Governments Skip Ground-breaking UN Hearings Activists Undeterred, Take Their Message to Governments

The United Nations General Assembly opened its doors this week to hundreds of activists from across the globe for a series of interactive civil society – private sector – government discussions about the Millennium Development Goals. But where were the governments?

"Thank you for being here to share your ideas, experiences and energy as we plan for the MDG Summit in September," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the gathering in a pre-recorded video address. "Member states can not do it alone. More than ever, we need the full engagement of civil society ... at these hearings, i encourage a truly interactive dialogue and active participation. The world is counting on you."

Unfortunately, representatives from only about one-third of the 192 member states were on hand to hear the Secretary-General's remarks and the subsequent testimony by civil society, local government and private sector delegates. And most of the government officials who were in attendance appeared to be junior members of their delegations.

UN members will be given a summary of this week's hearings, however it may arrive too late for the negotiators, who are already working on an outcome document for the September MDG Summit.

"If the states aren't coming to us, we have to go to them," says Chris Ferguson of the World Council of Churches, echoing a sentiment heard throughout a post-hearings wrap-up session of nearly fifty non- governmental organisations.

Members of the task force that organised this week's hearings did just that when they met Wednesday afternoon with Carsten Staur and Paul Badji, the Danish and Senegalese ambassadors to the United Nations and co-facilitators of the UN MDG Summit. They gave Ambassadors Staur and Badji a giant copy of an open letter from civil society.

The letter, signed by activists and more than 120 non-governmental organisations, contains nine key recommendations, including calls for greater accountability, measures to increase gender equality and reduce social exclusion and the provision of quality affordable public services.

"We need a call for the leadership and vision that governments showed in 2000, when they first adopted the Millenium Declaration, so that we can achieve The World We Want in 2015, " says Lysa John, Campaign Director for the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and a member of the task force.

"Accountability is key," adds Rosa Lizarde, a leader of GCAP's Feminist Task Force. "Goverments often use the right language these days when talking about fighting poverty. But their promises are not kept. Their words are not matched by action."

The UN must adopt legally binding accountability mechanisms, argue Ms. John and Ms. Lizarde, so that governments can hold each other to account. Individuals must also be able to monitor government promises and have an avenue to provide feedback and speak out. The UN, meanwhile, needs to create indicators for each of the MDGs, to measure how women and the socially excluded are faring, with an eye to ensuring that these groups are not left behind.

It's estimated that 50-60 billion US dollars must be spent annually over the next five years in order to meet the MDG targets. Raising these funds, at a time when many politicians are calling for fiscal constraint, may seem like a daunting task, particularly when previous promises to deliver funds have not been fulfilled.

Compare the required funds, though, with the turnover of major financial markets. The market for currency transactions alone is valued at more than 3 trillion US dollars. A small tax on these transactions – let's say one-twentieth of one percent -- could generate up to 650 billion US dollars, which could be used to finance the MDGs and alleviate the impact of climate change.