Youth in the Caribbean Community, namely, that the youth are “not problems to be solved,” but rather “invaluable assets and partners in development” of the sub region. He said the creativity, innovation and energy that will chart a new course through the fallout of globalization and the ongoing global economic crisis lies with our youth, not the staid orthodoxy that led us into the crises we now face.
Gonsalves: The Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has invested heavily in the youth at all levels of society. We have, in the last decade, achieved universal access to secondary education, and are well underway to universal access to early childhood education. State spending in tertiary education has increased exponentially, and every single one of our students – with the cooperation of the governments of Portugal and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela – will have their own laptop computer, to engage the world beyond the narrow confines of our Small Island Developing State. Young people have also been thrust into positions of great responsibility at all levels of government and the public service. Senators, Ministers, Diplomats and other high level officials are all part of this burgeoning youth brigade. Young Vincentian entrepreneurs, sportspersons and cultural artists continue to create jobs, influence debate, and create new pathways for future development. Our national trust and faith in the youth is unshakeable.
NAR: Ambassador Gonsalves stressed that it is today’s youth who will inherit that world, and it is today’s youth who must be taken into the confidence of leaders and policymakers on every step of our journey into the future.
This is Donn Bobb reporting.

St Vincent and the Grenadines concludes UN human rights review

News Publisher 5/16/11 6:31 AM
Reprinted from Caribbean News Now!

GENEVA, Switzerland -- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) made concluding remarks before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday, becoming the 172nd country to have its record on human rights reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review process that began in 2008.

SVG’s progress in education, housing, health and development was praised by members of the Human Rights Council.

However, some countries also asked SVG to consider abolishing the death penalty, and to remove any legal provisions against the crime of buggery. Countries also asked the government to strengthen its protections of the disabled, juveniles, and victims of domestic violence.

The Universal Periodic Review involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 members of the United Nations. It provides an opportunity for all countries to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights. The countries are evaluated based on a national report provided by their government, as well as information from the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, human rights treaty bodies, and non-governmental organisations.
The two-person Vincentian delegation to Geneva, Switzerland was led by Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves of the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations. He was joined by Doris Charles, Minister Counselor of SVG’s High Commission to the United Kingdom.

SVG presented its national report to the Human Rights Council on Tuesday, 10 May, 2011. In introducing the national report, Gonsalves told the Council that SVG was proud of its “rapidly developing and improving post-independence human rights record.” The ambassador reminded the Council that SVG’s history was scarred by both slavery – “that most inhumane of human rights violations” – and the genocide of the Garifuna. However, he pointed out that “In modern times, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has largely solved, and spectacularly so, many of the ethnic and racial tensions that bedevil other States.”

“The descendants of the slaveholder, the enslaved and the indigenous live in peace and relative harmony with each other, and with the more recent immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Europe,” said Gonsalves.
He also pointed out Ambassador Betty King, who was in the Council chamber to hear SVG’s presentation. King, the Vincentian-born Ambassador of the United States in Geneva, was called an “illustrious member of our Diaspora” by Gonsalves.

The Vincentian ambassador told the Council about the growth of democracy in SVG since independence. He recounted the free and fair elections and peaceful transfers of power that have been typical of the country’s development. He also told the Council about the diversity of successive Vincentian governments, which have featured women, the youth, and prime ministers of different ethnic backgrounds.
Gonsalves also described the fundamental rights and freedoms protected by the Vincentian Constitution, as well as the additional human rights protections that were included in the proposed new Constitution, which was defeated in the 2009 referendum.

“Unfortunately, the required referendum on the Constitution became a political football as the scheduled 2010 General Elections approached,” said Gonsalves. “The opposition, which formerly supported the Constitutional reform effort, withdrew from the bipartisan process, and the discussion of the document took on a sharply partisan political tone that made sober and informed debate unexpectedly difficult.”

“On reflection, the State too, could and should have done more to ensure that the constitutional debate did not become hostage to more short-term political calculations,” said the ambassador.

In a rigorous two-hour question-and-answer session between Gonsalves and the members of the Council, 33 countries asked questions and made recommendations to SVG.

Responding to questions on the death penalty, Gonsalves explained that recent judicial decisions made it extremely difficult for executions to take place in SVG, where the death penalty has not been applied in over 15 years. He later asserted out that a majority of the world’s peoples still live in countries that impose capital punishment.
A number of countries called on SVG to repeal all laws that criminalise sexual activities between consenting adults. However, Gonsalves pointed out that Vincentian laws prohibited incest, prostitution, buggery and other sex acts that could involve consenting adults, and that there was no public or legislative appetite to revise any of those provisions.

Many Council members congratulated SVG for its poverty reduction strategies and focus on health and education. They also praised the government for the construction of the new Belle Isle Correctional Facility and economic development.

The Human Rights Council made 92 recommendations to SVG for national action and consideration.
In wrapping-up the week-long Universal Periodic Review process on Friday, May 13, Gonsalves thanked the Council for “the warm expressions of support, solidarity and recognition of the strides and efforts being made by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the field of human rights; and the progress we have achieved in national development and the ennoblement of the Vincentian people.”

He told the Council that SVG could immediately accept 49 of the 92 recommendations, many of which were already being implemented by the government. He explained to the Council that another 26 recommendations would require further study by the government and wider consultation with the Vincentian public before making a response. The remaining 17 recommendations, which dealt mainly with the death penalty and laws relating to buggery, were not accepted by the government.

The president of the Human Rights Council praised SVG for its progress in the field of human rights and congratulated the delegation for their comprehensive responses to the questions and recommendations of the Council.

Ambassador Bente Angell-Hansen of Norway, who represented one of three countries with primary responsibility for recording and reporting the positions of SVG, extended her “sincere appreciation to Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves for the effective and constructive participation of his country in this review.”

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