MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC - IV)

30.3.2011

to wind up the debate on statements by the Council and the Commission
pursuant to Rule 110(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Judith Sargentini on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0228/2011

B7‑0230/2011

European Parliament resolution on the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC - IV)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to UN's four Development Decades devoted to: self-sustaining economic growth and social advancement in(1961-1970), narrowing the gap between the developed and developing countries (1970 to 1980, establishing a new international economic order based on justice (1980-1990), implementing coherent set of interrelated, concrete, and effective policy measures in all sectors of development and new priorities to speed up economic growth, reduce extreme poverty, improve international finance and trade system, establish sound macroeconomic management, strengthen international cooperation for development and especial effort for Least Developed countries(1990-2000),

–   having regard to the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, 1986,

–   having regard to the Millennium Development Goal (2000-2015) with a target of reducing poverty by half by 2015,

–   having regard to the UN previous conferences on LDCs,

–   having regard to UN LDC-IV conference in Istanbul, Turkey, 9 to 13 May 2011,

–   having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas 48 countries are currently classified as LDCs of which 33 in Africa, 14 in Asia and 1 in Latin America; 16 countries are landlocked and 12 small islands,

B.  whereas the number of Least Developed countries has risen since the establishment of this category by UN in 1971 from 25 to 49 in 2011 and only 3 countries graduated from LDC: Botswana in 1994, Cape Verde in 2007 and Maldives in January 2011,

C. whereas oil and mineral rich countries in Africa are also classified as Least Developed Countries,

D. whereas in the previous LDC conferences, UN member countries committed themselves to implement recommendation of the conferences, but failed to deliver; whereas UN LDC conference recommendation can only be achieved if crucial issues underpinning LDCs are properly addressed such as policy coherence between, trade, agriculture, fisheries, investment, climate change,

E.  whereas MDGs efforts to meet poverty eradication must be considered as part of a broader agenda of UN Conference,

 

F.  whereas absence of Policy Coherence for Development at national and international level between trade, investment, agriculture, commodity price speculations, impacted negatively on LDCs sustainable development potential and further aggravated poverty in these countries,

G. whereas the situation in LDC further worsened by the recent multiple global crisis related to climate change, financial, food and energy crisis in addition to existing structural challenges such as debt, tied aid and unfair trade rules,

H. whereas financial liberalisation including speculative and volatile financial flows, over which the LDC have little control, has generated significant instability at international level with disastrous impact on developing countries' economy,

I.   whereas despite that agriculture forms the basis for many LDC economies and represents up to 90% of the workforce, food security is threatened by foreign investors farm land acquisitions and these priorities should be respected and supported by donors,

J.   whereas each LDC needs to identify priorities and solutions appropriate to its national context, based on democratic participation of the population in decision making,

1.  Believes that lessons must be learnt from failure of implementing previous UN LDC conference recommendations, which requires development policy paradigm shift towards social justice, wealth redistribution within LDCs and among nations to promote social cohesion and prevent conflict;

2.  Calls on all industrialised countries in general and on EU Member States in particular still lagging behind to honour their commitment of the 0.7% budget target before 2015;

3.  Believes that the UN IV conference should focus on Policy Coherence for Development as an important factor of policy shift, at national and international level; calls therefore to design all policy areas - such as trade, fisheries, environment, agriculture, climate change, energy, investment and, finance - to support sustainable development needs of LDCs in order to fight poverty, guarantee decent income and livelihood;

4.  Calls on the EU that the CAP must be consistent with LDCs sustainable development policy and dumping practices such as export subsidies must be stopped as it undermine food security and sustainable farming systems in LDCs;

5.  Calls for a regulatory measures including price control to be put in place at national, regional and international level to prevent excessive speculation on commodity, which is an important step to address speculation on commodities, especially on food and energy;

6.  Calls on the EU and other developed countries to remove the structural obstacles, which impede LDCs to realise their fundamental sustainable development rights by reforming international economic policies, which includes: WTO reform, international trade regulation, putting in place binding mechanism to circumvent illicit capital flight and tax evasion from LDCs; putting in place policy to guarantee full transparency in international financial transactions;

7.  Is the view that tax revenues are essential for LDCs States to meet the basic needs of its citizen and to be less dependent on foreign aid; considers that priority should be given to address tax-related aspect of development by putting in place effective and viable tax systems to ensure sustainable source of development financing needs;

8.  Emphasises that international cooperation should aim at creating an international environment conducive to fulfil the social and economic rights of the people of LDCs: secure food, water, housing and sustainable livelihoods, and access to healthcare and education to emerge from egregious poverty;

9.  Calls for the implementation of the 1986 UN declaration on the Right to Development which stipulates that ‘States have the duty to cooperate with each other in ensuring development and eliminating obstacles to development ( ), realise their rights and fulfil their duties in such a manner as to promote a new international economic order based on sovereign equality, interdependence, mutual interest’;

10. Calls on LDCs countries, who leased their farm lands to foreign investors, at the expense of local food security, to reconsider their policy and give secured access to land, water and other vital resources to their populations;

11. Urges the UN and the EU to seriously address the adverse impacts of farm land acquisition, such as expropriation of small farmers and unsustainable use of land and water, on the occasion the IV UN conference on LDCs;

12. Considers that the adoption of the new US “Conflict Minerals’ Law is a huge step forward to combat illegal exploitation of minerals in Africa, which fuels civil war and conflicts; is the view that the UN should come out with similar proposal to ensure tractability of imported minerals in the world market;

13. Calls for debt cancellation for LDC countries, as they are odious debts contracted by the dictators against the interest of their population and insist that any debt write off should not be counted as ODA;

14. Calls for a systematic climate change risk assessment into all aspects of policy planning and decision including trade, agriculture, food security ...etc; and demands that the result of this assessment be used to formulate clear guidelines to sustainable development cooperation policy;

15. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the UN General Secretary, the Council and the Commission.