Focus on MDGs By I.A. Rehman

[Nek Muhammad]

Next week world leaders will hold a three-day summit designed to take stock of what has been done to realise the Millennium Development Goals, that essentially aim at a substantial reduction in poverty across the globe, and to find some means of expediting progress on the all-important objectives.

The meeting is of crucial significance for Pakistan for more reasons than one. The more populous countries of the world account for the largest bodies of poor people. Pakistan falls somewhere in the middle of the list of such states.

Thirty-two to 45 per cent of its 160 million people are said to be living below the poverty line, that is, 51 to 72 million people.

To the stock excuse of economic constraints being an insurmountable barrier to meeting the MDGs has been added the impact of this year’s deluge. Thus, it may not be easy to persuade the authorities to pay due attention to areas where the battle against poverty is to be fought.

At the same time, Pakistan is in the limelight as the winner of the UN MDG Peace Award conferred on it by an organisation called the World Cities Scientific Development Forum in Beijing the other day.

One is not aware of this country’s achievements with regard to the MDGs or the scientific developments of its cities, achievements that the people, in all probability, have not witnessed.

If Pakistan has done well enough to merit an award for progress on MDGs, many other developing countries have obviously done worse than us and it is difficult to sympathise with them. This also does not reflect well on the international campaign against poverty.

The document prepared for adoption at the review summit admits that none of the MDGs is likely to be reached.

Pakistan’s performance in relation to the MDGs was recently described in a Planning Commission draft report and briefly analysed in these columns.

The report conceded that as regards the first MDG (eradicating extreme poverty and hunger), the target of more than halving the number of those living below the poverty level by 2015 was unlikely to be achieved.

Likewise, the second MDG target of achieving universal primary education (completion of primary course by every child and not merely 100 per cent enrolment) by 2015 was within reach.

Considerable progress was claimed with regard to the third MDG, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, much to the surprise of activists in these fields, but the main target for under-five mortality and immunisation, the fourth MDG, were unlikely to be met.

As regards improving maternal health, the fifth MDG, it was admitted that “many of the specific targets for goal five will not be met in the immediate future”. The forecast about the sixth MDG (combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases) and the seventh MDG (ensuring environmental stability) was not optimistic either.

In view of the foregoing, at least civil society organisations are alive to the need of Pakistan to derive the fullest possible benefit from the forthcoming summit. The UN organisation in Pakistan (as in other countries) is leading a three-day campaign ‘make a noise for the MDGs’ that begins tomorrow (Sept 17).

The objective is to engage “communities, students, academia, civil society, philanthropists, the private sector and the state to achieve the MDGs…” All sections of society are invited to suggest ways of realising the millennium goals.

At the same time, eight civil society organisations have formed an alliance “to advocate for MDG5, [improving maternal health] in particular and a realistic national MDG progress report 2010”.

In an appeal to the prime minister they have drawn his attention to “the urgent issue of saving and improving women’s lives by ensuring that their needs are well identified at the MDG summit”. They have also pointed out that maternal mortality rates in Pakistan are the highest in South Asia.

Even before Pakistan was ravaged by the floods, fears had been expressed that the cash-strapped government might cut down resource allocations for MDG-related activities. Such fears have begun to come true in the wake of the devastation caused by the floods.

This is the time to realise that it is more essential to cut down on the state’s non-productive and wasteful expenditure — top-heavy departments and unnecessary and parasitic institutions — than to apply the axe to budgets for poverty reduction, education, health, urban planning, reducing rural-urban disparities, giving labour a fair deal and eradicating bonded and child labour.

These heads of expenditure must be moved from the meaningless category of social welfare to the category of high-yield investment in equitable development, social stability and pre-requisites to national survival and integrity.

This is also the time to move from symptomatic responses to poverty, illiteracy, disease and gender inequalities to the institutionalised treatment of these evils.

For instance, anyone who does not realise that rural poverty cannot be attacked without reducing land hunger through radical land redistribution, or that Pakistan cannot achieve a breakthrough on the road to progress without granting women the right to social and economic independence, should have no place among decision-makers.

Unfortunately due attention has not been paid to the MDGs — a global partnership for development which deals with a non-discriminating trading and financial system.

The special needs of the least developed states, debt problems of developing states, supply of essential drugs at affordable prices to developing countries, youth employment strategies and the easy availability of new technologies are all issues that have not been addressed in earnest.

All informed Pakistanis would wish their government to pay, at the coming summit, special attention to the goals, because most developing countries cannot meet the MDG targets, which are indeed vital for their success in reducing the gap with the developed world, without the substantial transfer of funds and technologies to the have-not nations.

It should support the argument advanced by the Group of 77 that the donor nations had failed to honour commitments made in 2000.

One aspect of the matter is the need to generate adequate funds to boost the MDG campaign. The UN secretary-general claims to have persuaded the rich states to provide $26bn.

Pakistan should join the efforts to secure more resources for the purpose and to ensure that these funds are rationally utilised and fairly divided among the needy and deserving nations.

The other aspect is the need for developing states to realise the colossal losses they have suffered by their failure to function consistently as a united bloc. They had some bargaining strength when the Non-Alignment Movement was a living body or the Group of 77 had a spine.

In those days the centre-stage was reserved for the North-South dialogue or conferences such as the Stockholm summit.

Today the so-called developing states are busy either in cutting each other’s throats or separately begging the rich lords of the world for concessions.

If the underprivileged nations delay a move towards meaningful unity they will only increase their poverty and dependence on fickle-minded ‘patrons’.