The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) set its own objectives for the first part of the current millennium at its General Assembly in 1999, nearly a year before the world’s heads of government met in New York to accept their separate and collective responsibilities to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level.
Our objectives, which are framed in our Strategy 2010, find some powerful convergence with those which States accepted in the UN Declaration.
Our work now is more and more directed at providing the vital community base necessary for the achievement of our common aspirations as described in the Millennium Declaration and in its accompanying Development Goals.
We have made this point at many of the important international conferences which have taken place since 2000. We remain concerned, however, that despite the progress made, too much of the work has been top-down.
Too many programs are announced by governments without the involvement of the people the programs are designed to benefit, and too few of the policy and program documents brought to the international system acknowledge the need for meaningful consultation with the communities for which the policies and programs are designed.
It remains our view that the Millennium Development Goals are not an unrealistic set of targets. They are eminently achievable, but achievement will depend on changes in the mind-set of governments and other public institutions.
The approach required is one which instinctively reaches out to communities and to the most vulnerable and absorbs an understanding from them of their needs at the time of program design.
One example of this principle in action would mean that mechanisms must be developed which enable those millions who now live with HIV/AIDS to play an integral part in programming to achieve MDG 6.
We have also spoken of the need for the governments to link to and effectively partner with their Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as their auxiliaries in the humanitarian field, and to civil society, to build a culture of prevention which sustains development and dignity.
Prevention in this context means empowering communities to build strength and resiliency and which facilitates the development of their human capital. Empowerment requires more than a simple legislative response. It also requires the provision of basic needs for all, including those recognized in the MDGs – water and sanitation, universal primary education, maternal and child health and gender equality.
Prevention also requires that the impact of natural disasters must be minimized by effective programs at the community level.
The Asian earthquakes and tsunamis of December 2004 have taught all of us, unfortunately not for the first time, that disaster preparedness and risk reduction must be an important part of national development plans, and essential components in meeting the objectives of the Millennium Declaration.
It also means that there must be full recognition for the part played by volunteers in achieving sustainable development and protecting human dignity. Too often, the contribution of volunteers is relegated to the margins.
Governments can do more in promoting and supporting volunteers as a factor in achieving the MDGs. We are very pleased that UN Volunteers – one of our most significant partners – has been able to bring these issues to the forefront and keep them there since the International Year of Volunteers in 2001.
We have also said that work with and for communities can only be done effectively if it is within communities which are free of discrimination and where the acceptance of differences is fully respected. The creation of a human-rights-based social fabric is a critical ingredient in the building of resilient, peaceful and prosperous communities.
Governments need to recognize that they have a responsibility to set standards of good governance which, by example, will be embodied throughout their communities and which will contribute to the participatory processes which are essential to stable and sustainable development programs.
There is a real risk that some among us will attempt to prioritize the MDGs around their own agendas. We believe this to be an unproductive and potentially dangerous approach. Our experience, including from our own work around Strategy 2010, shows that these Goals are so interconnected that none can be achieved in isolation.
Some Goals are, however, necessary to facilitate others. Our experience shows that MDG 8, especially as it refers to partnerships for development, is a necessary underpinning without which none of the other Goals can be fully achieved. Equally, progress toward other Goals is of little value unless there is a real and determined effort to break the poverty cycle so important to MDG 1.
The debate today is of special significance to the IFRC and its member Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies this year.
At the same time as the United Nations is reviewing the Millennium Declaration and its Goals, we are preparing to review our Strategy 2010. And, at the same time as the United Nations is examining plans for its own reform through the In Larger Freedom report, we are preparing for a debate on what we call Our Federation of the Future.
Our debates will take place in November in Seoul, at the IFRC’s General Assembly. It is already clear that many of the issues which you have identified will be equally relevant to our debates.
This is a natural consequence of the place of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as auxiliary partners to their Governments, but it is also a reflection of the current state of our world.
Member States of the United Nations and Member Societies of our International Federation are discussing many of the same challenges presented by the world in 2005, and with closely related understandings of priorities.
It is our hope that your work will take clearer account of what we are saying about communities and their place in the future of humanity. Without this, as we have said, we believe many of our shared objectives will not be achieved.