Civil Society groups call for good governance to be an issue in the post 2015 Development framework
The global democratic deficit and inequality were key themes at the recent UN consultation on governance and the post-2015 development agenda held from 28 February to 1 March in Johannesburg, South Africa. Entitled “Global Thematic Consultation on Governance and the Post-2015 Development Framework”, the consultation was part of a series of meetings the UN is holding to discuss the post 2015 development agenda.
“Honest and transparent governance” was a critical issue raised by the respondents of the UN's global survey for a better world. Civil society groups called for good governance to be included as a specific target in the post 2015 development framework. However, economic growth remains a key focus for many world leaders, international corporations and financial institutions.
As the Arab Spring recently showed, development must include a democratic governance component, a point the MDGs formulated in 2001 did not include. According to the US non-profit organisation Freedom House, 57% of the people in the world live in countries where basic civil liberties and political freedoms are curtailed. There are many nations praised for their progress on the MDGs – such as Cambodia, China, Ethiopia or Rwanda – but in which even peaceful acts of dissent against government policy carry risks of persecution.
The rising inequality between the rich and the poor is another great challenge for the international community. According to Oxfam estimates, the world's top 100 billionaires earned $240bn in 2012, enough to “make extreme poverty history four times over”.
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