WUNRN
GRASSROOTS WOMEN & MEN ADVOCATES – PERSISTENT –
UNDERFUNDED – PASSIONATE – INVINCIBLE – REINFORCING INCLUSION FfD
Report of Online Latin
America and Caribbean-LAC Regional Consultation on UN Financing for Development
(FfD), June 16 -27, 2015
https://www.worldwewant2015.org/es/node/491203
Organizers:
The consultation was organized
by the Alliance for the Bien Vivir, Peace and Sustainability, El Salvador, in
collaboration with the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) of Latin
America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the Policy & Strategy Group (PSG) of
the United Nations Millennium Campaign World We Want 2015. The organizers of
the consultation did not receive financial contributions from the UN or any
other entity. It was a commitment in support of the peoples of the region.
Introduction:
This Consultation on FfD was
convened because in the LAC region there have not been efforts to disseminate
related information widely and in a timely manner, nor any guarantees for the
participation of those sectors that are generally excluded. Yet there is a need
for the wider public, social movements and regional networks to at least be
aware of this important negotiation process that takes place within the UN,
especially since this process is a key instrument in the work to define the new
global financial architecture. This process also will define local, national
and regional systems in order to achieve a Millennium of Peace, which would
guarantee that no one is left behind, nor living in poverty, or exclusion and
inequality.
The invitation to the
consultation was sent to hundreds of people, representatives or members of
social movements and regional networks. It aimed to collect the voices,
proposals and solutions from the various sectors, particularly those
historically excluded from discussions and public debates in the LAC region on
Financing for Development and other global issues.
Participation was both broad
and deep, and contributions poured a wealth and visions for the world and
future that must be created, to guarantee the well-being of Mother Earth and
that of the present and future generations. The responses were strong, as
participants responded based on the experiences of their present reality and
visualizing from that point to the future that is needed. This brief report
collects the essence and spirit of the responses, which are a consensual
legitimization of the views shared by those who registered and participated to
be shared with the global community as a whole.
The results of this
consultation will be included in the civil society report on the Third
International Conference on Financing for Development, 13-16 July 2015, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, to be part of the official documents of the event.
Seven questions and
generating guidelines were worked, with the participation of 64 people from 17
different countries of the LAC region, including the United States. The
participants ranged in age from 18 to 72, and represented different sectors:
women, children, youth, indigenous peoples, afro-descendants, elderly,
communities and territories, coastal and marine areas, religious and ecumenical
sector, academia, workers, peasants, artists and farmers.
Summary of the results of the Consultation FfD:
For the people who participated
of the consultation, the concept of "development" for the LAC region
is charged with a historical burden and negative connotations. This concept
deepens and exacerbates gaps, and participants see that in effect it denies the
visions and paradigms of life of the people in the region. There is a need to
create concepts that can be a meeting point between visions and the imaginary
of the Western world and the peoples of the Global South. The concept of desenvolvimiento
(or "unfolding"), which means "endogenous development,"
starts from below and from within; in other words, from the family,
community-territoriality, and then moves to the local, regional, national and
international-global levels. There also is a personal-spiritual aspect.
Development, for participants,
involves creating a present and future of peace and justice to ensure the care
of Mother Earth--the planet--and the full enjoyment of human rights and the
global common good, with gender perspective as a central component. For the
participants in the consultation, this concept represents fully the Goodness of
life/Living Well/Well-being, and Vida Plena (or enjoyment of the
plenitude of life), which affirms the sense of belonging and the inherent
relationship to nature, the implicit harmonious responsibility to the
continuity of life in all its expressions and forms. To this end there is a
vision of a spiral that presents the existing and needed links in the
sustainability process, for the ability to create, sustain and nourish aspects
and dimensions such as intercultural and intergenerational work, equality and
equity, self-determination, food sovereignty. It also lifts up socio-economic
solidarity, the right to a meaningful and useful life, and the vital importance
of making decisions mindful of their impact on life up to the seventh
generation. This understanding affirms the need to revalue the forms and ancestral
concepts of life of the peoples of the region, and how to organize our ways for
our own well-being.
The participants of the
consultation consider that the FfD process is urgent and needed in order to
create a new global financial architecture that will halt the abuses and
looting of transnational corporations, eradicate tax havens and ensure the
restructuring of the sovereign debt of countries, press for payment of the
existing ecological debt, for the transformation of the production and
consumption patterns, the diversification of the energy matrix towards no
fossil fuels, as well as fiscal and tax justice. The participants see that
International cooperation (ODA) for mobilization of domestic and external
resources must be prioritized to be carried effectively, respectfully, and in
support of South-South cooperation, which should be guaranteed, and without
interference, extortion and impositions of any kind. All aspects of
international cooperation must be brought about for the effective care of
Mother Earth, and concrete investment in Peace and Sustainability.
The participants issued a call
for FfD to intentionally address investment and progressive public policies and
systems of universal social protection, eradicating impunity and corruption,
and ensuring sound public finances, which must be diligently administered based
on criteria of transparency and accountability with monitoring, control and
participation of citizens in decisions of global significance as well as for
regional and national to local. This is one key guarantee for the eradication
of poverty and hunger, mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts, and
recovery of ecosystems and biodiversity.
A key proposal is that
mechanisms for monitoring and comptrollership must be created and promoted for
the participation of civil society organizations, social movements, local
networks and the general public. These must be in place at the start of 2016 to
ensure transparency and accountability without any legal reserve on positions
and agreements resulting from FfD3, and other global negotiations – SDGs and
CC—by the end of 2015, which will be signed on by states and governments. These
agreements must be disseminated and discussed widely and publicly in each
country, to ensure informed inclusion and participation across all sectors of
society. To guarantee timely and effective inclusion, the UN should adopt the
mechanism of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the principle of
common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities
(CBDR-CR) for all decision-making and in all the various levels—local,
national, regional and international-global issues.
