MDG final report, an EU strategy on migrants, and the value of democracy
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Version 0 of 1. The millennium development goals have driven “the most successful anti-poverty movement in history”, the UN said in its final report before the targets expire. While the MDGs have ended extreme poverty for more than a billion people since they began in 2000, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon warned that inequalities persist and progress has been uneven. Minority and indigenous communities, such as Burma’s Rohingya and Iraq’s Yazidi, are being displaced into cities at an alarming rate, said a report by Minority Rights Group. A crucial problem is that governments are not consulting with communities in their policymaking processes. The EU must plan 25 years ahead in its strategy for dealing with surging numbers of refugees and migrants, warned François Crépeau, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. Crépeau said increasing aid spending to help stabilise turbulent countries would not immediately help stem the flow of migrants and refugees. Elsewhere on the site Opinion The sustainable development goals may not mention democracy, but their focus on the accountability of political institutions will be key to improved governance, argues Anthony Smith, chief executive of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. Multimedia Video: Italian mafia’s cocaine trafficking leaves trail of drug devastation among poor of Brazil Video: The Dominicans of Haitian descent denied a right to nationality Pictures: Living in fear amid violence and protest in Burundi’s capital Pictures: The harsh reality of life in South Sudan’s Bentiu camp – in pictures Pictures: Yemen’s humanitarian crisis leaves a million people in dire straits Pictures: Persecution and violence: life for minority and indigenous communities Pictures: No work, no education and little food: the Iraqis forced to flee Isis What you said: top reader comment On the piece, Democracy is not a mystifying western plot – it is a universal value, MartinMellish wrote: I live in China. It’s not a democracy, and most people have no particularly strong desire that it should be one. The present system of government is working well for them, the economy is still growing at an extraordinary rate. People’s lives are better than their parents’, and far better than their grandparents’. That is what is important to them. Should the economy go South, then I imagine there might be a revived interest in democracy, but that would be as a means to an end (prosperity) rather than as a goal in itself. So - no, democracy is not a ‘universal value’, and it is highly dangerous to treat it as such. Trying to impose democracy on people who have no desire for it leads to chaos, bloodshed, and racial and ethnic strife, as many recent examples (Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Libya) unfortunately prove. Highlight from the blogosphere Global Voices: Can Social Media Create a Lasting Impact in Uganda? And finally … Poverty matters will return in two weeks with another roundup of the latest news and comment. In the meantime, keep up to date on the Global Development website. Follow @gdndevelopment and the team – @swajones, @LizFordGuardian, @MarkC_Anderson and @CarlaOkai – on Twitter, and join Guardian Global Development on Facebook. |