Silvia Perazzo is a historian specialized in the history of contemporary Africa and a lecturer at various universities from Argentina (Universidad Austral, Universidad del Salvador, Universidad Nacional de la Defensa, Universidad Nacional de La Matanza). Serving as the President of the United Nations Association from Argentina Republic (UNA-AR), Silvia continues to strengthen her professional career as a speaker at different multilateral civil society forums in topics related to education, such as Istanbul Summit, C20, 67 United Nations Civil Society Conference. “We, The People”, Foro de Participación Ciudadana de UNASUR.
Event Title:Inclusive Social Development in Achieving the Global Goals 2030
Date: September 25, 2019
SPEECH
Civil society participation to facilitate social development
Nowadays, it is civil society that spontaneously or collectively brings up to states the need for structural changes. In this sense, civil society is always a step ahead of the State; what is more, it sets the agenda for great changes. However, goals are not reached in an isolated manner, but through coordinated actions with the State, which can implement and execute them.
Civil society has a huge responsibility since, apart from setting an agenda, it must propose specific measures to address major issues. One of these major issues is the promotion of social development, which cannot be considered without addressing inclusion. And for the inclusion, the most important tool is the Education.
An inclusive and quality education must reach all social sectors, as well as urban and rural areas and vulnerable population; and it needs:
Coordinated action between Civil Society, State and international institutions
Educational Financial Laws that ensure the intangibility of the funds allocated to Education
Programs and projects that guarantee:
Knowledge
Skills development
Development of behaviors that favor tolerance, dialogue and peace
Mass campaigns against violence, discrimination, exclusion, and the lack of opportunities.
Legal Manager, North America Thomson Reuters Foundation, USA
Ms. Flavie Fuente is a dual-qualified lawyer in France and England & Wales and holds a Master’s Degree in Human Rights from the Universite Paris X. In August 2018, she joined the Thomson Reuters Foundation as the Legal Manager for North America and the Caribbean. She oversees the network of TrustLaw’s members and handles legal pro bono requests from non-profit organizations and social enterprises. Ms. Flavie identifies strategic human rights issues, scopes, and manages the development and publication of legal research for the social sector.
Ms. Flavie and her team regularly host legal workshops and events in collaboration with law firms and corporate partners. Before joining the Foundation, Ms. Fuente worked in London for Advocates for International Development (“A4ID”), a UK charity that empowers lawyers to eradicate poverty, as the Deputy Head of Partnerships and Legal Services. She worked extensively in collaboration with several UN agencies, primarily through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals. Ms. Fuente also has experience working in Geneva with International Social Service, a non -profit dedicated to promoting children’s rights in the context of international adoption, and immigration and family lawyer in France.
Event Title: Inclusive Social Development in Achieving the Global Goals 2030
Date: September 25, 2019
SPEECH
Importance of rule of law and democracy to reduce inequalities and implement social development policies The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters and our focus areas are inclusive economy, media freedom and human rights. A part of our organization is TrustLaw, which is our global pro bono service that connects NGOs and social enterprises with the best law firms and internal legal teams from around the world to support the corporate / business needs on day to day basis, as well as cross-border research to support the change of policies on human rights, corruption, microcredit, health, energy and the environment, among others.
Legal pro bono assistance is vital to guarantee the protection of the rule of law and strengthen democracy. We promote the SDGs through pro bono legal assistance in two main ways:
legal support as an impact accelerator: we provide daily legal support to non-profit organizations so that they can fully focus on their mission and achieve greater impact
the law as a change agent: we support advocacy efforts and enable change of laws through our legal research work.
Examples of recent pro bono projects that strengthen the rule of law and reduce inequalities are:
Critics are not criminals: protect journalists from criminal defamation laws
Guide “Know your rights” on land rights
Legal and jurisprudential investigation on the prosecution of crimes of sexual and gender-based violence and terrorism
Mr. Tushar A. Gandhi is the President and Founder of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation established in India in 1997. Mr. Gandhi is the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and son of Journalist Arun Manilal Gandhi. The Foundation works to continue the legacy of equality, empowerment, and justice for the “have nothing” constituents of our society. Mr. Gandhi is associated with organizations like Lok Seva Trust, Australia India Rural Development Foundation, and the Gandhi Research Foundation.
He is a peace and human rights activist and strives for a world without violence. Mr. Tushar writes and speaks on peace, nonviolence, justice and compassion and liberal ideals and stands against extremism and bigotry. His first book, “Let’s Kill Gandhi!”, a chronicle of the conspiracy and murder of Mahatma Gandhi published in 2007.
