UN: Deputy Secretary-General seeks support for urgent action on major development issues confronting international community; Address to Washington, D.C. Group cites globalization, conflict, HIV/AIDS, environmental constraints as challenge of appalling dimensions

• Published in: M2 Presswire p. 1
• Format: Newsletter
• Language: English
• Published: Coventry Normans Media Ltd 05.12.2000
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; Developing countries; Economic growth; GDP; Globalization; Gross Domestic Product; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human rights; LDCs; Rule of law; Sustainable development

M2 PRESSWIRE-5 December 2000-UN: Deputy Secretary-General seeks support for urgent action on major development issues confronting international community; Address to Washington, D.C. Group cites globalization, conflict, HIV/AIDS, environmental constraints as challenge of appalling dimensions (C)1994-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD This is the text of an address by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette today to the Society for International Development in Washington, D.C.: I am very pleased to join you for this important conference on the twenty- first century development agenda, a subject of great importance to the United Nations, and to me personally. Development -- in every sense of the term -- is as important to our founding mission as anything we do. If anything, I believe the lessons of the past fifty years have made clear that any success in halting conflicts and promoting human rights is short- lived unless development truly takes root and gives every individual the opportunity to make the most of his or her abilities. I would like to pay tribute to the work of the Society for International Developments commitment to broadening the understanding of, and the commitment to, sustainable development. As a forum and as a centre of knowledge, you contribute greatly to what must be a truly global effort. You have asked me to put the global development scene in a broader context. I am grateful, because it is very much the role of the United Nations to do precisely that. Let me mention four issues which are particularly shaping the context of our development work at present, and indeed are likely to be decisive for the development prospects of almost all countries. The first and most obvious is globalization, which is transforming all our lives, and especially the scale and nature of economic exchange between different parts of the world. In this new era, people's actions constantly -- if often unwittingly -- affect the lives of others living far away. The benefits are plain to see: faster growth, higher living standards, accelerated innovation and diffusion of technology and management skills, new economic opportunities for individuals and countries alike. Yet a backlash has begun, because these benefits are so unequally distributed, while the costs are borne by all, and because the global market is not yet underpinned by rules based on shared social objectives. More broadly, for many people globalization has come to mean greater vulnerability to unfamiliar and unpredictable forces that can bring on economic instability and social dislocation, sometimes at lightning speed. There is mounting anxiety that the integrity of cultures and the sovereignty of States may be at stake. Thus, instead of leaving billions of people behind in squalor, we have somehow to give the global economy a solid foundation in shared values and institutional practices, so that as well as creating bigger markets it advances broader and more inclusive social purposes. The second issue is the persistence of conflict. The end of the cold war has not opened an era of perfect peace and harmony. Conflicts continue in many parts of the world -- but mainly in developing countries. Most of them today are internal conflicts, although the recent one between Ethiopia and Eritrea reminds us not to be complacent about the danger of renewed war between States, as well. But whatever their nature, the conflicts have a disastrous impact on the development prospects not only of the countries directly involved but of the entire surrounding region. This problem is particularly acute today in Africa, where many millions of lives and livelihoods have been destroyed in conflicts over the past few decades. Nothing is more inimical to economic growth, or more certain to perpetuate poverty. The third issue is the worldwide pandemic of HIV/AIDS, whose full and horrendous proportions are only now beginning to be realized. Last week we published a new report on the subject, which the Financial Times aptly summarized as follows: "The statistics are horrifying, the consequences are devastating, and the worst is yet to come". Nearly 22 million people have died of AIDS since the epidemic started in the late 1970s. Today, 36 million around the world are either HIV- positive or have AIDS. The epidemic is growing at an explosive rate in Russia, but Africa remains the hardest hit. In sub-Saharan Africa, 2.4 million people died of AIDS this year, while an estimated 3.8 million people became infected with HIV, bringing the total number of people living with HIV or AIDS in the region to 25.3 million. For the vast majority of these people, the cost of treatment is far, far out of reach. In the most affected countries, AIDS is crippling national economies and undermining businesses. In South Africa, for instance, one of Africa's strongest economies, it may cut gross domestic product (GDP) by 17 per cent by 2010.