Welcome on board: Least developed countries remain epicentre of deve...

Welcome on board: Least developed countries remain epicentre of deve...: "The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon today warned that the world’s least developed countries (LDC’s) are still walloping in ab..."

UN agency welcomes $1.4 billion French pledge to fight AIDS

France has pledged $1.4 billion to United Nations-backed efforts to combat HIV, in a move hailed by the world body’s agency coordinating the global AIDS response.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced yesterday that his nation will provide the funds to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at a General Assembly meeting in New York on progress made in realizing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS by 2015, as well as achieving universal access to treatment for the disease, are among the eight MDGs.
“At a time of difficult fiscal space, France has put the interests of people living with HIV first,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), urging all other countries to follow France’s lead.
During a meeting with the UNAIDS chief yesterday, Mr. Sarkozy praised the agency’s approach to place the response to the pandemic as part of the broader health and development agenda.
More than 7,400 people are infected and 5,500 die from AIDS-related illnesses every day, and HIV remains the leading cause of death among reproductive-age women worldwide, according to the UN.
There are also nearly 10 million people living with HIV who urgently need treatment today.
UNAIDS data shows that new infections have declined by more than 25 per cent in the 22 countries most affected by the disease in sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of all people living with HIV.
“AIDS is a smart investment that is producing results for people holistically,” Mr. Sidibé said, stressing that “this is a time for scaling up, not scaling down.” Culled from UN website.

Least developed countries remain epicentre of developmental emergency-Ban

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon today warned that the world’s least developed countries (LDC’s) are still walloping in abject poverty.
His call comes just five years remaining until the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
According to Mr. Ban, though school enrolment has improved and strides have been made in reducing child mortality and expanding access to clean water in the LDCs, they remain the group facing the most severe challenging in realizing the eight MDGs.
Hundreds of world leaders are in New York for a three-day General Assembly gathering, which started Monday, to assess progress made so far in reaching the Goals.
“The LDCs represent the poorest and most vulnerable segment of humanity,” the Secretary-General said at a side event this morning focusing on the MDGs in these countries.
“They remain at the epicentre of the developmental emergency,” he added.
Countries are classified as LDCs if they meet three criteria: a low income; human capital status based on education, nutrition, health and literacy indicators; and economic vulnerability.
Currently, more than half of the 800 million in the 49 LDCs live below the poverty line, while only six of them have poverty rates under 30 per cent.
The LDCs are also made less competitive by their inadequate transport infrastructure and uneven power supplies.
“It is increasingly clear that economic infrastructure and productive capacity-building hold the key to generating decent jobs, especially for the large youth populations of these countries,” Mr. Ban underlined.
He noted that the LDCs have made efforts to improve economic management and political governance, stressing that the international community must continue to provide support.
“This is a moral commitment, first and foremost – a test of global solidarity,” the Secretary-General said.
Also speaking at today’s event was Assembly President Joseph Deiss, who pointed to three crises – economic, food and energy – that have severely impacted the LDCs.
“We have to focus on the specific needs and constraints of the Least Developed Countries if we want to alleviate suffering and raise their population out of poverty,” he emphasized.
Although progress made in achieving the MDGs is measured globally, the targets must be realized in every country, Mr. Deiss said.
At the start of the high-level MDG meeting yesterday, the Secretary-General urged world leaders to provide the necessary investment, aid and political will to end extreme poverty.
“There is no global project more worthwhile,” he said. “Let us send a strong message of hope. Let us keep the promise.”
Mr. Ban called on wealthy countries not to pull back from their previous commitments on official development assistance to poorer nations, which he described as “a lifeline of billions, for billions.”
Culled from the UN website
Pix: UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon

Mills borrows $3.2bn in 20 months!... as against $2.25bn by Kufuor in 8 years!

When it comes to delivering on their economic promises and their Better Ghana Agenda, the popular verdict appears to be that the Mills-Mahama led NDC government is slow.

When it comes to piling up external debt on the other hand, it is clear that the NDC has resumed the ‘Usain Bolt’ borrowing pattern that landed Ghana ignominiously into HIPC.

The lightning speed with which Ghana’s external debt has increased in the first 20 months of the NDC government should be a cause of concern for all, according to Asare Otchere Darko of the Danquah Institute.

According to Mr. Otchere Darko, in just twenty months (by close of September, 2010), the Atta Mills government would have contracted a whopping $3.2 billion dollars in debts, a far cry from the track record of the Kufuor Administration.

Explaining, Mr. Otchere Darko states that at the end of 2000, Ghana’s external debt stock stood at $6.1 billion (158.4% of GDP). Total Debt Service amounted to 24 expenditure and Ghana spent about a quarter of its total export proceeds just to service its debts. The resulting sustainable situation led Ghana adopting the HIPC initiative by the Kufuor government.

By the end of 2008, Ghana’s total external debt amounted to $4,035 million (27 percent of GDP), thanks to debt relief and a relatively prudent borrowing. At the end of 2008 Ghana used less than 5% of its export proceeds to service its external debts.

According to figures from the Bank of Ghana, during the eight-year period under President Kufuor (2001 – 2008), the total amount of external loans contracted by the NPP government amounted to $2.252 billion.

In stark contrast, says Mr. Otchere Darko, by the time Parliament went for recess at the end of last July (extended by one week to August 3 to approve more loans), the NDC, in just under 20 months of its return to office, had added, by the count of the Danquah Institute, an estimated $2.97.0 billion to the international debt they inherited in January 2009.

In fact, this figure leaves out several small loan facilities, says Mr. Otchere Darko.

He goes on to further state that it was announced, happily to Ghanaians on Thursday, September 8 that President Mills will sign a $273 million loan agreement with the EXIM Bank of China when he visits the Republic of China this month.

Thus, by the end of September, the NDC external borrowing portfolio will climb to 3.24 billion! Yes! In the first 20 months in office, the NDC government has contracted more external loans (44% more) than the NPP government did in 8 years!President Mills has quickly and surely overtaken his predecessor in public debt pile-up – the very thing that his government has spent the best part of two years condemning President Kufuor on!”Mr. Otchere Darko states.

Source: The Daily Searchlight/Ghana

UN members states call for strengthening of rights of persons with disabilities

A United Nations-backed conference aimed at advancing the rights of persons with disabilities concluded today with countries underscoring the need to continue building on recent momentum to ensure that the rights of the world’s estimated 650 million people with disabilities are protected and strengthened.
Hundreds of delegates and civil society representatives took part in the three-day conference at UN Headquarters in New York to see how to better implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force in 2008.
The convention, among other elements, asserts the rights to education, health, work, adequate living conditions, freedom of movement, freedom from exploitation and equal recognition before the law for persons with disabilities.
The number of countries that have ratified it has jumped from 66 to 90 in the past year and the number that has signed has risen from 142 to 146.
Ambassador Claude Heller of Mexico, the President of the conference, told the closing session today that he hoped that “the number of signatures and ratifications continues to increase” and that ongoing efforts to promote the rights of persons with disabilities bear fruit.
He welcomed the enthusiastic participation of national delegations, experts and civil society representatives in the conference, which included interactive dialogues, round-table discussions and formal presentations.
Many of the discussions focused on the right to education for persons with disabilities, the need for measures for greater inclusion of persons with disabilities in society, and care provided during disasters and emergency situations.
Shuaib Chalklen, the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability, told the UN News Centre that the conference had an important “consciousness-raising” value for governments and policymakers to take action to ensure that the convention is implemented on the ground.
While the rising number of ratifications means more countries will have to report on what measures they are taking to meet their obligations, Mr. Chalklen said all too often this is failing to translate at the local level, both in rich and poor countries.
He cited education as an example, with administrators, principals and teachers at many schools often unaware of the barriers that can exist to prevent a child with disabilities from attending and fully participating in classes.
A pupil using a wheelchair or crutches may face stairs to get to class, a lack of appropriate bathrooms and a viewpoint that it is the child with the problem rather than the school.
“It’s an attitudinal problem and there needs to be a commitment to make it work… But unfortunately there is a lack of awareness,” Mr. Chalklen said.
The next conference of States Parties to the convention will be held in early September 2011. Culled from UN website.

Kofi Annan calls for united effort to accelerate African Green Revolution

Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan has called for a united effort to accelerate African green revolution in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty by 2015.
“As former Secretary General of the United Nations, I called for a uniquely green revolution in Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015. And six years later, I am encouraged to see that the Green Revolution has taken hold and is gaining momentum. We have reached global consensus that agriculture is Africa’s lifeline and, from that realization, we are gaining global support and funding commitments as well as the support of African governments and the attention of the private sector. But we need an action plan to translate this momentum into tangible support for Africa’s famers,” says Mr. Annan.
Mr. Annan made this observation in press release ahead of a program to be held in Accra by the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) from September 2-4 this year.
The program will bring together high profile African heads of state, ministers, farmers, private agri-business firms, financial institutions, NGOs, Civil Society Organizations and scientists.
Delegates will create an action plan on the acceleration of a Green Revolution in Africa.
Chaired by Kofi Annan, chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), this is the first time the forum will be held in Africa.
It is expected to be one of the continent’s major gatherings of both public and private players to focus solely on agriculture development.
“We will be looking to governments for leadership to create an environment that will enable agriculture to prosper and grow and we will be looking to the private sector to drive and sustain that growth,” says Kofi Annan. “Working together we can achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa,” he added.
According to Mr. Annan, to substantially increase food production in Africa, it requires a comprehensive and integrated approach to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of smallholder farmers.
Concerned about the environment, Mr. Anna said urged that the new expansion must take into account its effect on climate change.
The warming planet is expected to reduce yields by 20-30 percent by 2050 if left unchecked, according to reports.
Jørgen Ole Haslestad, Chief Executive, Yara International ASA, says: “At the African Green Revolution Forum in Ghana we expect to continue the momentum from other recent summits. We need both the entrepreneurship attitude from business and political leadership to create environments that enable financing and smallholder farmers to flourish.”
Clive Tasker, Chief Executive, Standard Bank Africa, says: “Commercially viable agriculture can yield food for millions and eliminate hunger. Farmers, NGOs, public and private partners will sit at the same table at the African Green Revolution Forum. Together we will support the real progress on the ground.”
The NEPAD Agency Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, says “Africa has the potential to become a major food producer ensuring food security on our continent and beyond. This opportunity can only become reality if systemic transformation takes place at the farmer, NGO, policy and continental level. Moving AGRF to Africa, is a clear statement on the need for rooting the Green Revolution on the ground, and will be a key driving force, in eliciting stakeholders’ commitments to transformation.”
"Governments must create the right policy environment to allow for appropriate investments in research and development to enhance productivity and increase production" says Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural development (IFAD).
Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation, says “The Rockefeller Foundation is proud to continue our almost century long commitment to food security around the world. As we look back on the lessons of our own Norman Borlaug and his colleagues, we are proud to now work with dedicated partners to bring a Green Revolution to Africa. The African Green Revolution Forum is an enormous opportunity to connect partners from governments, foundations, NGOs and the private sector to find new ways to increase food security in an era of climate change and establish Africa as a thriving and innovative global agricultural market.”
The Ministers, private sector partners and donor representatives at the AGRF will launch national breadbasket projects for Ghana and Mali.
The projects, which enable agricultural areas with high production potential to gain access to new markets, are a model for delivering on the AGRF’s aims to achieve food security through sustainable agriculture and to reduce poverty in Africa.
The AGRF will also review progress of the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor in Mozambique, and the second corridor project in Tanzania.
The AGRF promotes investments and policy initiatives that will drive income growth for African farmers in an environmentally sustainable way.

Ghana: Disability Council Calls For Speedy Passage of Mental Health Bill & Ratification of UNCRPD

The Ghana Federation of the Disabled on Tuesday petitioned Parliament to speed up the processes of passing the Ghana Mental Health Bill and the ratification of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) without further delay.
The petition was presented by Mr. Yaw Ofori Debrah, Chairman of the National Advocacy Committee of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled and received on behalf of the Speaker by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hohoe North and Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises Mr. Prince Jacob Hayibor.
He was accompanied by two members of the Committee, Mrs. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, MP for Ayawaso West and Mr. Wallace Abayateye, MP for Sege.
The Federation also presented Guidelines for the disbursement and Management of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) for Persons with Disability (PWD).
The Federation in its petition, expressed surprised that till date, Ghana has not been able to ratify the UNCRPD despite having met most of the issues in the Convention as attested to by the country’s Person’s with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715).
“Ghana was one of the first countries which signed this Convention when it was promulgated by the UN but has not yet ratified it even though most of the issues in the Convention have been taken care of by the country’s Person’s with Disability Act,” noted Mr. Debrah in the petition.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 2.2 million persons with Disabilities in Ghana whose needs are varied vis-à-vis; education, provision of assistive devices, removal of barriers, adequate health delivery among many others.
By ratifying the UNCRPD, the Federation contends that it “will no doubt afford the country to access the technical, development and financial benefits that the Convention makes available to its member countries.”
It would enable disability organizations make representation through Government to the UN to assist Government to deliver adequate support to the organizations and their membership.
The status of the Mental Health Bill on the other hand, according to the Federation, is not yet known though it has been submitted for consideration and approval by Parliament.
To that effect, the Federation appealed to the Government and Parliament “to show understanding and commitment for this noble cause.”
The Parliamentary Select Committee in its response thanked the Disability Council for showing concern in matters relating to the welfare of the physically challenged in the country and promised that Parliament would do all it could to ensure their safety by passing out the Mental Health Bill and also ratify the UNCRPD.