Event Title: Inclusive Social Development in Achieving the Global Goals 2030
Date: September 25, 2019
SPEECH
Transforming our world is such an attractive notion, everyone wants to transform the world. Some want to change it for personal gains, some want to change it to suit their needs, some for their ambitions and some for their aggrandisement, what is common amongst al these is the selfish self seeking motive. Hitler and Milosevick also wished to transform the world, turn it into something to suit their own vision of the world, as they wished it to be. what is also common in all these desires is to transform everyone else, but true transformation happens when one transforms one’s self, changes the self to become better and then inspires others to emulate the transformation. This is the ethical and sustainable kind of transformation.
In the not too distant past we saw how the movement of transformation disguised as ‘Civilising the savages’ gave birth to slavery and colonisation and subjected humanity to brutal imperialism and oppression. These were all selfish transformations. The industrial revolution too subjected economic imperialism on humanity, today the communications revolution and Artificial Intelligence are exposing us to technological imperialism of the corporates and curbing of fundamental rights by Governments. All these are examples of self seeking and self serving transformation. They all suffer from the flaw of wanting to oppress and subjugate others in one way or another, but not transforming one’s self, not being the change.
Today we talk of sustainability and inclusiveness but in the past couple of decades we have created more parochial exclusivist nations and societies that exclude more than they include or embrace. Globally we have created inequalities of such magnitude that they now appear unbridgeable. Culturally too we are in a contest of cultures, each trying to show itself better and superior. A mere declaration of intent towards equality and inclusiveness is not going to bring about transformation. Transformation will have to become an individual responsibility, if we change as individuals, we will be able to change society, nations and finally humanity. The new catch phrase of this century has been Global Village, where is this global village? More and more nations are building walls, fences, barriers and breaking out of unions, isolating and insulating themselves under the garb of security. We as a society are becoming more and more exclusive, isolationist. We label one another and generalise in our prejudices, one race is labelled criminal, another is labelled savage yet another is called terrorists, we look at each other with such tainted hate filled and generalised prejudices. We merely tolerate each other, tolerate our differences. How can tolerance become a virtue? Doesn’t tolerance mean we merely suppress our anger till it becomes unbearable and then explode and cause violence and strife. It is time we stop tolerating and start understanding, and through that understanding start respecting our differences, only then will we be able to bring about true and sustainable transformation. No two individuals are identical everyone is different, in appearances, behaviour, habits, nature and way of life, relationships are formed and sustained when we understand and than accept and respect our differences. Only those relationships are sustained which are based on understanding, respect and acceptance it is through this that love happens. A relationship based on compromise or subjugation can not be sustained and will not survive. Transformation must also be mutual otherwise it becomes one sided and is a form of subjugation. Subjugation does not create relationships it perpetuates opression.
Transformation must also be based on achieving equality. Today in our consumption of the earth’s resources itself there is criminal inequality. Some nations and societies have so much and waste so much that it is a sin and then there are nations and societies who live amongst such scarcity and poverty that it is inhuman and unimaginable. But we have conditioned ourself to be oblivious to it. We exist in our own comfort zone and have insulated ourselves to the suffering of humanity in another country, continent or of another race. Our collective conscience is aroused only when we see pictures of the infant Alan Kurdi’s dead body washed up on a beach, or images of the vulture stalking the skeleton of the Ethiopian child dying of starvation due to a man made famine, even then our collective outrage about such horrifying occurrences is short lived. As long as these tragedies happen in other nations other continents other races we remain unmoved. When we are so uncaring how honest is it to talk about inclusiveness?
We are now on the verge of self destruction caused by our own greed and self serving nature. We can change, we must change, if we change individually, one at a time. We need a ‘Me First’ movement of transformation. this world has been given to us to hold in trust for the future and it is our responsibility to ensure that when it is time to hand over this world to future generations we give it, if not better, definitely not worse than what was given to us. An Indian philosopher saint Kabeer has said, ‘Jheeni Jheeni Bini Chadariya, Das Kabeer Jatan Kari Odhi, Jyon ki tyon dhar deeni chadariya.’ It means ‘ delicate very delicately woven is the cloth of life, The servant Kabeer draped it with care and when it came time to hand it back ensured that it was as it had been gifted to him.’
For this to happen we must create a just, inclusive and understanding world of equality, of frugality, consuming enough for sustenance, not indulgence. Gandhi said ‘Nature provides enough for everyone’s needs but cannot provide for anyone’s greed’. In every aspect we must become consumers by need and not by greed.
To transform humanity we must begin with children, they are the inheritors off the world, education is what will empower our children to become capable of inheriting the world and holding it in trust for the future. Today education instils selfishness, instils the habit of self seeking, becoming an uninhibited consumer. Education will have to change, become more enlightening not merely a method of transfer of knowledge. But medium of enlightenment. A fountain of learning.
