Hon Speaker, according to article 1 of the founding provisions of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, the following principles are fostered: contacts, co-ordination and exchange of experience among parliaments and parliamentarians of all countries; considering questions of international interest and expressing its views on such issues with the aim of bringing about action by parliaments and members thereon.
It also contributes to the defence and promotion of human rights, which are universal in scope, and respect, which is an essential factor of parliamentary democracy and development. It contributes to better knowledge of the working of representatives of institutions to the strengthening and development of their means of actions.
These are fundamental principles espoused by the IPU to further champion the improvement of a working relationship with the UN by ensuring that there is enhanced parliamentary contribution and support of the UN and its programmes. They also foster co-operation between the UN and national parliaments through its various activities such as peace, security, democracy, economic and social development, as well as sustainable development, to mention but a few.
The UN is at the core of the international multilateral fora and every effort must be made to strengthen it in order to fulfil its role and implement its mandate effectively. Hence there should be a collective approach to addressing global challenges in multilateral forums and to work in collaboration with the IPU. Greater synergy is needed between the work of the IPU and the UN. Linked to that is the important role of accountability, oversight and transparency by both organisations in its programmes and activities to ensure good world corporate governance.
The UN systems are of major importance for the maintenance of international relations, including those of peace and security. This multilateral forum is a platform for the advancement of objectives of addressing poverty and underdevelopment of the developing world. The commitments made by the developed world need to be translated into tangible actions.
The UN, through the use of systems of global governance, should recognise the need for and the importance of addressing the pressing social and economic needs of the international community, particularly those in Africa and other parts of the developing world. Stronger leadership and more equitable distribution of power are necessary to shape and develop the norms and standards of international development.
The developing world should utilise the existing negotiating groupings of the UN and alliances to pursue the objectives of the developing world. This should be done bearing in mind the need to continue engaging within the global systems of government institutions on political, economic and social matters, including the fundamental issue of the reform of multilateral institutions.
This is necessary in order to be more responsive to the development needs of the developing countries. A redistribution of power to the developing countries will lead to the attainment of an equitable global order. The UN machinery needs to be strengthened to respond adequately to the challenges of the developing world and Africa.
The World Bank was created to lend money to countries that need aid. This aid is linked to conditions of political reform, which includes democratisation, rule of law, good governance and, recently, lowered carbon emissions. These are noble principles, but many challenges to this conditionality have highlighted the need for reform. One such challenge is whether these principles are sustainable in transplanting democracy to developing countries, or lack sustainability and ownership of political reform and economic development by developing countries. They tend to be viewed as controlling mechanisms by the developing countries as opposed to encouragement, suggesting that aid is subject to manipulation by these institutions at the expense of countries that need aid. The issues of concern are manipulation of conditions, lack of ownership or reform by developing nations, and developing countries becoming dependent on aid, membership issues and no direct relationship between aid and flows of political reform.
The UN Security Council is responsible for the maintenance of peace and security in the international community. Five permanent members make decisions for the 192 UN member states and can veto decisions. The issues of reform are based on the lack of geographical representation and legitimacy. Some suggested reforms include: the creation of more permanent seats; regional representation enlargement of UNSC from 15 to 24 members; the creation of 6 new permanent seats; and the AU suggestion of two permanent seats for Africa with the powers to veto.
The hard power issues preventing reform of the United Nations Security Council, UNSC, issues such as the economic muscle of permanent members, disagreement by different regions, disagreement about reform in the world, the AU disagreement itself, and the AU lobbying individually are some of the concerns. As long as these issues of reform are not addressed, global power and ownership of the international agenda will be a pipe dream, so South Africa should be at the forefront of lobbying for these reforms.
Distribution of powers means levelling the playing field and the use of soft power to enhance global co-operation and development. The reform of Bretton Woods institutions is about making sure that this institution does not abuse soft power and turn it into de facto hard power by using aid as a means to suppress the interests of developing countries through imposing strenuous conditions for access to aid and loans. This further attempts to transplant democracy in developing countries, thereby creating a culture of dependency.
The issues of reform to be addressed are as follows: the challenges of legitimacy, accountability and credibility; effectiveness and equity of its policies; failure to regulate currency flows; lack of representivity; the consideration of candidates from developing countries for top positions - this is about the appointment of CEOs on merit and not on geographical or historical status; the ability of Western powers to veto important policy decisions; and the need to increase the voice and representation for developing countries.
These institutions were established to ensure that developing countries could gain access to global resources. The unintended consequences were that they created too much power for developed countries at the expense of developing countries.
In conclusion, the redistribution of power and ownership of the international agenda needs South Africa to assume a leadership role in the forums such as the AU, the UN, the G20, as well as the UNSC to advocate and lobby for such reforms. Every multilateral forum should be encouraged to recognise that for real world reform to take place, power needs to be redistributed equally in the world.
We should also use candidature diplomacy to recommend and support candidates from Africa and the developing world to fill these strategic positions in the World Bank, IMF and some UN agencies.
We should use the G20 as a forum for developing countries to hold the developed countries accountable to act on their commitments and to push for review of the UN Development Assistance Framework to respond to the development needs of Africa. The UN Security Council reform is essential in order to transfer power and strengthen these bodies.
We should use the upcoming COP 17 UN Conference on Climate Change to lobby for consensus and reform of global systems of governance. Power must be distributed evenly, and the playing field should be levelled and the rules of the game should be consistent, clear and coherent.
As we participate in the global governance system we need to push for more equitable power and aid to developing countries and to ensure a strong voice and representation to empower Africa. In the quest for a global world order that has equal responsibility and accountability, the developed world should implement and take action on their promises.
South Africa, along with other developing countries, should ensure that they get their house in order by driving political and economic reforms in their countries, which would ensure more equitable power distribution in the global world order and ownership of international agendas. Thank you.