Civil Society groups cannot afford to fail the people

Civil society groups in developing countries have been urged to build their own unity through

many alliances so they can begin to make real changes in the world.

Dr. Martin Khor of Third World Network , Malaysia (TWN) said in as much as they need to save

the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), they must also build on

their strength in terms of policy and organise themselves better.

We cannot rely solely on UNCTAD. We need to build alternatives among ourselves as civil society in terms of policy and organizing ourselves better through many alliances such as south-south, north-south, and then we can begin to make real changes in the world.

According to him, UNCTAD cannot work exclusively for developing countries as there are attempts by western countries to further constrain what UNCTAD can do for developing countries.

Consequently, he said they need to have their own economic and political sovereignty as the independent struggle from their colonial masters is not yet over.

Today they are doing it multilaterally through the IMF and World Bank and are using WTO and bilateral system as well.

The EPAs are even worse than the WTO formula and will further erode our economic gains. The machinery of the European Union Commission is strong and we could face an EPA disaster because it is going to add to the many challenges ahead for the next five to ten years.

Dr. Khor was addressing the civil society segment of the 12th UNCTAD X11 in Accra. He said as civil society what is essential is to ensure that people have a livelihood.

Looking at what is happening in our world today we need to ensure that climate change does not destroy our livelihood, water supply and agricultural productivity.

The Coordinator of TWN Africa, Dr. Yao Graham noted that UNCTAD is taking place against the backdrop of global economic issues with the most immediate element being the scale of the effects of global financial crisis.

The collapse of banks and the bail out which followed has exposed the hypocrisy of those who advocate free trade.

He regretted that although sustained high price of primary commodities across many developing countries has led to high growth, the actual returns have been far fetched.

In spite of the high growth jobs are not being created. Ghana has been growing steadily for more than twenty years, but a walk down the principal streets reveals a microcosm of this growth.

According to Dr. Graham, Liberalization has led people from the countryside to come to the cities to look for non-existent jobs.

There are a lot of women sitting on the streets and using their children to beg for a living, but the headline always put Ghana forward as a model of growth.

Dr. Graham said due to export led growth pursued by government very little attention has been paid to quality and investment, saying that although growth is important the actual return cannot be realized without the integration of developmental transformation.

He said in the light, the action of very few countries to sign unto the interim EPAs threatens national economic development and regional integration.

He said that in spite of the fact UNCTAD has been under attack from the forces who proclaim the virtues of globalization and liberalization, it remains a forum for intervening on some of the key questions of concern to developing countries and contributes to the debate on policy making and trade.

It is important to look beyond the complexity of elements within the UN and look critically at what the institution represents.

The structure of UNCTAD was fought for by developing countries as part of championing a new development agenda. UNCTAD is currently the frontline of the struggle for a renewed global economic order that ensures equity, he stressed.