We as individuals will have to obey our responsibilities not just our rights but our duties too. And perform them to the best of our abilities and with honesty. There are many examples of civil society bringing about a transformation for the better but its not enough, much more is required we must form a global collective of good intentions and individually strive for collective success.
Anuradha Bhosale, was forced into becoming a child labourer because of the poverty her family was enslaved by. Through dint of hard work and some benefactors, Anuradha educated herself and is today heading an organisation AVANI in Kolhapur a city South of Mumbai. Anuradha has rescued more than 5 thousand children forced into hazardous labour and susceptible to exploitation and has rehabilitated them and is providing education, nourishment and security to them and making them aware of their rights. This is the kind of transformation that matters. More than organisation it requires a commitment passion and responsibility.
Ila Bhatt was a Union Leader, she started working with women who worked as rag pickers and started organising them, from it was born a collective of women SEWA, Self Employed Women’s Association, a union of women. Today SEWA is a Nation wide Bank Of women, By Women and For women. SEWA has economically and socially transformed millions of women in India and in scores off countries across four continents and is one of the fastest growing collective of women globally empowering women and bringing about a transformation in their lives and their societies. There are many like Anuradha and Ilaben, individuals and organisations, but much and many more are required urgently.
Today we have a surfeit of self serving ‘Me and only Me’ Leaders, we need selfless servers, servants of humanity, in the service of the needy. Not for Me and I, but for Us and All. Our greed has put life at peril. Since we have placed it in jeopardy only we will be able to save it, conserve it.
Cultures have more often than not created conflicts and strife, because cultures have always fallen prey to superiority and supremacy, My way has always been thought to be the better one. We must bring about a culture of nonviolence and peace. We must create a culture of understanding, accepting and respecting our difference, a culture of justice, peace and compassion, only then true transformation will occur. We must create a humanity which holds life as a trust and us as its trustees. Time, talent and ability along with wealth must be held and used in trust for a better present and future, beyond the borders of nation, beyond regions, race and religions, we must create a system of compassionate commerce and benevolent governance. Global village and exclusive sovereignty are mutually contradictory concepts and in today’s time are unsustainable. Humanity, if it is to survive will have to become compassionately inclusive, equal and just, the responsibility of achieving this is ours, individually.
In 1930 on the eve of breaking the Salt Tax imposed by the British. A Canadian journalist asked Gandhi if he had a message for the world. Gandhi’s message to the world was ‘I want world sympathy in this battle of right against might’. Today too, the battle of right against might is waged around the world, we must unite in sympathy and solidarity in all such battles, not remain mute spectators to rights being trampled, denied and persecuted.
The UN must become more equal and less subserviant, only then can it become a truly inclusive grouping of nations an organisation serving humanity and life compassionately and humbly, equality and justice must become its creed, it is not today.
I repeat, A trust for Life must be formed which is beyond parochial nationhood, beyond race and religion based on understanding, compassion, trust, justice and equality for all. And all of us must become its trustees, its servants.
If we change individually the result will be a global transformation but it must start with ‘Me First’.
Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology, Republic of Malawi
Honorable Mr. Mark Botomani is the Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology of the Republic of Malawi. Hon. Mark Botomani also acts as the official spokesperson for the Malawi Government.Before appointed as the Minister in June 2019, Hon. Botomani was the Member of Parliament for Zomba-Chisi region from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Zomba-Chisi constituency has never had someone holding a ministerial position before him. Hon. Botomani is dedicated to bring about diversity to the government agendas that the Ministry of Information empowers all citizens with social and economic development and prosperity. The Ministry of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology has a mandate to provide policy direction and guidance in the production and dissemination of public information; coordinate and manage ICT development and services. The main objective of the Ministry is to provide an enabling environment for the development and usage of information, civic, education and communication technologies.
In addition to his accomplishments behind the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as the draft of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, Mr. Dieng has lectured on international law and human rights and acted as a consultant for many organizations, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Ford Foundation and the African Union.
Event Title: Inclusive Social Development in Achieving the Global Goals 2030
UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide
Adama Dieng is the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. As a legal and human rights expert, Mr. Dieng has a distinguished career in contributing to the strengthening of rule of law, fighting impunity and promoting capacity-building in the area of judicial and democratic institutions. Further, he contributed to the establishment of several non-governmental organizations in Africa. Mr. Dieng began his career as Registrar of the Regional and Labour Courts in Senegal, and served as Registrar of the Supreme Court of Senegal for six years. He joined the International Commission of Jurists in 1982, serving the organization in different capacities, including as Legal Officer for Africa and Executive Secretary till 1990. He served a further 10 years as its Secretary-General, a period during which he was appointed as the United Nations Independent Expert for Haiti (1995-2000).
In addition to his accomplishments behind the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as the draft of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, Mr. Dieng has lectured on international law and human rights and acted as a consultant for many organizations, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Ford Foundation and the African Union.
Event Title: Inclusive Social Development in Achieving the Global Goals 2030
Date: September 25, 2019
KEYNOTE SPEECH
In 2015, the international community adopted an ambitious, comprehensive global development agenda that promised to leave no one behind. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was not only a well-developed document, but it also reflects what humanity can achieve whenever they decide to collectively tackle most pressing challenges. Through this declaration, member states, solemnly agreed that Sustainable Development Goals should become the basis for international development cooperation.
This framework provides the international community with the golden opportunity to position social justice and economic development for all at the center of global agenda. -both as an important end in itself and as an essential means to achieve peace and prosperity for all. SDGs offers a real opportunity to drive lasting change and to bring universal, comprehensive and transformative change in people’s lives. The new agenda is based on 17 goals which are interrelated but also complementary. From SDG 1 on the eradication poverty to SDG 17 on alliances to achieve the goals, each one of them is closely linked to inequality and inclusion.
However, it is equally true that, our commitment to build an inclusive society, raises the question of inclusion in what? in what type of society are people to be included? It requires us to ask in what type of society we want to live and more importantly, how we achieve that society. We need to consider what the values of an inclusive society are and what the institutional arrangements that would embody these would be. Social inclusion is a process that aims to create a ‘society for all’, a society in which everyone is an integral part and at the center of what is to be achieved.
Social inclusion focused development, is about guaranteeing human rights and promoting social justice for all, increasing the quality of life of citizens and improving individual wellbeing. An inclusive society is one that rises above differences of race, gender, class, generation and geography to ensure equality of opportunity regardless of origin. In an inclusive society, social interaction is governed by an agreed set of social institutions. The capability of all citizens to determine how those institutions function and relate to their day to day lives, is indeed a hallmark of an inclusive society.
Inclusion requires five dimensions to be effective and indeed meaningful to a society concerned. Roughly it would include; Visibility – to be recognized as a member of the society; consideration– that the needs and concerns of all individuals and groups in society are taken into account by policy planners; access to social interactions – that everyone has the same rights to participate; equal rights – that the human rights set out in wide range of international and regional instruments are domesticated and all members of society are able to claim them; and access for allto resources necessary to participate fully in society. Yet we all agree that these five goals are indeed aspirational, as no country can claim to have achieved them all. However, despite this reality, it is always useful to aspire to something positive whose realization can always enhance the future and wellbeing of humanity.
It is true that a nation’s most valuable resource, far greater than anything in its possession, is its people – its human capital – and how well it performs in productivity and raising living standards depends critically on how available legal and institutions framework responds to their needs and wellbeing. Inclusive development requires people to be at the center of development. Unfortunately, we continue to witness how extreme poverty and inequality continue to be a badge of shame and hopelessness to millions of our fellow citizens. Despite this reality, we must be candid enough to admit that this situation is not and should not be the way it is. It can and should change.
Most people in this room will agree with me that, many people around the world don’t die because of lack of hospitals or clinics. They die because of lack of access and coverage of health care system. FAO has shown that while hunger is claiming millions of victims annually, the truth is a third of all the food produced worldwide is wasted. The gap between rich and poor continues to grow, leaving a trail of exclusion, injustice and undermining the social fabric. What is evident from this sad revelation is that, inequality, violence, and injustice threaten both short and long-term social and economic development and harms not just those who are excluded but also has the potential to undermine the fabric of the society. To reduce inequality, we must broaden access to services, to opportunities and to resources.
Kofi Annan, an indisputable champion of people centered development, once noted, “It is not realistic to think that some people can go on deriving great benefits from globalization while billions of their fellow human beings are left in abject poverty. We have to give at least a chance to share in our prosperity to our fellow citizens, not only within each nation but in the global community”. I sincerely believe that, injustice thrive when human rights are violated, rule of law is considered an inconvenient barrier to those in power, political space is shrunk, legitimate aspirations of citizens are ignored or crushed altogether and many people especially youths lack positive prospects and meaning for their lives.
In many countries I have visited throughout the world, one of the most common explanation given by those who have taken up arms against their respective governments is exclusion and marginalization. The perception of or actual exclusion of certain communities or groups of people is a key driver to armed conflicts. It is important that governments distribute resources and provide social and economic opportunities to ensure equitable participation of all citizens in the development agenda.
As I conclude, let me reiterate my conviction that, if we are to achieve inclusive development and sustainable peace, we must reaffirm our commitment to the primacy of human dignity and agency of human in development itself. We must put humanity at the center of development. The central objective of any development pursuit should be to uplift humanity from the misery of poverty and injustice. As underscored by the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace.” It is our fundamental duty that we continue to solemnly honour and apply these words. But also use the very words as standard to hold accountable those who violate them. Irrespective of who they are.
