UNITED NATIONS SHOULD WORK
DIRECTLY WITH ELECTED GOVERNMENTS WITH A PEOPLE’S MANDATE AND NOT
NGO’S SAYS MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA AT THE LONDON MINI SUMMIT
By Walter Jayawardhana
President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka said that United nations should
work directly with governments that have been elected rather than with
NGO’s and INGO’s that tend to pursue their own agendas that
may be opposed to an agenda endorsed by the people.
The Sri Lanka President has reportedly made this remark during the
executive sessions of the Commonwealth Mini Summit held in Malborough
House in London.
The sessions were not open to the press, but according to some work
related papers, the statements came to be known after the sessions.
“An elected government pursue an agenda that has been endorsed
by the people at an election and therefore has the mandate to implement
certain programmes.” Presient Rajapaksa has stated during an intervention
during the executive sessions.
President Rajapaksa said that a further advantage is that working through
elected governments leaves behind an institutional memory . But in contrast
Rajapaksa said most NGO’s wither away sometimes and leaves no trace
behind putting governments, donors and the recipients into greater inconvenience.
However Rajapaksa said NGO’s maybe used as implementing organs
but funding must be channelled through government. These remarks have
been made when the executive sessions discussed United Nations Development
Architecture Reforms.
At the end of the session in the final declaration the ten Commonwealth
leaders said , “We are committed to reform that creates an effective
multilateral system. And that supports a more democratic global society
with greater equity and fairness. The new generation of international
organizations should reflect a new cooperative spirit.
The final declaration said: We intend to accelerate UN reforms and
their effective implementation, as a matter of urgency, through lobbying
and advocacy in the UN itself as well as other international institutions.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government, representing one third of humanity
and more than one quarter of the worlds sovereign governments collectively
expressed the concern of 53 member states at Kampala in November 2007
that the current architecture of the international institutions no longer
responds adequately to the challenges of the 21st century. The London
Mini Summit is a direct result of the Kampala sessions.
One of the most important issues taken by the mini summit became the
effective management of the global environment. The Collective declaration
of the summit said, “The impacts of environmental degradation are
mostly starkly felt in the smallest , poorest and most environmentally
vulnerable countries . The final declaration further said, “A financing
mechanism needs to be developed that underpins the linkage between development
and the environment and notably supports investment in long term sources
of energy and environmental efficiency.”
During the executive sessions President Rajapaksa said, There is little
doubt that climate change has resulted due to excessive carbon emissions.
Most developed countries that have highly developed industrial sectors
are responsible for most of these emissions. Nearly 70% of the world’s
natural disasters are due to climate change and when a developing country
is affected by natural disaster, it is extremely difficult for such
a country to bounce back to normalcy. History shows that natural disasters
have affected developing countries much more than they have affected
developed countries. Sadly, said the Sri Lankan President the ability
of the developing countries to mitigate these disasters and to recover
after such disasters occur, is very poor given the paucity of disasters,
expertise and access to assistance. The President said, “A good
case in point is Myanmar’s inability to cope with the recent disaster.”
In the process of discussions he further pointed out that all developed
countries as envisaged in the Bali conference, to set apart .1%GDP to
contribute to a global fund to compensate developing countries that
have suffered excessive carbon emissions.”
The executive sessions of the Mini Summit ended with a press conference
in which all ten nations of commonwealth participated , represented
by their heads of state. President Bharrat Jagdeo of GuyanaPresident
Maumoon Gayoom of Maldives, Prime Minister Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam
of Mauritus , President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, President Jakaya
Kikwete of United Republic of Tanzania, Prime Minister Dr. Feleti Sevele
of Tonga, Prime minister Patrick manning of Trinidad and Tobago President
YoweriMuseveni of Uganda, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United
Kingdom Deputy Prime Ministr of Najib Tun Razakof Malaysia and Vice
President Alhaji Aliu mahama of Ghana took part in the press conference.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown making the opening statements of the world
leaders said that the leaders have agreed that without the reforms we
cannot face the challenges of the present world. “Prosperity like
peace is indivisible ,”Gordon Brown said.
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