Participants
recommend that there should be agreement to create legitimate and democratic
intergovernmental mechanisms to regulate and supervise all global financial
institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Inter-American
Development Bank) and on fiscal, tax and intergovernmental international
cooperation issues. Here, emphasis must be placed on equity and equality. To
move in this direction it is important to seriously consider the re-foundation
of the UN, to create an entity that would ensure and fulfill its role and
mandate; that is, to accompany the people as they create their future, the UN
would truly be an instrument and guarantor of peace. The UN would count then
with accessible and inclusive mechanisms for the presence and participation of
all voices and sectors, to provide monitoring and comptrollership for the
implementation of agreements, to assure access to information and justice, to
ensure transparency, accountability and effectiveness for the work of the UN,
states and governments.
Participants affirmed that the
primary means for implementation are the citizens themselves, who must be
engaged, educated and informed in all areas and at all stages in an intentional
and timely manner. This should take into account local peculiarities, and
recognize the territorial social governance, and the strengthening of
organizations and networks at the grassroots, communities and territories.
They strongly suggest that
agreements reached at FfD3 should be binding and legitimized by the
legislatures in each of the participating countries. As a law they should raise
the level of commitment, qualitative response to the development needs of the
countries, prioritizing the care of Mother Earth, Peace and Sustainability.
This can be achieved by significantly reducing and redirecting military
spending at the national and global levels, directing investments to impact on
these priorities as a way to foster the urgent, profound and necessary
transformations of both LAC region and global levels.
To ensure effective long-term
implementation, participants propose that Education for a Culture of Peace and
sustainability and Lifelong Learning, be incorporated into the state
educational systems, recognizing it as a Global Common Good and as a Heritage
of Humanity. The involvement of public and state universities is vital for the
effective presence and participation of the citizenry in real time.
National fiscal and tax systems
must undergo deep reforms in order to ensure fairness and progressivity.
Benefits, exemptions and tax incentives to transnational corporations must be
rescinded, and laws for them to pay their fair share must be enacted. Laws that
allow illicit enrichment (for example, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin) must
be eradicated, and banking secrecy protections on final recipients of wealth,
and of people/companies that defraud public finances must be dropped.
In the international field,
participants want to ensure compliance with—and the effectiveness of— Official
Development Aid-ODA, and commitments by Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), and the transfer of
science and technology to countries in the Global South.
Structural systemic violence,
the concentration of wealth, impunity and corruption are considered by
participants as aspects that hinder and negatively affect the development of
peoples, peace and sustainability in the region, significantly deepening
poverty, inequity, exclusion and inequality, and the vulnerabilities associated
with the impacts of climate change and disasters. These vulnerabilities are
exacerbated by the impacts of mega-projects, Public Private Partnerships
(PPPs), Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs).
These generate severe social conflicts in the face of threats of transnational
corporations to plunder and exploit the resources of the territories, which are
already in decline due to the deterioration of ecosystems and biodiversity. In
turn, this negatively affects the livelihoods of families and communities,
which also cause forced displacement from the territories. In this situation,
women, children and the elderly are the main affected sectors of the
population.
They
underscored the absolute necessity of addingpublic/ citizen insecurity and
migrations to these concerns, because both are weakening societies worldwide,
in our case in Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America, and South
America. High homicides rates are plaguing the region, with most victims under
30 years of age. The lack of decent and dignified employment, high levels of
feminicide deepened by racism, discrimination and patriarchy—which are all
inherited colonial practices in the region—have led to the weakening of
cultural identities and of the peoples´ ancestral wisdom.
Finally, with regard to the
positions of the administrations of government of the LAC region on FfD, Post
2015 and COP21, respondents agreed that the pertinent information to each
process of negotiation has not been disclosed or agreed with the organizations
of civil society, social movements, local networks and the general public.
Participants understand that this lack of openness is due to the lack of
transparency, commitment and interest on the part of government to promote
dialogue, consensus and concerted follow-up with these sectors of society. They
also believe that state institutions lack vision and understanding when it
comes to their mandate as public servants. There is no recognition that the
people—the citizenry—are the real and sovereign power, which has been usurped
by small corporate elites, communication media and illegitimate groups (i.e.,
World Economic Forum, G7).
In conclusion, the essence,
spirit, and coincidences resulting from the consultation show that it is urgent
and necessary to define as a fundamental principle of Financing for
Development, the Care of Mother Earth, , the Global Common Good, and investment
in Peace as a superior moral imperative and, in support of the people as they
create their future, and destiny. This is decolonization, which is manifested
in a state of durable sustainable peace, one of the most coveted desires of the
peoples´s of the LAC region.
Supporting documents and
perspectives on Financing for Development Included in the consultation:
- Zero Draft Official on FfD3
http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/revised-draft-outcome.pdf
- LAC Regional Consultation
Document on FfD3 ECLAC
http://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/events/files/15-0307_informe_consulta_regional_ffd.pdf
- Declaration on FfD3 CELAC
https://www.worldwewant2015.org/es/file/497076/download/541499
San Salvador, July 6, 2015
Contacts:
Cesar Artiga, Facilitator and
Manager of the consultation, GCAP LAC Regional Coordination
(gcap-lac.blogspot.com), El Salvador, cesarneftali@gmail.com
Marta Benavides, Global GCAP Co-Chair, El Salvador, tlalibertad@gmail.com