WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

http://www.apwld.org/latest-news/bangkok-civil-society-declaration-from-inclusive-to-just-development/#more-4331

Excerpt - Social Justice aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination, marginalization, exclusion that pervade our communities. It recognises the need to eliminate patriarchal systems and fundamentalisms, challenge existing social structures, deliver sexual and reproductive justice and guarantee the human rights of all peoples, particularly women, widows, dalits, indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees, children, youth, older persons, people living with disabilities, people living with HIV and other illnesses, sex workers, domestic workers and workers in the informal sector, survivors of trafficking, and those excluded by caste, class, income, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, or social status.

ASIA-PACIFIC - CIVIL SOCIETY DECLARATION FOR POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT JUSTICE - DECLARATION - WOMEN

 

Bangkok, Thailand.- 24 August 2013

Asia and the Pacific civil society groups representing 92 organisations from 21 countries representing various major groups and stakeholders gathered in Bangkok to formulate a just and transformative development agenda towards post-2015 and beyond.

Our world is currently at a crossroads. Facing multiple and interconnected crises of environment, finance, food, energy, democracy and most of all a crisis of deep inequalities, we are confronted with a challenge and an opportunity.

State policymaking over the past three decades based on a neoliberal economic model has led to wealth, power and resources accruing to a minority of the world´s richest and most powerful people and corporations. Our world is now a plutocracy. This model of wealth accumulation is directly responsible for the crises we now confront.

Governments have abdicated their responsibilities to protect the rights of their populations to development. State policies of privatisation of essential services, resources and infrastructure; deregulation of economies; wage suppression; political repression including restrictions on the right to freedom of association; and militarization have made the world grossly unequal, insecure and unsustainable. They have contributed to increasing consumption, financial speculation, corporate concentration, unregulated exploitation of the world´s resources, and increased violations of human rights. The effects of cross border and internal conflict have significant implications for peace and security in the region affecting livelihoods and leading to displacement of vulnerable populations. Migration patterns in the region reflect the inequality of current economic systems, as well as the effects of political instability and climate change. The burden of this policy-making and the crises it has caused lies on the shoulders of those least responsible and most vulnerable: poor women and men living in the Asia and the Pacific region.

Our governments have the opportunity to chart a new course, a course that the vast majority of peoples in this region want, a course of global equity, of ecological sustainability, of social justice, human rights enjoyment and dignity for all.

We, your constituents, task you, in partnership with civil society, with developing a transformative and redistributive framework that aims to reduce inequalities of wealth, power and resources between countries, between rich and poor and between men and women. We call on you to commit to a model of Development Justice.

A model of Development Justice should be framed by five foundational shifts

  1. Redistributive Justice
  2. Economic Justice
  3. Social Justice
  4. Environmental Justice
  5. Accountability to Peoples

Redistributive justice aims to redistribute resources, wealth, power and opportunities to all human beings equitably. It compels us to dismantle the existing systems that channel resources and wealth from developing countries to wealthy countries, from people to corporations and the military. It recognises the people as sovereigns of our local and global commons.

Economic justice aims to develop economies that enable dignified lives, accommodate for needs and facilitate capabilities, employment and livelihoods available to all, and is not based on exploitation of people or natural resources or environmental destruction. It is a model that makes economies work for people, rather than compels people to work for economies.

Social Justice aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination, marginalization, exclusion that pervade our communities. It recognises the need to eliminate patriarchal systems and fundamentalisms, challenge existing social structures, deliver sexual and reproductive justice and guarantee the human rights of all peoples, particularly women, widows, dalits, indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees, children, youth, older persons, people living with disabilities, people living with HIV and other illnesses, sex workers, domestic workers and workers in the informal sector, survivors of trafficking, and those excluded by caste, class, income, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, or social status.

Environmental Justice recognises the historical responsibility of countries and elites within countries whose production, consumption and extraction patterns have led to human rights violations, global warming and environmental disasters and compels them to alleviate and compensate those with the least culpability but who suffer the most: farmers, fishers, women and marginalised groups of the global south.

Accountability to peoples demand democratic and just governments, transparency, and governance that enables people to make informed decisions over their own lives, communities and futures. It necessitates empowering all people, but particularly the most marginalised, to be part of free, prior and informed decision making in all stages of development processes at the local, national, regional and international levels and ensuring right of peoples to determine their development priorities. It also requires guaranteeing the right to freedom of information.

The new development framework must be based on the principle of non-regression, embrace a holistic, rights-based approach, and ensure that the human rights principles of equality, equity, non-discrimination and inclusive participation and decision making underpin its policies and practices. Such an approach ensures that the most marginalized can benefit from development and growth, and become active agents of change.

To achieve redistributive justice and reduce economic inequalities within countries, governments must:

To achieve economic justice:

To achieve social and gender justice and reduce social and gender inequalities, governments must:

To achieve environmental justice and shift to sustainable consumption and production:

To guarantee accountability to peoples and participation of civil society:

To reduce economic inequalities and injustice between countries and finance the post-2015 agenda: