Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, 17 June 2015
Opening Statement by Michael Gaffey, Director General, Irish Aid
Post-2015 framework for global development
Chairman, Members of the Committee,
I am very pleased to accept your invitation to meet with you on the progress in the
negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
This year has the potential to rank as the most critical in global development in
generations. Three major interlinked processes are due to conclude in 2015 with the
International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa from 13 to
16 July, the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Summit in New York from 25 to 27
September, and the Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Paris in December,
which should agree a legally binding and universal climate agreement.
With success in the negotiatons, and strong political will to implement the
agreements reached, this can mark the start of a clear transformation of our concept
of global citizenship and responsibility: from a North-South, donor-recipient model
of development and poverty reduction towards a new multi-layered concept of
sustainable development based on universal goals, to replace the MDGs, and a
shared responsibility for the planet, its people and its natural resources.
Ireland has been playing a leading international role in the work to design and
negotiate a framework to replace the MDGs adopted in 2000. This role arises from
the effectiveness of our aid programme and our record as a member of the United
Nations. Ireland led the EU’s consideration of the shape of the new agenda during
our Presidency in 2013; Ireland co-facilitated the international meeting on the MDGs
at the UN in September 2013; we were members of a team, with Denmark and
Norway, in the UN Open Working Group which adopted draft Sustainable
Development Goals and targets last year; and Ireland was honoured to be
appointed, with Kenya, to co-lead the intergovernmental negotiating process at the
UN, with the aim of reaching agreement in July, for adoption at the September
Summit. This has involved a major commitment by our Ambassador and his team at
the UN, colleagues in Dublin and Limerick, and our mission network worldwide.
Ireland’s key priorities for the new goals, throughout the process of the past two
years, have been to ensure that they build on progress made over the past 15 years
in fighting poverty in all its manifestations under the MDGs. We have focused in
particular on the need to galvanise action to end extreme poverty, hunger and
undernutrition by 2030; on ensuring there is a single strong goal on gender equality
and the empowerment of women; and on the critical role of good governance and
the rule of law in building sustainable, prosperous and equitable societies. And we
have emphasised the need to incorporate human rights in the new framework,
reduce inequality and protect the role of civil society. We believe these priorities will
be well-reflected in the outcome.
The new Sustainable Development Goals will build on and differ from the
Millennium Development Goals in three fundamental ways.
1. The SDG agenda is broader and addresses a wider range of issues. Its aim will
be the ending of poverty through sustainable development: addressing social,
economic and environmental challenges. The scope of the framework will
recognise the interlinkages between issues such as climate change, poverty
eradication, peace and security and inequalities.
2. The SDGs have been drafted and negotiated in a radically more inclusive way
than the MDGs. They may therefore, initially, seem more unwieldy, but they
are comprehensive and address the complexities of development, as it is
experienced by people and communities. This insight was a priority outcome
of Ireland’s Hunger Nutrition Climate Justice Conference in April 2013. The
MDGs were drafted by a group of experts working with the former UN
Secretary General. The SDGs will be the product of a global consultation,
involving millions of people across the world, and an intergovernmental
negotiation.
3. The post-2015 agenda will be a universal one. All countries – developed,
middle income and least developed – will have a role in implementing
commitments domestically and internationally, with strong mechanisms at
national level to monitor progress and report back.
This issue of monitoring and review remains a difficult and contentious one in the
negotiations. The process will be voluntary. But review will be needed at national,
regional and global levels, and a strong monitoring and review process is a priority
for the EU. It has emphasised the need for government progress reports to be
complemented by contributions from civil society, academia, local government, the
UN system and the private sector. We need to examine also the crucial role that
Parliaments should play in review processes.
Agreement on the financing of the SDGs will be critical to the success of the
agenda. The Conference in Addis will aim to reach agreement on financing,
extending significantly beyond Official Development Assistance, and covering the
financing of infrastructure and climate policies, domestic resource mobilisation,
including taxation and tackling illicit financial flows, the role of the private sector and
the need to boost world trade in a fair and equitable manner. Ireland has been
working to ensure coherence between the Addis and New York processes.
ODA will be a vital element, especially for LDCs, but it will be only part of the picture.
To illustrate, total ODA last year amounted to some $135 billion. But UNCTAD has
estimated that global investment needs required for the achievement of the SDGs
are of the order of $5 – 7 trillion. The needs of developing countries alone will be in
the region of $3.5 – 4.5 trillion annually, mainly for basic infrastructure, food
security, climate change, health and education. If there are some 30 “donor”
countries, including Ireland and just over 30 low income countries still dependent on
aid, there are some 130 emerging middle income economies that have achieved
higher levels of average prosperity. The central issue in Addis must be how to unlock
finance from different sources, including but not exclusively aid, to finance
sustainable development.
ODA will remain essential for the poorest countries under the new framework,
including many African countries and fragile states where Ireland focuses its
assistance. The Government therefore remain committed to the 0.7% GNP target for
ODA and to making further progress towards it as Ireland’s economic recovery
consolidates. It is significant that the EU Development Ministers meeting in Brussels
on 26 May were able to reach agreement to recommit to reaching the 0.7% target
within the timeframe of the post-2015 agenda, and to directing more assistance to
Least Developed Countries, especially the poorest countries in Africa, where progress
has been slowest on the MDGs. Ireland played a crucial role in brokering agreement
at the Council. It is important to note that Ireland is also a world leader in the
proportion of our assistance which we provide to the Least Developed Countries, and
we are committed to maintaining this approach.
Our priorities will be well represented in the 17 Goals and 69 targets which seem
likely to be agreed with some minor technical adjustments. Implementation will be
voluntary, but the scale of the ambition and of the Summit in New York will aim to
generate strong political will to do so. The Government’s development programme,
Irish Aid, will continue to focus on the priority areas identified in our policy for
sustainable development, One World One Future, which sets out a whole of
government approach to our development policy.
Many countries, including a number of our EU partners are examining new
institutional frameworks at the national level to translate the universal goals and
targets into national actions, commitments, responsibilities accountability which
respect national priorities and circumstances. These would range beyond the
traditional Development Ministry approach, in their focus on domestic
implementation. Ireland’s engagement in the process has been guided by strong
inter-Departmental coordination, chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade. We are now giving consideration to the nature of the institutional framework
for national implementation of the SDGs.
We are committed, through our aid programme, to providing comprehensive
support to Governments, Parliaments and civil society in our key partner countries to
facilitate their implementation of the new development agenda. We will retain our
focus on the least developed countries and communities in Africa, on the basis of the
realistic objective of ending extreme poverty and hunger in the world by 2030.
We face this year a once in a generation opportunity to fashion and implement a
truly transformative agenda, with the stated commitment to leave no-one behind,
and to ensure that no goal will be met until it is met for all. The Summit in New York,
and the critical meetings in Addis and Paris, are interlinked and co-dependent. They
can mark a real shift in the way we interpret our world and our role in it. They must
also challenge us all, government, civil society and citizens, to examine and redefine
how we live and do business.
I and my colleagues look forward to hearing the views of the Committee and to
answering any questions in relation to the development agenda and our
development programme which you may have.
Thank you.